Born: Established: 1962 Brisbane, Queensland, ;
AustLit
BiographyHistory
Bio changes summary
Born in Brisbane, P.J. Hogan lived on the New South Wales north coast as a teenager, attending Mount Saint Patrick College in Murwillumbah, New South Wales. In 1984, he graduated from the Australian Film, Television and Radio School with a Graduate Diploma: Screenwriting. His graduate film, the 25-minute Getting Wet, won him an AFI Award for Best Short Fiction Film in 1984.
He followed this script two years later with the script for the feature film The Humpty Dumpty Man, a political thriller starring Frank Gallacher as a political lobbyist caught up in a deadly game of espionage between the KGB and his own Secret Service: The Humpty Dumpty Man was co-written with Karl Zwicky, and directed by Hogan. Two years later, Hogan collaborated with Zwicky again, on the Film Vicious (also known as To Make a Killing), another thriller, about a group of violent teenage thugs: this time, the film was co-written by Hogan and Zwicky but directed by Zwicky.
Throughout the mid-1980s and early 1990s, Hogan also wrote television scripts for such programs as c/o The Bartons, The Flying Doctors, Skirts, The Miraculous Mellops, and Lift Off.
Hogan's breakthrough success as a director came with 1994's Muriel's Wedding, for which he was also the script-writer. Following this, he scripted and directed a number of films for American production studios, including Unconditional Love (1999, released in 2002, starring Kathy Bates and Rupert Everett), which he co-wrote with Jocelyn Moorhouse, and Peter Pan (2003), co-written with American script-writer Michael Goldenberg. In 2008, he collaborated with Tomás Romero to produce the story for The American Mall, a musicla romantic comedy set in a shopping mall (directed by Shawn Ku to a teleplay by Margaret Oberman).
In 2012, he reunited with Muriel's Wedding star Toni Collette for Mental, for which Hogan was once again both script-writer and director.
Hogan has also directed a number of films for which he was not the script-writer, including the episode 'Sloth' for the anthology television series Seven Deadly Sins; My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), with a script by Ronald Bass; a film-length pilot for a proposed (but ultimately cancelled) re-boot of supernatural soap opera Dark Shadows (2005); television film Nurses (2007), with a script by Samantha Goodman and Andrew Stern; and Confessions of a Shopaholic (2007), with a script by Tracey Jackson, Tim Firth, and Kayla Alpert.
Most Referenced Works
Awards for Works
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Muriel's Wedding : The Musical
2017
single work
musical theatre
'Muriel Heslop is back! In this highly-anticipated world premiere, the iconic Australian film is set to become an equally iconic laugh-out-loud musical.
'Stuck in a dead-end life in Porpoise Spit, Muriel dreams of the perfect wedding – the white dress, the church, the attention. Unfortunately, there’s one thing missing. A groom. Following her dreams to Sydney, Muriel ends up with everything she ever wanted – a man, a fortune and a million Twitter followers. That’s when things start to go really wrong.
'The film’s original writer-director PJ Hogan has updated his screenplay into a dazzling new stage show, bringing the story into the present but keeping all the irreverence and naughtiness of the film along with its dark edge.' (Production summary)
- 2020 nominated Victorian Green Room Awards — Production : Musical Theatre
- 2020 winner Victorian Green Room Awards — New Australian Musical
- 2018 winner AWGIE Awards — David Williamson Prize
- 2018 winner AWGIE Awards — Stage Award — Music Theatre
- 2018 nominated Helpmann Awards for Performing Arts in Australia — Best Musical
- 2018 nominated Helpmann Awards for Performing Arts in Australia — Best Direction of a Musical
- 2018 winner Helpmann Awards for Performing Arts in Australia — Best Original Score
- 2018 nominated Helpmann Awards for Performing Arts in Australia — Best New Australian Work
- 2017 winner Sydney Theatre Awards — Best Direction of a Musical
- 2017 winner Sydney Theatre Awards — Best Production of a Mainstream Musical
- 2017 winner Sydney Theatre Awards — Best Original Score of a Mainstage Production
- 2017 nominated Sydney Theatre Awards — Best New Australian Work
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form
y
Mental
( dir. P. J. Hogan
)
2012
Australia
United States of America (USA)
:
Story Bridge Films
Zucker Productions
,
2012
Z1783168
2012
single work
film/TV
'When local politician Barry Moochmore commits his wife to a mental hospital he suddenly finds himself alone and with five teenage daughters that he barely knows. Desperate, he impulsively picks up a hitchhiker named Shaz and installs her as the nanny in their home. Shaz is charismatic, hot-tempered, inspiring and completely crazy ... and the best thing that's ever happened to the Moochmore family.'
Source: Screen Australia.
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form
y
Muriel's Wedding
( dir. P. J. Hogan
)
1994
Australia
:
House and Moorhouse Films
,
1994
Z486726
1994
single work
film/TV
humour
satire
(taught in 5 units)
Muriel is a shy young woman living in the seaside resort of Porpoise Spit, a suburban wonderland of shopping malls, marine parks, and holiday homes. The excessive expectations of her 'friends' and family cause her to take refuge in a dreamworld of ABBA songs. She also dreams of a Prince Charming who will rescue her from her dull and boring life. Then one day, she steals some money and goes on a tropical vacation where she meets a wacky friend, changes her name to Mariel, and turns her entire world upside down.
- 1996 nominated Writers Guild of America Award — Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
- 1994 nominated Australian Film Institute Awards — Best Screenplay, Original
- 1995 nominated British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards — Best Original Screenplay
- 1994 won Australian Film Institute Awards — Best Film