George Miller

George Miller - T V, Birthday and Childhood

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George Miller's Personal Details

George Miller is a noted Australian film director, screen play writer and producer

InformationDetail
BirthdayMarch 3, 1945
NationalityAustralian
FamousFilm & Theater Personalities, Directors, T V & Movie Producers, Film Maker, Movie Producers, T V
SpousesMargaret Sixel (m. 1995), Sandy Gore (m. 1985–1992)
SiblingsBill Miller, Chris Miller, John Miller
Known asGeorge Miller AO
ChildrensAugusta Miller, Buda Miller, Tige Miller
Universities
  • Sydney Boys High School
  • Ipswich Grammar School
Birth PlaceBrisbane, Queensland
GenderMale
FatherDimitri Castrisios Miliotis
MotherAngela Balson
Sun SignPisces
Born inBrisbane, Queensland
Famous asFilmmaker

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George Miller's photo

Who is George Miller?

George Miller is a noted Australian film director, screen play writer and producer. It was while studying medicine in Sydney that he first became interested in films. In his final year, he produced a one-minute film that earned him the first prize, enabling him to attend a film workshop in Melbourne free of cost. He retained the interest in filmmaking even after earning his MBBS degree. His first film, ‘Mad Max’ was a big hit and in spite of very low budget it won three Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards and a Special Jury Award at Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival, establishing his reputation as a director. Thereafter he made three more Mad Max films, which were even more successful. Although, he is today best known for his ‘Mad Max franchise’, he has proved that he is equally good in other genre of film, winning Academy Award for an animated musical called ‘Happy Feet’.

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Childhood & Early Years

George Miller was born on March 3, 1945, in Queensland, Australia into a Greek immigrant family. There is dispute about the exact place of his birth. While some say that he was born in Brisbane, others mention Chinchilla, where he spent his early childhood, as his birth place.

His father, Dimitri Castrisios Miliotis, was from the Greek island of Kythira, where the family operated a mill. On migrating to Australia, he changed his surname to Miller, eventually setting up a general store and a café in Chinchilla.

His mother, Angela nee Balloyoulo, worked with her husband at the store. Her family, originally from Anatolia, was displaced by the 1923 population exchange. On migrating to Australia, they anglicized their surname to Balson.

The couple had four children; all boys. Among them, George and his fraternal (un-identical) twin John, were born first. He has two younger brothers named Chris and Bill. Incidentally, Bill grew up to be an award-winning film producer.

He had a very happy childhood, playing all day long with friends, roaming around the bush at his own will, his parents never knowing where he was. He also loved to listen to the radios and watch movies at Star Theatre, trying to incorporate what he saw into their games.

He had his first experience of death at the age of seven. One day while on a riding expedition with three friends, they decided to take a dip in the nearby river. As he swam across the river he saw one of his friends disappearing into the water.

He rushed back to help him, only to drown with him. Although they were saved just in time by a passing cowboy the experience of near death continued to haunt him for days and had great impact on his film making.

As a child, he also loved going out for drives. Sitting at the back of their family car, he loved to stare out the window, looking at the horizon that stretched far beyond his gaze or at the long flat roads with their white lines that rolled on and on. .

It is not known where, but it is evident that George began his formal education at Chinchilla. Later, at the age of eleven, George and John were sent as boarders to Ipswich Grammar School, located in Ipswich near Brisbane. George did not enjoy his experience there, having nightmare every night.

Almost every night, in a recurring dream, he saw a man riding across a desert landscape, which began to move, eventually swallowing him up. It used to terrorize him so much that he could never recover from it.

Shortly after the twins were sent to Ipswich, the Millers sold their store and moved to Vaucluse in Sydney. Subsequently, at the age of twelve, the boys were enrolled at Sydney Boys High School.

After graduating from high school in late 60s, George and John entered University of New South Wales Faculty of Medicine for their MBBS degree. Here, George took special interest in the physiology of the human body.

Career

In 1971, while studying in their final year, George and John directed and produced a one-minute film. It earned them the first prize in a local competition, enabling George to enroll in a summer film school workshop under the University of Melbourne free of cost.

At the film workshop in Melbourne, George met Byron Kennedy, forming a lifelong friendship with him. Also in 1971, George wrote and directed his first film, ‘Violence in Cinema Part I’. Produced by Byron, it entered the 1972 Sydney Film Festival in the documentary category and won critical acclaim.

On receiving his MBBS degree in 1971, Miller served as the resident medical officer at St. Vincent's Hospital for year. Thereafter, he joined a city hospital, serving there for two and half years, and remained registered with medical board until 1981. Concurrently, he continued to work on short experimental films.

In 1978, George Miller cofounded ‘Kennedy Miller Production’ with Byron Kennedy, producing their debut film, ‘Mad Max’ in 1979, meeting the postproduction cost with Miller’s medical income. The film, directed and co-written by Miller, was an instant hit, grossing Australian $5,355,490 at home and over US$100 million worldwide.

In 1980, he produced ‘The Chain Reaction’, a disaster/science fiction thriller, directed and written by Ian Barry. In it, Miller directed the car chase sequence (un-credited). Meanwhile, he received number of offers from Hollywood; but chose to work on a rock and roll movie called ‘Roxanne’.

For some reason, he never made ’Roxanne’, shelving the project for good. Instead, he decided to make a sequel to ‘Mad Max’. With better budget at hand, he hoped to make a better movie. Finally in 1981, it was released as ‘Mad Max 2’ in Australia and ‘The Road Warrior’ in the USA.

His next film was ‘Twilight Zone: The Movie’, a remake of the 1959 - 1964 television series, ‘The Twilight Zone’. Released on June 24, 1983, the film became controversial because of a stunt helicopter crash which killed three actors, two among whom were children hired in violation of Californian laws.

In 1983, Miller made a miniseries called ‘Dismissal’ for the Australian television, writing, directing and producing it. It was followed by two more miniseries called ‘Last Bastion’ (director) and ‘Bodyline’ (writer and producer), both of which were telecast in 1984. In 1989, he would make another miniseries called ‘Bangkok Hilton’.

In 1985, George Miller had another Mad Max sequel released. Called ‘Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome', it was directed and co-written by him. Despite higher budget, its box office return was comparatively moderate, grossing Australian $4,272,802 at home. Although it received generally positive review many fans criticized it for being ‘Hollywoodized’.

After ‘Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome’ (also known as ‘Mad Max 3’), Miller took a break from action film, directing a comedy-fantasy film called ‘The Witches of Eastwick’, based on John Updike's novel of the same name. Released on June 12, 1987, it was both a critical and commercial success.

From 1987 to 1991, he took break from direction and produced a number of films, such as ‘The Year My Voice Broke’ in 1987, ‘Dead Calm’ in 1989 and ‘Flirting’ in 1991.

From September 1991, he started working on, ’Lorenzo’s Oil’, a drama film, which he co-wrote with Nick Enright, directed and produced. On its release on December 30, 1992, ’Lorenzo’s Oil’ received great acclamation. Based on Augusto and Michaela Odone’s relentless search for the cure of their son’s adrenoleukodystrophy, the film earned him his first Academy nomination for script writing.

In 1993, George Miller was hired to direct ‘Contact’ by Warner Brothers. He worked on it for around year; mutually agreeing to part ways for unknown reasons thereafter.

He next co-wrote the script for ‘Babe’, a sheep that wanted to become a sheepdog. He also produced the film, which was released in the USA in August 4, 1995. In the following year, he produced a documentary film ‘Video Fool for Love’.

In 1997, he wrote the script of an hour-long documentary film, ‘40,000 Years of Dreaming (White Fellas Dreaming: A Century of Australian Cinema)’, also directing and starring in it. He took scenes from different Australian cinemas, including his own Mad Max series and made a collage of it.

In 1998, he co-wrote, directed and produced a sequel to his 1995 production, ‘Babe’. Entitled, ‘Babe: Pig in the City’.

He took a break after ‘Babe: Pig in the City’. His next film, ‘Happy Feet’ was released on 17 November 2006 in North America and 26 December 2006 in Australia. Like most other films, Miller directed, co-wrote and co-produced this film, winning his only Academy Award for it.

Although ‘Happy Feet’ was mainly a computer generated animated musical film on the life of a Penguin in Antarctica it also incorporated live human action in some scenes. Interestingly, he was first inspired to make such a film on meeting explorer Frank Harley’s son while shooting Mad Max 2.

In 2007, Miller was hired to direct ‘Justice League Mortal’; but unfortunately the production was shelved. In the same year, his company, Kennedy Miller, founded a digital animation studio called D. D. Studio in partnership with Omnilab Media in Sydney. Next in 2009, Kennedy Miller was renamed Kennedy Miller Michel.

With the success of ‘Happy Feet’ behind him, Miller next started working on its sequel. Called ‘Happy Feet Two’ and made with a budget of $135 million, the film was released in late 2011 in the USA and Australia. Unfortunately, it failed to live up to the expectation.

In 2015, he returned to action films with ‘Mad Max Fury Road’. He had tried to make the film earlier, with pre-production starting as early as in 1997, but for various reasons, it fell into a ‘development limbo’. Finally, he started filming it in July 2012.

'Mad Max Fury Road' was released in May 2015, winning numerous nominations and awards. Thereafter, he started working on its sequel, ‘Mad Max Wasteland’. But unfortunately, a lawsuit filed against Warner Brothers over a disputed $7 million bonus delayed the production and it is yet to be released.

Major Works

George Miller is best known for his ‘Mad Max’ films, which depict the adventures of Max Rockatansky, a police officer in a future Australia. The franchise started with ‘Mad Max’ (1979), which was followed by Mad Max 2 (1981), Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015).

Personal Life & Legacy

In 1985, George Miller married actress Sandy Gore and had a daughter named Augusta with her. They divorced in 1992.

In 1995, he married film editor Margaret Sixel, whom he had met during the production of ‘Flirting’. The couple has two sons, Buda Miller, born in 1996 and Tige Miller, born in 2006.

Trivia

In spite of the success of ‘Mad Max’, George Miller continued his registration with the medical board until 1981. That is mainly because for doing stunts one had to have a doctor on the set and staying registered enabled him to meet that requirement.

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George Miller's awards

YearNameAward

Academy Awards(Oscars)

2007Best Animated Feature Film of the YearHappy Feet (2006)

BAFTA Awards

2007Best Animated Feature FilmHappy Feet (2006)

George Miller biography timelines

  • // 1923
    His mother, Angela nee Balloyoulo, worked with her husband at the store. Her family, originally from Anatolia, was displaced by the 1923 population exchange. On migrating to Australia, they anglicized their surname to Balson.
  • // 3rd Mar 1945
    George Miller was born on March 3, 1945, in Queensland, Australia into a Greek immigrant family. There is dispute about the exact place of his birth. While some say that he was born in Brisbane, others mention Chinchilla, where he spent his early childhood, as his birth place.
  • // 1971
    In 1971, while studying in their final year, George and John directed and produced a one-minute film. It earned them the first prize in a local competition, enabling George to enroll in a summer film school workshop under the University of Melbourne free of cost.
  • // 1971 To 1972
    At the film workshop in Melbourne, George met Byron Kennedy, forming a lifelong friendship with him. Also in 1971, George wrote and directed his first film, ‘Violence in Cinema Part I’. Produced by Byron, it entered the 1972 Sydney Film Festival in the documentary category and won critical acclaim.
  • // 1971 To 1981
    On receiving his MBBS degree in 1971, Miller served as the resident medical officer at St. Vincent's Hospital for year. Thereafter, he joined a city hospital, serving there for two and half years, and remained registered with medical board until 1981. Concurrently, he continued to work on short experimental films.
  • // 1978 To 1979
    In 1978, George Miller cofounded ‘Kennedy Miller Production’ with Byron Kennedy, producing their debut film, ‘Mad Max’ in 1979, meeting the postproduction cost with Miller’s medical income. The film, directed and co-written by Miller, was an instant hit, grossing Australian $5,355,490 at home and over US$100 million worldwide.
  • // 1980
    In 1980, he produced ‘The Chain Reaction’, a disaster/science fiction thriller, directed and written by Ian Barry. In it, Miller directed the car chase sequence (un-credited). Meanwhile, he received number of offers from Hollywood; but chose to work on a rock and roll movie called ‘Roxanne’.
  • // 1981
    For some reason, he never made ’Roxanne’, shelving the project for good. Instead, he decided to make a sequel to ‘Mad Max’. With better budget at hand, he hoped to make a better movie. Finally in 1981, it was released as ‘Mad Max 2’ in Australia and ‘The Road Warrior’ in the USA.
  • // 1981
    In spite of the success of ‘Mad Max’, George Miller continued his registration with the medical board until 1981. That is mainly because for doing stunts one had to have a doctor on the set and staying registered enabled him to meet that requirement.
  • // 1985
    In 1985, George Miller had another Mad Max sequel released. Called ‘Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome', it was directed and co-written by him. Despite higher budget, its box office return was comparatively moderate, grossing Australian $4,272,802 at home. Although it received generally positive review many fans criticized it for being ‘Hollywoodized’.
  • // 1985 To 1992
    In 1985, George Miller married actress Sandy Gore and had a daughter named Augusta with her. They divorced in 1992.
  • // 12th Jun 1987
    After ‘Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome’ (also known as ‘Mad Max 3’), Miller took a break from action film, directing a comedy-fantasy film called ‘The Witches of Eastwick’, based on John Updike's novel of the same name. Released on June 12, 1987, it was both a critical and commercial success.
  • // Sep 1991 To 30th Dec 1992
    From September 1991, he started working on, ’Lorenzo’s Oil’, a drama film, which he co-wrote with Nick Enright, directed and produced. On its release on December 30, 1992, ’Lorenzo’s Oil’ received great acclamation. Based on Augusto and Michaela Odone’s relentless search for the cure of their son’s adrenoleukodystrophy, the film earned him his first Academy nomination for script writing.
  • // 1993
    In 1993, George Miller was hired to direct ‘Contact’ by Warner Brothers. He worked on it for around year; mutually agreeing to part ways for unknown reasons thereafter.
  • // 1995 To 1998
    In 1998, he co-wrote, directed and produced a sequel to his 1995 production, ‘Babe’. Entitled, ‘Babe: Pig in the City’.
  • // 4th Aug 1995
    He next co-wrote the script for ‘Babe’, a sheep that wanted to become a sheepdog. He also produced the film, which was released in the USA in August 4, 1995. In the following year, he produced a documentary film ‘Video Fool for Love’.
  • // 1997
    In 1997, he wrote the script of an hour-long documentary film, ‘40,000 Years of Dreaming (White Fellas Dreaming: A Century of Australian Cinema)’, also directing and starring in it. He took scenes from different Australian cinemas, including his own Mad Max series and made a collage of it.
  • // 17th Dec 2006 To 26th Dec 2006
    He took a break after ‘Babe: Pig in the City’. His next film, ‘Happy Feet’ was released on 17 November 2006 in North America and 26 December 2006 in Australia. Like most other films, Miller directed, co-wrote and co-produced this film, winning his only Academy Award for it.
  • // 2007 To 2009
    In 2007, Miller was hired to direct ‘Justice League Mortal’; but unfortunately the production was shelved. In the same year, his company, Kennedy Miller, founded a digital animation studio called D. D. Studio in partnership with Omnilab Media in Sydney. Next in 2009, Kennedy Miller was renamed Kennedy Miller Michel.
  • // 2011
    With the success of ‘Happy Feet’ behind him, Miller next started working on its sequel. Called ‘Happy Feet Two’ and made with a budget of $135 million, the film was released in late 2011 in the USA and Australia. Unfortunately, it failed to live up to the expectation.
  • // May 2015
    'Mad Max Fury Road' was released in May 2015, winning numerous nominations and awards. Thereafter, he started working on its sequel, ‘Mad Max Wasteland’. But unfortunately, a lawsuit filed against Warner Brothers over a disputed $7 million bonus delayed the production and it is yet to be released.

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George Miller's FAQ

  • What is George Miller birthday?

    George Miller was born at 1945-03-03

  • Where is George Miller's birth place?

    George Miller was born in Brisbane, Queensland

  • What is George Miller nationalities?

    George Miller's nationalities is Australian

  • Who is George Miller spouses?

    George Miller's spouses is Margaret Sixel (m. 1995), Sandy Gore (m. 1985–1992)

  • Who is George Miller siblings?

    George Miller's siblings is Bill Miller, Chris Miller, John Miller

  • Who is George Miller childrens?

    George Miller's childrens is Augusta Miller, Buda Miller, Tige Miller

  • What was George Miller universities?

    George Miller studied at Sydney Boys High School, Ipswich Grammar School

  • Who is George Miller's father?

    George Miller's father is Dimitri Castrisios Miliotis

  • Who is George Miller's mother?

    George Miller's mother is Angela Balson

  • What is George Miller's sun sign?

    George Miller is Pisces

  • How famous is George Miller?

    George Miller is famouse as Filmmaker