Tony McNamara was a voracious reader as a kid growing up in a rural town outside Melbourne, Australia. But he never once considered becoming a writer. “I was always failing English,” he says. “I couldn’t get my head around grammar. Still can’t.”
And yet today, McNamara, 56, is the Oscar-nominated screenwriter behind some of the most sharp-witted, intricately verbal projects of the past five years, including 2018’s “The Favourite,” for director Yorgos Lanthimos; the 2020 Hulu series “The Great,” with Elle Fanning; and 2021’s “Cruella,” starring Emma Stone. Most recently, McNamara reunited with Lanthimos and Stone for “Poor Things,” which premiered at the Venice Film Festival to a rapturous reception and opened in limited release on Dec. 8. It tells the fantastical story of Bella Baxter (Stone), a Victorian woman transplanted with an infant’s brain who launches on an odyssey of sexual and intellectual self-discovery.
The common thread in all...
And yet today, McNamara, 56, is the Oscar-nominated screenwriter behind some of the most sharp-witted, intricately verbal projects of the past five years, including 2018’s “The Favourite,” for director Yorgos Lanthimos; the 2020 Hulu series “The Great,” with Elle Fanning; and 2021’s “Cruella,” starring Emma Stone. Most recently, McNamara reunited with Lanthimos and Stone for “Poor Things,” which premiered at the Venice Film Festival to a rapturous reception and opened in limited release on Dec. 8. It tells the fantastical story of Bella Baxter (Stone), a Victorian woman transplanted with an infant’s brain who launches on an odyssey of sexual and intellectual self-discovery.
The common thread in all...
- 12/10/2023
- by Adam B. Vary
- Variety Film + TV
Tony McNamara.
Us streaming service Hulu has commissioned The Great, a series created and scripted by Tony McNamara, which stars Elle Fanning as the 18th Century Russian Empress.
McNamara and Marian Macgowan, who produced his 2002 movie The Rage in Placid Lake, will be among the executive producers on the 10-part series produced by Mrc. Paramount has the rights in the rest of the world.
Last year Hulu ordered the pilot which was directed by Matt Shakman (Game Of Thrones) and filmed in Yorkshire. The plot was described as a genre-bending, anti-historical ride through Russia as Catherine rises from Catherine the Nothing to Catherine the Great.
Gwilym Lee will reprise his role as Grigory Orlov, the best friend and confidant of Russian emperor Peter (Nicholas Hoult). The cast includes Phoebe Fox, Adam Godley, Charity Wakefield, Douglas Hodge and Sacha Dhawan.
On Sunday McNamara and Deborah Davis, his co-writer on The Favourite,...
Us streaming service Hulu has commissioned The Great, a series created and scripted by Tony McNamara, which stars Elle Fanning as the 18th Century Russian Empress.
McNamara and Marian Macgowan, who produced his 2002 movie The Rage in Placid Lake, will be among the executive producers on the 10-part series produced by Mrc. Paramount has the rights in the rest of the world.
Last year Hulu ordered the pilot which was directed by Matt Shakman (Game Of Thrones) and filmed in Yorkshire. The plot was described as a genre-bending, anti-historical ride through Russia as Catherine rises from Catherine the Nothing to Catherine the Great.
Gwilym Lee will reprise his role as Grigory Orlov, the best friend and confidant of Russian emperor Peter (Nicholas Hoult). The cast includes Phoebe Fox, Adam Godley, Charity Wakefield, Douglas Hodge and Sacha Dhawan.
On Sunday McNamara and Deborah Davis, his co-writer on The Favourite,...
- 2/11/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
“The Favourite” won a record-breaking 10 trophies at Sunday’s British Independent Film Awards, including Best Picture and Best Screenplay. One of the two scripters, Tony McNamara, was on hand to pick up the prize on behalf of himself and Deborah Davis.
Catching up with him backstage, I asked if he had a personal favorite line from the film, to which he gamely responded “Yes, I really like it when Nick Hoult says ‘a man must look pretty.’ Anything Nick says is fun.”
McNamara declared he “absolutely would not” choose his own favorite from the film’s three female stars — Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone. “They are all so brilliant. Their timing is so impeccable.” He revealed, “they are the most laid back three you’d ever imagine. Emma had just won her Oscar [Best Actress for “La La Land”] and she came and did drama games with everybody 24 hours later. The usual theatre warm-ups,...
Catching up with him backstage, I asked if he had a personal favorite line from the film, to which he gamely responded “Yes, I really like it when Nick Hoult says ‘a man must look pretty.’ Anything Nick says is fun.”
McNamara declared he “absolutely would not” choose his own favorite from the film’s three female stars — Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone. “They are all so brilliant. Their timing is so impeccable.” He revealed, “they are the most laid back three you’d ever imagine. Emma had just won her Oscar [Best Actress for “La La Land”] and she came and did drama games with everybody 24 hours later. The usual theatre warm-ups,...
- 12/4/2018
- by Jacob Sarkisian
- Gold Derby
With “The Favourite,” Tony McNamara wanted to “re-engineer the period movie.” The Australian-born writer was hired by director Yorgos Lanthimos to do a rewrite on Deborah Davis‘s original script about the rivalry between two cousins (Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz) for the affections of a frail Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) during the 18th century. Watch our exclusive video interview with McNamara above.
See Best Actress Oscar odds: Olivia Colman inches past Glenn Close — will she take down Lady Gaga next?
Hailing from the land down under, McNamara didn’t have “a strong tradition” of period films about English royalty to draw upon, which made him a perfect match for the Greek-born Lanthimos. “We just wanted it to be about people in a really contemporary way,” he explains, “not in the sense we were looking back at something.” Instead, they wanted “these three women and the dilemmas they got up...
See Best Actress Oscar odds: Olivia Colman inches past Glenn Close — will she take down Lady Gaga next?
Hailing from the land down under, McNamara didn’t have “a strong tradition” of period films about English royalty to draw upon, which made him a perfect match for the Greek-born Lanthimos. “We just wanted it to be about people in a really contemporary way,” he explains, “not in the sense we were looking back at something.” Instead, they wanted “these three women and the dilemmas they got up...
- 11/14/2018
- by Zach Laws
- Gold Derby
Xenia Goodwin.
StudioCanal has dated Dance Academy: The Movie.
The film, directed by Jeffrey Walker and starring Xenia Goodwin, Keiynan Lonsdale, Jordan Rodrigues, Dena Kaplan, Thomas Lacey, Alicia Banit and Tara Morice, will hit Australian cinemas on March 23, 2017.
International sales are being handled by Zdf Enterprises Germany.
The show was created by writer Samantha Strauss (Mary: The Making of a Princess) with producer Joanna Werner (Secret City, Ready For This).
The film.s Ep's are Louise Smith (The Square, The Rage in Placid Lake), Bernadette O.Mahony (Worst Year of My Life Again, Mortified), Vicki O.Neil, Arne Lohmann and Nicole Keebe.
Dop Martin McGrath Acs (Muriel.s Wedding), who shot all 65 episodes of the show.s three seasons, is lensing the feature..
Also on board is production designer Chris Kennedy (The Water Diviner, The Proposition, Cosi), costume designer Tess Schofield (The Water Diviner, The Sapphires, Bootmen), hair and...
StudioCanal has dated Dance Academy: The Movie.
The film, directed by Jeffrey Walker and starring Xenia Goodwin, Keiynan Lonsdale, Jordan Rodrigues, Dena Kaplan, Thomas Lacey, Alicia Banit and Tara Morice, will hit Australian cinemas on March 23, 2017.
International sales are being handled by Zdf Enterprises Germany.
The show was created by writer Samantha Strauss (Mary: The Making of a Princess) with producer Joanna Werner (Secret City, Ready For This).
The film.s Ep's are Louise Smith (The Square, The Rage in Placid Lake), Bernadette O.Mahony (Worst Year of My Life Again, Mortified), Vicki O.Neil, Arne Lohmann and Nicole Keebe.
Dop Martin McGrath Acs (Muriel.s Wedding), who shot all 65 episodes of the show.s three seasons, is lensing the feature..
Also on board is production designer Chris Kennedy (The Water Diviner, The Proposition, Cosi), costume designer Tess Schofield (The Water Diviner, The Sapphires, Bootmen), hair and...
- 6/28/2016
- by Staff Writer
- IF.com.au
Xenia Goodwin on the set of Dance Academy: The Movie.
Dance Academy: The Movie has begun shooting in Sydney, almost six years to the day since the premiere of Dance Academy season one in 2010.
The series began with country girl Tara Webster (Xenia Goodwin) travelling to Sydney to audition for a place at the National Academy of Dance, the top ballet school in Australia..
Returning alongside Goodwin in the feature film is Dena Kaplan, Alicia Banit, Thomas Lacey (Winners and Losers), Jordan Rodrigues (The Fosters), Keiynan Lonsdale (Insurgent) and Strictly Ballroom's Tara Morice.
The show was created by writer Samantha Strauss (Mary: The Making of a Princess) with producer Joanna Werner (Secret City, Ready For This).
The film.s Ep's are Louise Smith (The Square, The Rage in Placid Lake), Bernadette O.Mahony (Worst Year of My Life Again, Mortified), Vicki O.Neil, Arne Lohmann and Nicole Keebe,...
Dance Academy: The Movie has begun shooting in Sydney, almost six years to the day since the premiere of Dance Academy season one in 2010.
The series began with country girl Tara Webster (Xenia Goodwin) travelling to Sydney to audition for a place at the National Academy of Dance, the top ballet school in Australia..
Returning alongside Goodwin in the feature film is Dena Kaplan, Alicia Banit, Thomas Lacey (Winners and Losers), Jordan Rodrigues (The Fosters), Keiynan Lonsdale (Insurgent) and Strictly Ballroom's Tara Morice.
The show was created by writer Samantha Strauss (Mary: The Making of a Princess) with producer Joanna Werner (Secret City, Ready For This).
The film.s Ep's are Louise Smith (The Square, The Rage in Placid Lake), Bernadette O.Mahony (Worst Year of My Life Again, Mortified), Vicki O.Neil, Arne Lohmann and Nicole Keebe,...
- 5/30/2016
- by Staff Writer
- IF.com.au
Three Months to Kill: McNamara’s Derivative Hodge-Podge
You’ll neither laugh nor cry, but hover somewhere in an emotionally dysthymic plateau watching Tony McNamara’s sophomore debut, Ashby. It’s the Australian director’s sophomore feature, his first time behind the camera in over a decade following the well-received 2003 film The Rage in Placid Lake. Since then, he has worked exclusively as a writer for television, experience readily evident in certain verbal witticisms glancing through this latest feature. And yet, this also feels like some oddball made-for-television feature, mashing a handful of genres into pulpy goo made up of assassin espionage, familial bonding, and adolescent melancholia tinged with romance.
Improbably focused on the relationship of a terminal ex-assassin bonding with his next door neighbor, a precocious high school student, the developing relationship changes their trajectories—in all the ways you could possibly predict considering each of their backgrounds. But...
You’ll neither laugh nor cry, but hover somewhere in an emotionally dysthymic plateau watching Tony McNamara’s sophomore debut, Ashby. It’s the Australian director’s sophomore feature, his first time behind the camera in over a decade following the well-received 2003 film The Rage in Placid Lake. Since then, he has worked exclusively as a writer for television, experience readily evident in certain verbal witticisms glancing through this latest feature. And yet, this also feels like some oddball made-for-television feature, mashing a handful of genres into pulpy goo made up of assassin espionage, familial bonding, and adolescent melancholia tinged with romance.
Improbably focused on the relationship of a terminal ex-assassin bonding with his next door neighbor, a precocious high school student, the developing relationship changes their trajectories—in all the ways you could possibly predict considering each of their backgrounds. But...
- 9/30/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Exclusive: Oscar nominee Michael Lerner (Barton Fink) [pictured], Kevin Dunn (Veep), and Zach Knighton (Happy Endings) have joined Mickey Rourke in Ashby, which started shooting this week in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Nat Wolff (The Fault In Our Stars), Emma Roberts and Sarah Silverman also star.
Tony McNamara (The Rage In Placid Lake) writes and directs.
The story follows the relationship between neighbours Ed Wallis, a high school student (Wolff) and Ashby, a retired CIA assassin (Rourke) who only has a few months left to live.
The producers are Langley Park Pictures’ Kevin McCormick and Rory Koslow; Tagline Pictures’ Josh Kesselman; and Head Gear Films’ Phil Hunt and Compton Ross. Stephen Kelliher and Hilary Davis of Bankside Films serve as executive producers; Bankside also handles international sales. CAA-uta jointly rep North American rights.
Bankside has already pre-sold the film to Cis & Baltic States (Exponenta), Greece (Hollywood Films), Middle East (Shooting Stars), and South Africa (M-net).
Stephen Kelliher, Head of Sales...
Nat Wolff (The Fault In Our Stars), Emma Roberts and Sarah Silverman also star.
Tony McNamara (The Rage In Placid Lake) writes and directs.
The story follows the relationship between neighbours Ed Wallis, a high school student (Wolff) and Ashby, a retired CIA assassin (Rourke) who only has a few months left to live.
The producers are Langley Park Pictures’ Kevin McCormick and Rory Koslow; Tagline Pictures’ Josh Kesselman; and Head Gear Films’ Phil Hunt and Compton Ross. Stephen Kelliher and Hilary Davis of Bankside Films serve as executive producers; Bankside also handles international sales. CAA-uta jointly rep North American rights.
Bankside has already pre-sold the film to Cis & Baltic States (Exponenta), Greece (Hollywood Films), Middle East (Shooting Stars), and South Africa (M-net).
Stephen Kelliher, Head of Sales...
- 6/27/2014
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
New ABC drama The Time of Our Lives, which stars Claudia Karvan, Justine Clarke, Shane Jacobson, began shooting in Melbourne on June 29.
The 13x60 minute drama series also stars William McInnes, Stephen Curry and Michelle Vergara Moore, will explore the lives of the Tivolli family as they juggle, fight, love and play their way through the challenges of contemporary family life.
The series has been created by The Secret Life of Us co-creator Amanda Higgs and writer Judi McCrossin and is being produced by their company Jahm productions for ABC TV.
The series' writers include McCrossin (Beaconsfield, The Surgeon, The Secret Life of Us), Michael Miller (Miss Fisher.s Murder Mysteries), Kris Mrksa (The Slap), Blake Ayshford (The Straits), Ursula Cleary (Beaconsfield script editor), and Tony McNamara (The Rage in Placid Lake).
The 13x60 minute drama series also stars William McInnes, Stephen Curry and Michelle Vergara Moore, will explore the lives of the Tivolli family as they juggle, fight, love and play their way through the challenges of contemporary family life.
The series has been created by The Secret Life of Us co-creator Amanda Higgs and writer Judi McCrossin and is being produced by their company Jahm productions for ABC TV.
The series' writers include McCrossin (Beaconsfield, The Surgeon, The Secret Life of Us), Michael Miller (Miss Fisher.s Murder Mysteries), Kris Mrksa (The Slap), Blake Ayshford (The Straits), Ursula Cleary (Beaconsfield script editor), and Tony McNamara (The Rage in Placid Lake).
- 7/2/2012
- by Staff reporter
- IF.com.au
Reviewed by Elliot V. Kotek
(from the 2011 South by Southwest Film Festival)
Directed by: James Wan
Written by: Leigh Whannell
Starring: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey, Ty Simpkins and Lin Shaye
From minute one of the opening credits of “Insidious,” you know you’re in for an old-fashioned scare. Utilizing a score screaming with strings, director James Wan (“Saw”) transports us to the “Exorcist” era of the genre, not relying on many of the new technological gimmicks relied on recently by other filmmakers.
When a young family (Rose Byrne, Patrick Wilson and their kids) move into an Amityville-style home, what begins as creaks and cracks becomes critical when their son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) slips into a coma of sorts and “travelers” begin to visit the house. When moving to a new home doesn’t stem the tide of ghouls, the couple reluctantly calls on the services of a sincere...
(from the 2011 South by Southwest Film Festival)
Directed by: James Wan
Written by: Leigh Whannell
Starring: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey, Ty Simpkins and Lin Shaye
From minute one of the opening credits of “Insidious,” you know you’re in for an old-fashioned scare. Utilizing a score screaming with strings, director James Wan (“Saw”) transports us to the “Exorcist” era of the genre, not relying on many of the new technological gimmicks relied on recently by other filmmakers.
When a young family (Rose Byrne, Patrick Wilson and their kids) move into an Amityville-style home, what begins as creaks and cracks becomes critical when their son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) slips into a coma of sorts and “travelers” begin to visit the house. When moving to a new home doesn’t stem the tide of ghouls, the couple reluctantly calls on the services of a sincere...
- 3/28/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Magazine
Reviewed by Elliot V. Kotek
(from the 2011 South by Southwest Film Festival)
Directed by: James Wan
Written by: Leigh Whannell
Starring: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey, Ty Simpkins and Lin Shaye
From minute one of the opening credits of “Insidious,” you know you’re in for an old-fashioned scare. Utilizing a score screaming with strings, director James Wan (“Saw”) transports us to the “Exorcist” era of the genre, not relying on many of the new technological gimmicks relied on recently by other filmmakers.
When a young family (Rose Byrne, Patrick Wilson and their kids) move into an Amityville-style home, what begins as creaks and cracks becomes critical when their son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) slips into a coma of sorts and “travelers” begin to visit the house. When moving to a new home doesn’t stem the tide of ghouls, the couple reluctantly calls on the services of a sincere...
(from the 2011 South by Southwest Film Festival)
Directed by: James Wan
Written by: Leigh Whannell
Starring: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey, Ty Simpkins and Lin Shaye
From minute one of the opening credits of “Insidious,” you know you’re in for an old-fashioned scare. Utilizing a score screaming with strings, director James Wan (“Saw”) transports us to the “Exorcist” era of the genre, not relying on many of the new technological gimmicks relied on recently by other filmmakers.
When a young family (Rose Byrne, Patrick Wilson and their kids) move into an Amityville-style home, what begins as creaks and cracks becomes critical when their son Dalton (Ty Simpkins) slips into a coma of sorts and “travelers” begin to visit the house. When moving to a new home doesn’t stem the tide of ghouls, the couple reluctantly calls on the services of a sincere...
- 3/28/2011
- by admin
- Moving Pictures Network
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