Scott Hicks

Australian writer-producer-director Scott Hicks enjoyed a lengthy career alternating between smaller dramatic films, informative documentaries and mainstream Hollywood features. Learning his trade under the tutelage of such acclaimed Aussie filmmakers as Bruce Beresford during the Australian film renaissance of the 1970s, Hicks debuted with his high-octane coming of age tale, "Freedom!" (1982). His follow-up, "Sebastian and the Sparrow" (1988), the story of an unlikely boyhood friendship, was as commercially unexceptional as its predecessor, although Hicks found success on television, helming documentaries like the Emmy-winning "Submarines: Sharks of Steel: The Hidden Threat" (The Discovery Channel, 1993). Universal acclaim in the feature world came at last with the musical biopic "Shine" (1996), the project that won actor Geoffrey Rush an Oscar and took the Australian director to Hollywood. He followed this with dramas - the aesthetically sublime romance "Snow Falling on Cedars" (1999) and "Hearts in Atlantis" (2001), a mood piece based on a Stephen King novella. After a period of time spent back in Australia tending his to his winery and directing television commercials, Hicks ventured back to Hollywood for the romantic comedy-drama "No Reservations" (2007), followed by the more heartfelt "The Boys Are Back" (2009) and an adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks love story "The Lucky One" (2012). Clearly more interested in the drama inherent in the human struggle than showy genre entertainments, Hicks continually sought out material that spoke to him on a personal level.