Fran Walsh
Frances Walsh MNZM is an
Academy Award-winning
screenwriter and
film producer and also a
musician. She is the long time partner of
filmmaker Peter Jackson since
1987, and
mother of their two children,
Billy and
Katie. Fran has contributed to all of Jackson's films since they met at the end of
Bad Taste.
Walsh was born in
Wellington, New Zealand and attended Wellington Girls' High School intent on becoming a
fashion designer, but eventually became interested in music instead. Occasionally taking time off to perform in a
punk band named The Wallsockets, she attended
Victoria University of Wellington majoring in
English literature and graduated in
1981. Walsh wrote scripts for television shows such as
Shark in the Park and
Worzel Gummidge Down Under in the 1980s.
Walsh met Peter Jackson in 1987 while he was doing the
post-production on his low-budget flick
Bad Taste. Walsh has collaborated with Peter Jackson on the scripts of all his subsequent films, starting with the
black comedy Meet the Feebles (1989). The couple then collaborated with writer
Stephen Sinclair on the
horror-comedy film
Braindead (also known as
Dead Alive, 1992).
Walsh and Jackson explored new ground with the
drama Heavenly Creatures (1994), which earned her an Oscar nomination for the screenplay. She gave birth to Billy in 1995 and Katie in 1996. They returned to a more familiar genre with the horror-comedy
The Frighteners (1996). They were in talks with
Universal Studios to remake
King Kong until 1998's
Godzilla and
Mighty Joe Young were first announced, and Universal decided against the film. Wanting to try his hand at
fantasy, Jackson turned to
Miramax to make a film adaptation of
The Lord of the Rings. In 1998,
New Line Cinema provided the necessary financial backing to make the films.
Walsh, with Jackson and
Philippa Boyens, is credited for writing the screenplays for
The Lord of the Rings movies (2001–2003). They shared many awards, including an
Oscar for their
adapted screenplay for
The Return of the King. She also was one of the film's producers and a composer of two songs for
Return of the King, namely "
Into the West" and "A Shadow Lies Between Us", earning her two more Oscars that night.
Walsh, Jackson, and Boyens continued their screenplay work together for the 2005 remake of
King Kong, which was given the
greenlight by Universal after the Rings trilogy's success. The couple recently acquired the rights to the novel
The Lovely Bones.
Walsh prefers to remain more private than Jackson or Boyens, as she did not contribute an interview to
The Lord of the Rings movie
DVDs; however, she does feature on the director/writers'
commentary. As well, her largely unaltered vocals were used as the screech of the
Nazgûl in the films. She has been described as "modest to a fault" by
Forgotten Silver-filmmaker and Jackson-friend
Costa Botes.
Fran Walsh, New Zealand screenwriter, should not be confused with Fran Walsh, a writer for New Zealand commentary magazine, The Listener.
This is her selected filmography as a screenwriter, unless noted.
*
Meet the Feebles (1989)
*
Braindead (1992, writer, casting director, actress)
*
Heavenly Creatures (1994)
*
Jack Brown Genius (1994)
*
The Frighteners (1996, writer and associate producer)
*
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001, screenplay, producer, lyricist for "In Dreams", additional second unit director)
*
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002, screenplay, producer, composer for "Gollum's Song")
*
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003, screenplay, producer, composer for "
Into the West" and "A Shadow Lies Between Us")
*
King Kong (2005, screenplay, producer)
*
The Lovely Bones (2007, screenplay, producer) (Announced)
*
Halo (2008) - Executive Producer (Announced)
*
"Fran Walsh: The Enigma".
TheOneRing.net.
23 December 2001.
* LeVasseur, Andrea.
"Fran Walsh".
All Movie Guide. Retrieved
14 February 2005.
*
