This was the topic of our presentation at last Tuesday’s Zoom meeting. The speaker Rod Hardy had spent his childhood in Collingwood and attended the Collingwood Technical College (which was also the site of tertiary learning for Ted Cunningham and Kevin Nolan).
We invited Rod to address us at very short notice after our programmed speaker cancelled at the last moment . Rod is the cousin of Pauline Lewi and we had to thank Pauline for making contact with him and asking him to address us . At the beginning of the Zoom meeting Pauline introduced Rod to our audience telling us all some of her memories of family events over the many years.
Then Rod (photo above) told a long and Fascinating story of his professional life . This started in Australia of course. He was a director and producer, known for December Boys (2007) Rod has over 350 hours of credits directing television drama in his native Australia.
His first feature film, Thirst won Best Picture in its category at the 1980 Asia Pacific Film Festival
Having honed his directing and producing skills in Australia, primarily on the TV series, E Street from 1989 to 1991 of which he was the co-executive producer, Hardy moved to Los Angeles in 1992 to launch his American career. His first assignment was to direct Lies and Lullabies the traumatic life story of pregnant cocaine addicts, starring Susan Dey and Piper Laurie. The movie was awarded the Scott Newman Award (founded by Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward in memory of their son) that is presented annually to the production that best illustrates the degradation of and triumph over drug addiction.
Since his award-winning U.S. directorial debut, he has garnered both Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for movies of the week and mini-series
Hardy is well known in U.S. television circles for shows such as The X-Files, Battlestar Galactica and Leverage.
He was a director and producer, known for December Boys (2007), and Marisa Romanov (2019)
This theatrical feature DECEMBER BOYS was winner of the Giffoni Film Festival Award 2008. Released by Roadshow/Warner Bros, it starred Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame and Teresa Palmer.
In Summary. Rod Hardy is a widely accomplished and talented director who has forged his keen instincts and trademark visual sense of story through extensive experience. His collaborative efforts are but a gleaning of his problem-solving techniques. He has a great ability to bring the best out in people, whether it is an actor’s performance or a DP’s best shot.
We were fascinated by the extent of his professional life and we were very thankful that he agreed to come and address us