Phillip Roger Noyce (born 29 April 1950) is an Australian film and television director. Since 1977, he has directed over 19 feature films in various genres, including historical drama (Newsfront, Rabbit-Proof Fence, The Quiet American); thrillers (Dead Calm, Sliver, The Bone Collector); and action films (Blind Fury, The Saint, Salt). He has also directed the Jack Ryan adaptations Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994), as well as the 2014 adaptation of Lois Lowry's The Giver.
Noyce has worked at various times with such actors as Val Kilmer, Harrison Ford, Denzel Washington, Michael Caine, Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep, Rutger Hauer and three films with Thora Birch over 25 years. He has also directed, written and executive-produced television programmes in both Australia and North America, including The Cowra Breakout, Vietnam, Revenge, Roots, and Netflix's What/If.
Noyce's work has won him several accolades, including AACTA Awards for Best Film, Best Director and a special Longford Lyell lifetime achievement award.
Early life and education Phillip Roger Noyce was born on 29 April 1950 in Griffith, New South Wales.
He attended high school at Barker College in Sydney, and began making short films at the age of 18. His first short film, the 15-minute Better to Reign in Hell, was financed by selling roles to his friends.
He graduated from Sydney University, and then attended the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in 1973.
In 1969, Noyce ran the Sydney Filmmakers Co-op, a collective of filmmakers. With Jan Chapman, he ran the Filmmaker's Cinema for three years above a bookshop in Sydney, screening the short films of the directors who would go on to form the Australian New Wave: Gillian Armstrong, Peter Weir, Bruce Beresford, George Miller and Paul Cox.
Career Noyce released his first professional film in 1975. Many of his films feature espionage, as Noyce grew up listening to his father's stories of serving with the Australian Commando unit Z Force during World War II.
After his debut feature, the medium-length Backroads (1977), Noyce achieved huge commercial and critical success with Newsfront (1978), which won Australian Film Institute (AFI) awards for Best Film, Director, Actor and Screenplay; it opened the London Film Festival and was the first Australian film to play at the New York Film Festival.
Noyce worked on two miniseries for Australian television with fellow Australian filmmaker George Miller: The Dismissal (1983) and The Cowra Breakout (1984). Miller also produced the film that brought Noyce to the attention of Hollywood studios – Dead Calm (1988), which also launched the career of Nicole Kidman. After Dead Calm, Noyce went to the US to direct Blind Fury, starring Rutger Hauer, for Tri-Star Pictures.
Moving with his young family to the US in 1991, Noyce directed five films over the following eight years, of which Clear and Present Danger, starring Harrison Ford, was the most successful, critically and commercially, grossing $216 million. After 1999's Bone Collector starring Angelina Jolie and Denzel Washington, Noyce decided to return to Australia for the Stolen Generations saga Rabbit-Proof Fence, which won the AFI Award for Best Film in 2002. He has described Rabbit-Proof Fence as "easily" his proudest moment as a director: "Showing that film to various Aboriginal communities around the country and seeing their response, because it gave validity to the experiences of the Stolen Generations."
Noyce was also lauded for The Quiet American, the 2002 adaptation of Graham Greene's novel, which gave Michael Caine an Academy Award Best Actor nomination and earned best director awards from London Film Critics' Circle and National Board of Review in the US. After the apartheid-set Catch a Fire (2006) in South Africa, Noyce decided to make another big budget studio film with 2010's Salt starring Angelina Jolie, which proved to be his biggest commercial hit to date, making nearly $300 million worldwide.
In 2011, Noyce directed and executive produced the pilot for the American Broadcasting Company series Revenge and has since directed numerous TV pilots, including Netflix's What/If starring Renée Zellweger and the FOX Network hit The Resident. In 2017, he signed a first look deal with 20th Century Fox Television.
Above Suspicion, starring Emilia Clarke and Jack Huston, originally to be released in America in 2020 by Roadside Attractions, was delayed until May 2021 due to the Coronavirus Pandemic.
In 2021, Noyce became executive producer on the film Show Me What You Got, written and directed by Svetlana Cvetko.
The Desperate Hour, starring Naomi Watts, was released in the US by Roadside Attractions in March 2022.
In late 2021, a 17 feature and 10 shorts retrospective of Noyce's work was presented at the Cinémathèque Française in Paris.
Noyce's next film, Fast Charlie, a darkly comedic thriller starring Pierce Brosnan, Morena Baccarin and James Caan, written by Richard Wenk was released in the US in December 2023, earning Noyce highly positive reviews.
Other activities Noyce is an ambassador for SmartFone Flick Fest (SF3), held annually in Sydney.
Recognition, honours, and awards In the Australia Day Honours in January 2023, Noyce was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) by the Australian Government. Year Title Awards and nominations1978NewsfrontAustralian Film Institute Award for Best DirectorAustralian Film Institute Award for Best Screenplay, OriginalBest First Film Award (Taormina Film Fest)Best Director Award (Taormina Film Fest)Nominated- Golden Charybdis (Taormina Film Fest)1982HeatwaveSpecial Mention (Mystfest)Nominated- Best Film of Festival Award (Mystfest)1989Dead CalmNominated- Australian Film Institute Award for Best Director2002Rabbit-Proof FenceAustralian Film Institute Award for Best FilmChristopher Award for Best FilmFilm Critics Circle of Australia Award for Best DirectorLondon Film Critics' Circle Award for Director of the Year (shared with The Quiet American)National Board of Review Award for Best Director (shared with The Quiet American)San Francisco Film Critics Circle Special Citation (shared with The Quiet American)Audience Award (Durban International Film Festival)Audience Award (Edinburgh International Film Festival)Audience Award (Leeds International Film Festival)Audience Award for Best Foreign-Language Film (São Paulo International Film Festival)Audience Award for Feature Film (Valladolid International Film Festival)People's Choice Award for Beat Feature-Length Fiction Film (Denver Film Festival)Nominated- Australian Film Institute Award for Best DirectorNominated- Inside Film Award for Best DirectorThe Quiet AmericanLondon Film Critics' Circle Award for Director of the Year (shared with Rabbit-Proof Fence)National Board of Review Award for Best Director (shared with Rabbit-Proof Fence)San Francisco Film Critics Circle Special Citation (shared with Rabbit-Proof Fence)Nominated- Satellite Award for Best DirectorNominated- Golden Kinnaree Award for Best Film (Bangkok International Film Festival)2014The GiverTruly Moving Picture Award - Feature Film (Heartland Film Festival)2024 Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award 55th International Film Festival of India
Filmography Films Year Title Director Producer Writer1977Backroads1978Newsfront1982Heatwave1987Echoes of Paradise1989Dead CalmBlind Fury1992Patriot Games1993Sliver1994Clear and Present Danger1997The Saint1999The Bone Collector2002Rabbit-Proof FenceThe Quiet American2006Catch a Fire2010Salt2014The Giver2021Above Suspicion2022The Desperate Hour2023Fast CharlieTBAAlly Clark
Executive producer Show Me What You Got (2021)
Short films Year Title Director Producer1969Better to Reign in Hell1971SunMemoriesIntersectionHomeCamera Class1973That's ShowbizCastor and PolluxCaravan Park1974Renegades: Fragments from a Diary of Three Years Experience 1970-731975Finks Make Movies1977Disco1978Tapak Dewata Java1979Sue and Mario: The Italian AustraliansBali: Island of the Gods
Documentary films Year Title Director Producer Notes1971Good Afternoon1976God Knows Why, But It Works2004Welcome to São PauloSegment "Marca Zero"
Television TV movies Fact and Fiction (1980) Three Vietnamese Stories (1980) Mary and Martha (2013)
TV series Year Title Director Producer Writer Notes1983The DismissalMiniseriesDirector - Episode: "Part Two"1984The Cowra BreakoutMiniseries3 episodes1985-89The Hitchhiker5 episodes1987VietnamMiniseries1992Nightmare CafeEpisode "Pilot"1998The Repair ShopUnaired pilot2003Tru CallingDirector - Episode "Pilot"Executive producer - 2 episodes2006-07BrotherhoodDirector - 2 episodesExecutive producer - 3 episodes2011-12RevengeDirector - 2 episodesConsulting producer - 21 episodesExecutive producer - 2 episodes2011Lights Out 3 episodes2012AmericanaUnaired pilotLuckEpisode "Ace Meets With a Colleague"2014CrisisDirector - Episode: "Pilot"Executive producer - 13 episodes2015WarriorUnaired pilot2016RootsMiniseriesEpisode "Part 1"2018The ResidentDirector - 2 episodesExecutive producer - 40 episodes2019What/IfDirector - 2 episodes
Unmade films Simmonds and Newcombe (late 1970s) – about the manhunt for Simmonds and NewcombeRod Bishop & Peter Beilby, "Ken Cameron", Cinema Papers, March–April 1979 p 257-258 King Hit (late 1970s) – about the dismissal of the Whitlam government
References
Further reading Maltin, Leonard. Phillip Noyce Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia, imdb.com. Retrieved 16 August 2005.
Petzke, Ingo: Backroads To Hollywood – Phillip Noyce. Pan Macmillan (Sydney) 2004 Petzke, Ingo. Great Directors – Phillip Noyce Senses of Cinema. Retrieved 10 February 2007. Contemporary North American Film Directors: A Wallflower Critical Guide By Yoram Allon, Hannah Patterson, Del Cullen. Entry on Phillip Noyce Look inside at Google Book search
External links