Phillip Noyce - 1977 - Gary Foley
BACKROADS
The Cast And Crew
The film BACKROADS has had a profound impact on the Australian Film Industry, including being the first Australian film where Indigenous Australians have had a significant creative input. Much of this influence is to do with the director Phillip Noyce and the inclusion of Australian Indigenous political activist Gary Foley in both the cast and the
creative process.
Australian born director, Phillip Noyce, first became interested in films at a young age, when he was inspired by the relation of the audience to performer when a what he describes as "tent show" came to his home town. Growing up in Griffith in New South Wales, he would later move to Sydney with his family at the age of 12. As a teenager, he was first exposed to underground films as well as blockbuster American films. Making his first film, Better To Reign In Hell, at the age of 18 and in 1973 was offered a place at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School where he created the work "Castor and Pollux', which won the award for Best Australian Short Film in 1974.
In 1977, Noyce released his first-full length feature film, Backroads, which was the first Australian Film to feature a significant creative input from Indigenous Australians. He would later make more will known films including Patriot Games (1992), Rabbit Proof Fence (2002) and Salt (2010).
Place of Birth: Griffith, New South Wales, Austrlaia.
Occupation: Director (d), Screenwriter (sc).
Education: Australian National Film School.
1975 The Golden Cage (asst d).
1976 Let The Balloon Go (asst d).
1977 Backroads (p, d, sc).
1978 Newsfront (d, sc).
1983 Heatwave (d, makeup effects).
1987 Echoes Of Paradise / Shadow Of The Peacock (d).
1989 Dead Calm (d).
1990 Blind Fury (d).
1992 Patriot Games (d).
1993 Sliver (d).
1994 Clear And Present Danger (d).
1997 The Saint (d).
1998 The Repair Shop (d).
1999 The Bone Collector (d).
2002 Patriot Games: Up Close (d).
2002 Rabbit Proof Fence (d, p).
2002 Clear And Present Danger: Behind The Danger (d).
2002 The Quiet American (d).
2003 Tru Calling (d, p).
2004 Welcome to Sao Paulo (d).
2006 Catch a Fire (d).
2006 Brotherhood (TV Series) (d).
2010 Salt (d).
2011 Revenge (TV Series) (p, d).
2012 Luck (TV Series) (d).
Phillip Noyce
Filmography
Gary Foley (b 1950) Born inGrafton, northern NSW, of Gumbainggir descent.
He spent most of his youth in Nambucca Heads. Expelled from school at the age of 15, Foley came to Sydney as a 17-year-old apprentice draughtsperson. Since then he has been at the centre of major political activities including the 1971 Springbok tour demonstrations, the Tent Embassy in Canberra in 1972, the Commonwealth Games protest in 1982, and more recently, the protests during the 1988 bicentennial celebrations.
He was also involved in the formation of Redfern's Aboriginal Legal Service (in Sydney) and the Aboriginal Medical Service in Melbourne. In 1974 Foley was part of an Aboriginal delegation that toured China and in 1978 he was with a group that took films on black Australia to the Cannes Film festival and then to Germany and other European countries. He returned to England and Europe a year later and set up the first Aboriginal Information Centre in London. Foley has been a director of the Aboriginal Health Service (1981) and the Director of the Aboriginal Arts Board (1983-86) and the Aboriginal Medical Service Redfern (1988). He has been a senior lecturer at Swinburne College in Melbourne, consultant to the Royal Commission into Black Deaths in Custody (1988) and a board member of the Aboriginal Legal Service. He has also served on the national executive of the National Coalition of Aboriginal Organisations.
His acting career began in 1972 with the revue Basically Black. Since then he has appeared in Backroads, Going Down, Buckeye & Pinto, Pandemonium, Dogs in Space, Flying Doctors and A Country Practice.
Late in life Foley became a student at University of Melbourne where he studied history, cultural studies and computer science. He completed his BA with majors in History and Cultural Studies in 2000, and gained first class Honours in History at at the end of 2002. Between 2001 and April 2005 he was also the Senior Curator for Southeastern Australia at Museum Victoria. Between 2005 and 2008 he was a lecturer / tutor in the Education Faculty of University of Melbourne, and is about to complete a PhD in History at the Australian Centre at University of Melbourne
Gary Foley
Bill Hunter is one of Australia's acting legends, having worked with almost every notable Australian director and actor of the last thirty years - evidence of his genuine popularity among the public and acting fraternity alike. He started out in Australian television in the '60s (a hotbed of well written and directed drama), and rapidly became a favorite of directors during the boom in the Australian movie industry in the '70s. He has often played the strong, opinionated, stereotypically gruff Australian who ultimately betrays a softer heart.
Named Australian Movie Star of the Year in 1994, and a 1996 Honorary Membership recipient into the Australian Cinematography Society, Bill Hunter is notable as one of Australia's most recognised actors. Born 27 February 1940 in Kew, Victoria, the Actor tragically passed away in 2011, sparking a great deal of interest in the Australian Films in which he starred. Throughout his career, Hunter worked with numerous Directors, creating films such as Muriel's Wedding, Strictly Ballroom, Gallipoli and most controversially, Phillip Noyces Backroads. Playing the role of Jack King in Backroads, Hunter acted alongside Aboriginal political activist Gary Foley, in what remains an insightful and political take on the culture of both Indigenous politics as well as sparking a revolution in Australian Film, with the first significant creative contributions of Indigenous people toward a feature film.
Filmography
Gallipoli
Newsfront
Muriel's Wedding
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
The Last Days of Chez Nous
Backroads
Heatwave
Road To Nhill
Mull
Stone
Shotgun Wedding
27A
Hard Knocks
Strictly Ballroom
Legend of the Guardians
Red Dog
Bill Hunter
Other Cast and Crew
He spent most of his youth in Nambucca Heads. Expelled from school at the age of 15, Foley came to Sydney as a 17-year-old apprentice draughtsperson. Since then he has been at the centre of major political activities including the 1971 Springbok tour demonstrations, the Tent Embassy in Canberra in 1972, the Commonwealth Games protest in 1982, and more recently, the protests during the 1988 bicentennial celebrations.
Actors Role
Allan Penney Shopkeeper
Bill Hunter Jack King
Doc Coffey Card Player
Essie Coffey Aboriginal Woman
Gary Foley Gary
Julie McGregor Anna
Max Andrews Garageman
Richard Sullivan Card Player
Stan Penrose Policeman
Terry Camilleri Jean-Claude
Zac Martin
Crew Role
David Gribble Additional Photography
Misha Nussinov Additional Photography
Jan Kenny Assistant Camera
Elizabeth Knight Assistant Director
Frans Vandenburg Assistant Film Editor
Lloyd Carrick Associate Producer
Julian Ellingworth Automated Dialogue Mixer
Russell Boyd Cinematographer
Robert Murphy Composer
Jan Chapman Continuity
Phillip Noyce Director, Producer, Screenwriter
Russell Boyd Director of Photography
David Huggett Editor
Phillipa Noyce Makeup
Martha Ansara Production Assistant
Gary Foley Screenwriter
John Emery Screenwriter
Lloyd Carrick Sound Recordist
Kevin Smith Unit Production Manager