Russell Mulcahy

Russell Mulcahy (born 23 June 1953 in Melbourne, Victoria) is an Australian film director.

Music videos

Russell Mulcahy's career began with making early music videos while he was working for the Seven Network in Sydney, Australia. In early 1974, former radio DJ Graham Webb launched a weekly teen-oriented TV music show which screened on Sydney's ATN-7 on Saturday mornings; this was subsequently renamed Sounds Unlimited in 1975 and later shortened simply to Sounds.

In need of material for the show, Webb approached Mulcahy (who was then employed in the Seven newsroom) and asked him to shoot film footage to accompany popular songs for which there were no purpose-made clips (e.g. Harry Nilsson's "Everybody's Talkin'"). Using this method, Webb and Mulcahy assembled a collection of about 25 clips for the show. The success of his early efforts encouraged Mulcahy to quit his TV job and become a freelance director, and during this period he made clips for several popular Australian acts including Stylus, Marcia Hines, Hush and AC/DC^[1].

After relocating to the UK ca. 1976, Mulcahy made successful music videos for several noted British pop acts -- his early UK credits included XTC's "Making Plans For Nigel" (1979), The Vapors' hit "Turning Japanese" and his landmark video for The Buggles' "Video Killed The Radio Star" (1979) which became the first music video played on MTV in 1981^[2].

By the mid-1980s Mulcahy was one of the most sought-after video makers in the world, directing videos for some of the most successful pop-rock acts of the period including The Human League, The Tubes, Elton John, Ultravox, most of the major hits of Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Kim Carnes, Bonnie Tyler, Rod Stewart, Billy Joel, The Motels, Supertramp and The Rolling Stones^[3].

Mulcahy's video credits as director include:

• "Video Killed the Radio Star" for The Buggles, which was the first music video MTV ever aired
• Several videos for songs from Duran Duran's first four albums:
  • "Planet Earth"
  • "My Own Way"
  • "Lonely In Your Nightmare"
  • "Hungry Like the Wolf"
  • "Save A Prayer"
  • "Rio"
  • "(Waiting for the) Nightboat"
  • "Is There Something I Should Know?"
  • "The Reflex
  • "The Wild Boys"
• Several videos for Elton John:
  • "Breaking Down Barriers"
  • "Carla/Etude/Fanfare"
  • "Elton's Song"
  • "Fascist Faces"
  • "The Fox"
  • "Heart in the Right Place"
  • "Heels of the Wind"
  • "Just Like Belgium"
  • "Nobody Wins"
  • "Chloe"
  • "I'm Still Standing" (two versions)
  • "I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues"
  • "Sad Songs (Say So Much)"
  • "Act of War" (with Millie Jackson)
  • "Wrap Her Up"
  • "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That"
  • "Town of Plenty"
  • "A Word in Spanish"
  • "The One"
  • "Simple Life"
• "Bette Davis Eyes", "Draw of the Cards", "Say You Don't Know Me" and "Voyeur" for Kim Carnes
• "The Tubes Video" nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video
• "True" for Spandau Ballet
• "Total Eclipse of the Heart" for Bonnie Tyler
• "Vienna", "Passing Strangers", "The Thin Wall" and "The Voice" for Ultravox
• "Allentown", "She's Right On Time", "Pressure" and "A Matter of Trust" for Billy Joel
• "A Kind Of Magic" and "Princes of the Universe" for Queen
• "One Hit (to the Body)" and "Going To A Go-Go" for The Rolling Stones
• "Gypsy" and "Oh Diane" for Fleetwood Mac
• "The War Song" for Culture Club
• "Sex (I'm A...)" by Berlin
• "Street Cafe" and "Hey, Little Girl" for Icehouse
• "Turning Japanese" for The Vapors

He also directed videos for Taylor Dayne, Rod Stewart, Def Leppard, Boy George, Kenny Loggins, Arcadia, Falco, Go West, Cliff Richard, Fleetwood Mac, Supertramp, The Motels, Talk Talk, The Stranglers, 10cc, The Human League, XTC, and AC/DC.

Filmography as director

• Derek and Clive Get the Horn (1979)
• Razorback (1984)
• Arena (1985)
• Highlander (1986)
• Highlander II: The Quickening (1991)
• Ricochet (1991)
• Blue Ice (1992)
• The Real McCoy (1993)
• The Shadow (1994)
• Silent Trigger (1996)
• Tale of the Mummy (1998)
• Resurrection (1999)
• On the Beach (2000) (television movie)
• Queer as Folk (US) (2000) (television series, pilot episodes and few others in season one)
• The Lost Battalion (2001) (television movie)
• Swimming Upstream (2003)
• The Curse of King Tut's Tomb (2006)
• Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)
• While the Children Sleep (2007)
• The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior (2008)
• Give 'em Hell, Malone (2009)
• Zen in the Art of Slaying Vampires (2009)
• The Courier (2010)
• Bait 3D (2010)^[4]

Highlander series

In 1986, Mulcahy directed the cult classic film Highlander, starring Christopher Lambert and featuring music from Queen. He later directed the sequel, Highlander II: The Quickening, but disowned it after the producers interfered with production. Reportedly he wanted to have his credit changed to Alan Smithee, but as he wasn't a member of the Directors Guild of America, he had no way of forcing the producers to change the credit. He eventually took the opportunity to restore his vision for the film, to a large extent, with the video releases of Highlander II: The Renegade Version.

Footnotes

External links

• Russell Mulcahy at the Internet Movie Database
• Russell Mulcahy at the Music Video Database