Fran Walsh

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

DNZM
Walsh in 2019
Born
Frances Rosemary Walsh

(1959-01-10) 10 January 1959 (age 65)
Wellington, New Zealand
Occupation(s)Screenwriter, film producer, lyricist
Years active1983–present
PartnerPeter Jackson (1987–present)
Children2

Dame Frances Rosemary Walsh

DNZM (born 10 January 1959)[1] is a New Zealand
screenwriter and film producer.

The partner of filmmaker Peter Jackson, Walsh has contributed to all of their films since 1989: as co-writer since Meet the Feebles, and as producer since The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. She has won three Academy Awards for the final film of the trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

Early life

Walsh was born into a family of Irish descent

punk band named The Wallsockets, she attended Victoria University of Wellington majoring in English literature and graduating in 1981.[2]

Career

Walsh got her screen break writing material for New Zealand producer Grahame McLean on 1983 television film A Woman of Good Character (It's Lizzie to those Close). Later she wrote scripts for his TV show Worzel Gummidge Down Under.[2]

Walsh met Peter Jackson in the mid-1980s during the final stages of production on his low-budget movie

Braindead (retitled Dead Alive in the United States, 1992).[4]

Walsh and Jackson have not married (2015).

J.R.R. Tolkien. In 1998, New Line Cinema provided the necessary financial backing to make a three-part adaptation of Tolkien's classic The Lord of the Rings.[6]

Walsh, with Jackson and

adapted screenplay for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. She also was one of the film's producers and co-composer of two songs for Return of the King, namely "Into the West"[7]
and "A Shadow Lies Between Us", the former song earning her one more Oscar that night.

Walsh, Jackson, and Boyens continued their screenplay work together for the 2005 remake of

green light by Universal after the Rings trilogy's success. The couple collaborated on the adaptation of the novel The Lovely Bones and on the three-film adaptation of The Hobbit.[2]

Walsh prefers to remain more private than Jackson or Boyens; she did not contribute an interview to the bonus features on The Lord of the Rings movie DVDs; however, she did feature on the director/writers'

commentary (where she and Jackson discussed that they felt one of them should remain a private figure for the good of their family). Her vocals were used as a significant part of the screech of the Nazgûl in the films.[8]

Honours and awards

She won three Academy Awards in 2004, for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Song, all for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. She has received seven Oscar nominations.

In the

Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, also for services to film.[10]

Filmography

This is her selected filmography as screenwriter, unless noted:

References

  1. ^ "UPI Almanac for Friday, Jan. 10, 2020". United Press International. 10 January 2020. Archived from the original on 15 January 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2020. ... New Zealand screenwriter Fran Walsh in 1959 (age 61)
  2. ^
    ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  3. .
  4. ^ Morton, Ray. King Kong: The History of a Movie Icon from Fay Wray to Peter Jackson. p. 168.
  5. ^ Patrick Goldstein (24 August 1998). "New Line Gambles on Becoming Lord of the 'Rings'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  6. .
  7. ^ David Farmer (2007). "The Soundscapes of Middle-earth" documentary (DVD Video). New Line Cinema. Event occurs at 07:20.
  8. ^ "New Year honours list 2002". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 31 December 2001. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  9. ^ "Queen's Birthday honours list 2019". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 3 June 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  10. ^ Lee, Ashley (24 November 2016). "Peter Jackson's 'Mortal Engines' Gets December 2018 Release". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
General sources

External links