The Road
Above the Line
Director
John Hillcoat
Bio
John Hillcoat grew up in America, Canada and Britain. A career in Fine Arts led to enrollment at Swinburne
Film School in Australia, where he produced two celebrated short dramas, THE BLONDE’S DATE WITH
DEATH and FRANKIE AND JOHNNY. He went on to a successful career directing and editing music videos
for such artists as Nick Cave, INXS, Crowded House, Depeche Mode, Robert Plant, Muse and Razorlight, for
which he won several international awards and an Australian Recording Industry Award for Best Director.
After three years researching maximum-security prisons in America and Australia, John co-wrote and directed
his first feature film GHOSTS ... OF THE CIVIL DEAD. The film was nominated for nine Australian Film
Institute Awards. His follow-up film, released in 1998, TO HAVE & TO HOLD is set in the jungle of Papua
New Guinea and stars Tcheky Karyo and Rachel Griffiths.
John's third feature film THE PROPOSITION stars Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, John Hurt and
Emily Watson. The film is an Australian Western set in remote outback Australia and was released in 2006. It
was nominated for twelve Australian Film Institute Awards and won four. It was also nominated for nine IF
Awards (The People's Choice Awards) and won four including Best Film. The movie went on to win numerous
other international awards.
In addition to THE ROAD Hillcoat is also in development on JOE PETROSINO, with Pete Dexter writing for
Anonymous Content and Summit Entertainment, with Benicio Del Toro attached; THE WETTEST COUNTY
IN THE WORLD, with Nick Cave writing for Red Wagon and Sony Pictures; and MOB COPS, with Terence
Winter writing for Spring Creek and 2929 Productions.
Director- Job Description
The principal creative artist on a movie set. A director is usually (but not always) the driving artistic source behind the filming process, and communicates to actors the way that he/she would like a particular scene played. A director's duties might also include casting, script editing, shot selection, shot composition, and editing. Typically, a director has complete artistic control over all aspects of the movie, but it is not uncommon for the director to be bound by agreements with either a producer or a studio. In some large productions, a director will delegate less important scenes to a second unit director 2UD.
