Classic Film

Thrills and Chills on the open water

Noyce's first professional film was the 50-minute docudrama God Knows Why, But It Works (1976) in 1975. This helped pave the way for his first feature, the road movie Backroads (1977) which starred Australian Aboriginal activist (and some time actor)Gary Foley and iconic Australian actor Bill Hunter.

Hunter went on to appear in 2 other Phillip Noyce films (Newsfront and Heatwave).

In 1978, Phillip directed and co-wrote Newsfront (1978), which won Best Film, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay at the Australian Film Awards, as well as proving a huge commercial hit in Australia. In addition to opening the London Film Festival, Newsfront was the first Australian film to screen at the New York Film Festival.

In 1982, Heatwave (1982), co-written and directed by Noyce and starring Judy Davis, was chosen to screen at the Director's Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

The success of the Australian produced Dead Calm (1989), starring Nicole Kidman, Sam Neill and Billy Zane brought Noyce to Hollywood, where he directed 6 films over the next decade, including Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994) starring Harrison Ford, and The Bone Collector (1999), starring Oscar© winners Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie.

• Alan Rickman's roles in Die Hard (1988) and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991).
• The role of  Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).
• The role of Aramis in The Man in the Iron Mask (1998).
• The role of Mr. Salt in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), but Tim Burton wanted Johnny Depp to be the only "name" actor in the movie.
• The Eighth Doctor in Doctor Who (1996).
• The role of the villainous "Doc Ock" in Spider-Man 2 (2004). His wife ended up as the principal make-up & hair stylist for Kirsten Dunst in the movie.
• Was a candidates for the fourth and fifth actor to portray James Bond - 007 but was beaten out by Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan respectively

• If all I did was acting, I'd go out of my mind.
• The pathetic thing about actors is they don't feel valid unless they're acting.
• (2012, on My Brilliant Career (1979)) A most important role for me, I must say, because that's the film that took me out of New Zealand, the film that allowed me to live and work in Australia, which I love. Yeah, that was probably more transformative than anything else I've done, in a way. Without that film, I never would've-prior to that, I'd done Sleeping Dogs (1977), and I thought, "That was a one-off, I'll never do another film." And if you look at Sleeping Dogs, you think, "Well, I wouldn't use that bugger again." But I did get cast in Brilliant Career, I kind of understood a little bit more about what was necessary, and it was a great opportunity for me. That film changed me into an actor rather than just a part-time thespian.
• (2012, on Dead Calm (1989)) Well, that was fantastically good fun, actually, although quite a lot of the time we were seasick and cold and wet and stuff like that. It was a very interesting film to do, as there were only three characters, you know, but it works very well, and it built quite a few careers. For [director] Phillip Noyce, it launched him into big action films, and there's this Australian actress called Nicole Kidman in it who you might've heard of...