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Roger Lindsey Donaldson (born 15 November 1945) is an Australian and New Zealand film director, screenwriter, and producer. His 1977 debut film, Sleeping Dogs, is considered a landmark work of New Zealand cinema, as one of the country’s first films to attract large-scale critical and commercial success. He has subsequently directed 17 feature films, working in Hollywood and the United Kingdom, as well as his native country.
Donaldson’s best-known films include the historical drama The Bounty (1984), the neo-noir No Way Out (1987), the romantic comedy Cocktail (1988), the Cuban Missile Crisis docudrama Thirteen Days (2000), the science-fiction horror film Species (1995), the disaster film Dante's Peak (1997), the Burt Munro biopic The World's Fastest Indian (2005), and the historical thriller The Bank Job (2008).
Donaldson has worked twice each with actors Kevin Costner, Pierce Brosnan, Anthony Hopkins and Michael Madsen. He is a recipient of three New Zealand Film and Television Awards. He is also an AACTA Award and Palme d’Or nominee. At the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours, Donaldson was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to film.
In 1976, Donaldson directed and produced his first feature, Sleeping Dogs. The film starred Mune and Sam Neill as two men fighting for their lives in a totalitarian New Zealand. He followed it with Smash Palace, starring Bruno Lawrence as a man who kidnaps his daughter after his marriage disintegrates.
Donaldson's international break came when producer Dino de Laurentiis invited him to direct an adaptation of Mutiny on the Bounty, after Lawrence of Arabia director David Lean left the project. The film, released as The Bounty, starred Anthony Hopkins as William Bligh and Mel Gibson as mutineer Fletcher Christian. Donaldson was nominated for a Golden Palm at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival for the film.
Donaldson went on to direct many popular and successful movies. His breakthrough American hit was the thriller No Way Out, starring Kevin Costner and Gene Hackman. Cocktail, starring Bryan Brown and Tom Cruise, was panned by critics but did very well at the box office, based largely on Cruise's starpower. The volcano disaster movie Dante's Peak, starring Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton, helped restore Donaldson's status after a string of less successful films. Thirteen Days, a political thriller starring Kevin Costner, adapted The Kennedy Tapes, a book by Ernest R. May and Philip Zelikow, which was a detailed account of the Cuban Missile Crisis. He also directed science fiction tale Species, and in 2003, the Al Pacino and Colin Farrell film The Recruit. Donaldson wrote and directed The World's Fastest Indian, which released in 2005. The film starred Anthony Hopkins and depicted Burt Munro's successful attempts at motorcycle speed records at Bonneville Salt Flats in the 1950s.
His son Chris Donaldson is a sprinter who has represented New Zealand at the Olympic Games level in 100m and 200m events. The-Sports.org entry for Chris Donaldson His daughter India Donaldson is also a filmmaker. Her debut feature Good One made its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, and also screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
In the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours, Donaldson was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to film.
| + !Year !Title !Director !Producer !Writer | ||||
| 1977 | Sleeping Dogs | |||
| 1980 | Nutcase | |||
| 1981 | Smash Palace | |||
| 1984 | The Bounty | |||
| 1985 | Marie | |||
| 1987 | No Way Out | |||
| 1988 | Cocktail | |||
| 1990 | Cadillac Man | |||
| 1992 | White Sands | |||
| 1994 | The Getaway | |||
| 1995 | Species | |||
| 1997 | Dante's Peak | |||
| 2000 | Thirteen Days | |||
| 2003 | The Recruit | |||
| 2005 | The World's Fastest Indian | |||
| 2008 | The Bank Job | |||
| 2011 | Seeking Justice | |||
| 2014 | The November Man | |||
Documentary film
| +
!Year
!Title
!Director
!Executive Producer | |||
| 2004 | The Making of "Sleeping Dogs" | ||
| 2017 | McLaren |
Short film
| + !Year !Title !Director !Producer !Writer !Notes | |||||
| 1971 | Burt Munro: Offerings to the God of Speed | TV Short | |||
| 1974 | Derek | ||||
| 1975–1976 | Winners & Losers | ||||
| 1999 | Fearless |
TV movies
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