Michael Petroni is an Australian screenwriter and director.

Biography

Petroni worked in the early 1990s as a comedy writer and performer on Australian television, and appeared as "Psycho Bob", an American serial killer character, in ''

The Big Gig ''The Big Gig'' was a popular Australian television sketch comedy music/variety series based on the British TV series '' Saturday Live''. It was produced and broadcast on ABC TV in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was produced and directed by ...

'' and '' DAAS Kapital'' (with the

Doug Anthony All Stars The Doug Anthony All Stars (or Doug Anthony Allstars, DAAS, D.A.A.S. or stylised as D⋆A†A☭S) were an Australian musical comedy, alternative rock and vocal group who initially performed together between 1984 and 1994. The group were an aco ...

). In 1994, he moved to Los Angeles to study screenwriting at the

AFI Conservatory The AFI Conservatory is a private not-for-profit graduate film school in the Hollywood Hills district of Los Angeles. Students (called "Fellows") learn from the masters in a collaborative, hands-on production environment with an emphasis on st ...

, from which he graduated in 1996. During his time at the AFI, he wrote his first feature film script, '' Till Human Voices Wake Us'' which he subsequently directed as a feature film starring

Guy Pearce Guy Edward Pearce (born 5 October 1967) is an Australian actor. Born in Ely, Cambridgeshire in England, and raised in Geelong, Victoria in Australia, he started his career portraying Mike Young in the Australian television series ''Neighbours ...

and

Helena Bonham Carter Helena Bonham Carter (born 26 May 1966) is an English actress. Known for her roles in blockbusters and independent films, particularly period dramas, she has received various awards and nominations, including a British Academy Film Award a ...

, winning several awards for the script. Since his debut, Petroni has also co-written ''

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys ''The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys'' is a 2002 American comedy-drama film directed by Peter Care and written by Jeff Stockwell and Michael Petroni based on Chris Fuhrman's 1994 semi-autobiographical coming-of-age novel of the same name. The fi ...

'' (2002), ''

Queen of the Damned ''Queen of the Damned'' is a 2002 vampire film directed by Michael Rymer, loosely based on the third novel of Anne Rice's '' The Vampire Chronicles'' series, ''The Queen of the Damned'' (1988), although the film contains many plot elements from t ...

'' (2002) and ''

Possession Possession may refer to: Law * Dependent territory, an area of land over which another country exercises sovereignty, but which does not have the full right of participation in that country's governance * Drug possession, a crime * Ownership * ...

'' (2009), an English language adaptation of the Korean film '' Addicted''. He also co-created the 2003 TV series ''

Miracles A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divin ...

'' with Richard Hatem, with the series based on his unfilmed movie script ''A Course in Miracles'' which had been in development since 1998 with

Jerry Zucker Jerry Gordon Zucker (born March 11, 1950) is an American film producer, director, and writer known for his role in directing comedy spoof films such as ''Airplane!'' and '' Top Secret!'', and the Best Picture-nominated supernatural drama film ' ...

Fleming, Michael
Zucker Touchstone's 'Miracles' worker
''Variety'', 12 January 1998. and later Russell Crowe attached to direct. On 26 February 2008,

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

reported that Petroni was writing the script for '' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader'', the third installment in ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' franchise. He wrote the screenplay for exorcism horror movie '' The Rite'' based on the book ''The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist'' by Matt Baglio.Holden, Stephen
Giving the Devil His Possessive Due
''The New York Times'', 27 January 2011. In March 2013, Screen Australia announced that it would be funding an Australian supernatural thriller, ''

Backtrack BackTrack was a Linux distribution that focused on security, based on the Knoppix Linux distribution aimed at digital forensics and penetration testing use. In March 2013, the Offensive Security team rebuilt BackTrack around the Debian distr ...

'', which Petroni would write and direct.Quinn, Karl
Screen Australia finds money for ghost thriller
''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 5 March 2013. In November 2017, it was announced that Petroni would be credited as an executive producer and creator for the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

thriller series, ''

Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...

''. The series premiered on 1 January 2020.

Filmography

Screenplay and writing credits

*'' Till Human Voices Wake Us'' (2002) *''

'' (2002) *''

'' (2009) *'' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader'' (2010) *'' The Rite'' (2011) *''

The Book Thief ''The Book Thief'' is a historical fiction novel by the Australian author Markus Zusak, and is his most popular book. Published in 2005, ''The Book Thief'' became an international bestseller and was translated into 63 languages and sold 16 mil ...

'' (2013) *''

'' (2015)

Television credits

*''

'' (2003; co-creator) *''

Masters of Science Fiction ''Masters of Science Fiction'' is a television anthology series by some of the producers of '' Masters of Horror''. The show debuted on ABC on August 4, 2007, at 10PM for a run of four episodes. It was originally scheduled to run in six parts, b ...

'' (2007; episode "The Awakening") *''

'' (2019; creator)

Directing credits

*'' Till Human Voices Wake Us'' (2002) *''

'' (2015)

Acting credits

*'' DAAS Kapital'' (1991–1992; as "Psycho Bob") *''

Masters of Horror ''Masters of Horror'' is an anthology television series created by director Mick Garris for the Showtime cable network. Origin In 2002, director Mick Garris invited some director friends to an informal dinner at a restaurant in Sherman Oaks, ...

'' (2006; episode " Pick Me Up" as Ambulance Attendant)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Petroni, Michael 21st-century male writers 21st-century Australian screenwriters Living people Australian screenwriters Australian film directors AFI Conservatory alumni Australian male screenwriters Australian male television writers Australian television writers Year of birth missing (living people)