Jocelyn Moorhouse

Jocelyn Denise Moorhouse (born 4 September 1960) is an Australian screenwriter and film director. She has directed films such as Proof, How to Make an American Quilt, A Thousand Acres and The Dressmaker.

Jocelyn Moorhouse
Moorhouse at the premiere of The Dressmaker at TIFF, September 2015
Born	(1960-09-04) 4 September 1960 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Occupation	Film director, screenwriter
Spouse(s)	P.J. Hogan
Children	4
Awards	Australian Film Institute Award for Best Direction 1991 Proof Australian Film Institute Award for Best Screenplay 1991 Proof Australian Film Institute Award for Best Film 1994 Muriel's Wedding

Moorhouse has also collaborated with her husband, film director P. J. Hogan on films such as Muriel's Wedding (1994) and Mental (2012).

Early life

Moorhouse was born in Melbourne, Victoria.

Moorhouse did her HSC year in 1978 at Vermont High School where her mother taught art, which is the same high school that Gillian Armstrong attended a few years earlier. She then enrolled in the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS).

Career

It was while studying at AFTRS that Moorhouse completed her first short film entitled Pavane in 1983. She graduated from AFTRS in 1984 and started work as television script editor.

She created a 12-part series called c/o The Bartons for ABC Television in 1988, which was based on one of her short films at AFTRS called The Siege of the Bartons' Bathroom. Some of the other television shows she worked on included The Flying Doctors, Out of the Blue, A Place to Call Home, and The Humpty Dumpty Man.[1]

Moorhouse made her feature film debut in 1991 with Proof.[2] The idea for the film came from her interest in blindness and photography. She initially intended it to be a short film, but not being able to secure the funding for a short, she decided to make it into a feature film instead.[1] It took five years to go into production, but when it did it had a budget of $1.1 million. The film ended up taking six weeks to shoot in Melbourne during the winter of 1990.[3]

The success of Proof brought Moorhouse bigger and better opportunities. She followed up with her first "Hollywood blockbuster" with How to Make an American Quilt in 1995. Anne Bancroft, Winona Ryder, Kate Nelligan, Dermot Mulroney, and Alfre Woodard all had roles in the film, which was met with mixed reviews.[3][4]

Her next feature film was A Thousand Acres in 1997, an adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Jane Smiley. The film is about the relationship between a father and three daughters when tragedy is introduced into their lives. It starred Jessica Lange, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Jason Robards and was also met with mixed reviews.[3][5]

In 2012, Moorhouse directed the play Sex with Strangers for the Sydney Theatre Company, which was well reviewed by online magazine Crikey.[6]

The Dressmaker (2015) stars Kate Winslet, Judy Davis, Liam Hemsworth, and Hugo Weaving. The film was based on the novel by Rosalie Ham and is about a dressmaker who returns to her home in Australia to take care of her ailing, mentally unstable mother.[7]

Collaborations

Moorhouse was producer of her husband's films Muriel's Wedding in 1994[8] and Mental in 2012,[9] and was screenwriter for his 2002 film Unconditional Love.[3]

Personal life

Moorhouse is married to film director P. J. Hogan. They have four children, two of whom are autistic.[10][11]

In April 2019, Moorhouse spoke on the ABC Television program Australian Story about how their relationship had developed and how having the children had affected their personal and professional lives, including a move back to Australia from the US.[12][13]

Her memoir, in which Moorhouse writes about her career as well as her personal and family life, Unconditional Love: A Memoir of Filmmaking and Motherhood, was published in April 2019.[14]

Awards

See also: Filmography, below

• Moorhouse's first feature film, Proof, earned instant critical acclaim in Australia winning six Australian Film Institute Awards, including best screenplay and best director. Proof also won multiple prizes at various international film festivals. These include the Silver Hugo award in Chicago, the Golden Camera-Special Mention Award in Cannes, the 2nd place audience award at Mill Valley, the Bronze Award in Tokyo, and the Critics Award in São Paulo. Proof also earned Moorhouse the Sutherland Trophy at the British Film Institute Awards in 1992.[1]
• Moorhouse also won an Australian Film Institute Award for best film for Muriel's Wedding.[1]

Filmography

Year	Film	Director	Producer	Writer	Awards
1983	Pavane	N		N
1991	Proof	N		N	AACTA Award for Best Direction AACTA Award for Best Screenplay, Original or Adapted BFI Sutherland Trophy Cannes Film Festival Golden Camera Chicago International Film Festival Silver Hugo São Paulo International Film Festival Critics Award Tokyo International Film Festival Bronze Award
1994	Muriel's Wedding		N		AACTA Award for Best Film
1995	How to Make an American Quilt	N
1997	A Thousand Acres	N
2002	Unconditional Love		N	N
2012	Mental		N
2015	The Dressmaker	N		N	AACTA People's Choice Award for Favourite Australian Film AFCA Award for Best Screenplay 2nd place – Mill Valley Film Festival Audience Award Nominated – AACTA Award for Best Direction Nominated – AFCA Award for Best Director Nominated – FCCA Award for Best Director

Books

• Unconditional Love: A Memoir of Filmmaking and Motherhood (2019)[14][15]

References

1. "The Australian Women's Register".
2. Maslin, Janet (20 March 1992). "Review/Film Festival; Acerbity and Escapism In 'Proof,' From Australia". The New York Times.
3. "The New York Times".
4. "How to Make an American Quilt". The Washington Post.
5. "'A Thousand Acres': Sow-Sow Potentially Fertile Farm Drama Plowed Under By Stale Conventions". Daily News. 1997.
6. "REVIEW: Sex With Strangers: Wharf 1, Sydney". Crikey. 4 October 2012. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
7. "The Dressmaker Financed". Retrieved 14 October 2014.
8. "Muriel's Wedding". Rolling Stone.
9. Miraudo, Simon (3 October 2012). "Interview: PJ Hogan (Mental)". Quickflix. Archived from the original on 9 October 2012. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
10. THR Staff (6 January 2016). "Watch THR's Full, Uncensored Actress Roundtable With Jennifer Lawrence, Brie Larson and More". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
11. Neill, Rosemary (26 September 2015). "Dressmaker director Jocelyn Moorhouse on Kate Winslet and Eucalyptus". The Australian. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
12. Hassell, Greg (15 April 2019). "Filmmakers Jocelyn Moorhouse and PJ Hogan juggle movies and having children with autism". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
13. "Australian Story (iview)". Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
14. Buckmaster, Luke (23 April 2019). "From Proof to Muriel's Wedding: Jocelyn Moorhouse on the films that broke Russell Crowe and Toni Collette". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
15. Mooorhouse, Jocelyn (16 April 2019). Unconditional Love: A Memoir of Filmmaking and Motherhood. Text Publishing. ISBN 9781925773484.

External links

• Jocelyn Moorhouse on IMDb