Peter Gary Menzies Jr., is an Australian

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the c ...

best known for his work on

blockbuster Blockbuster or Block Buster may refer to: *Blockbuster (entertainment) a term coined for an extremely successful movie, from which most other uses are derived. Corporations * Blockbuster (retailer), a defunct video and game rental chain ** Blo ...

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include lif ...

s such as '' Die Hard with a Vengeance'', '' Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'', ''

The Incredible Hulk The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of '' The Incredible Hulk'' (May 1962). In his comic book ...

,'' and '' Clash of the Titans.''

Life and career

Menzies was born in

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

. He was introduced to the

film industry The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production company, production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre ...

by his father, director and cinematographer Peter Menzies Sr. He started as a

camera loader A clapper loader or second assistant camera (2nd AC) is part of a film crew whose main functions are that of loading the raw film stock into camera magazines, operating the clapperboard (slate) at the beginning of each take, marking the actors as ...

and worked his way through the ranks in commercials and features as a camera assistant and later as an

operator Operator may refer to: Mathematics * A symbol indicating a mathematical operation * Logical operator or logical connective in mathematical logic * Operator (mathematics), mapping that acts on elements of a space to produce elements of another ...

, working regularly under DPs David Gribble and Russell Boyd. He made his debut as cinematographer on ''White Sands'', a

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combi ...

directed by

Roger Donaldson Roger Lindsey Donaldson (born 15 November 1945) is an Australian-born New Zealand film director, producer and writer whose films include the 1981 relationship drama ''Smash Palace'', and a run of titles shot in the United States, including th ...

and starring

Willem Dafoe Willem James Dafoe (; born July 22, 1955) is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, in addition to receiving nominations for four Academy Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, ...

. Since then, Menzies has worked mostly on

s like '' Die Hard with a Vengeance, Hard Rain'' and '' Shooter.'' He has collaborated with directors like

John Singleton John Daniel Singleton (January 6, 1968 April 28, 2019) was an American director, screenwriter, and producer. He made his feature film debut writing and directing '' Boyz n the Hood'' (1991), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for ...

, Bruce Beresford, David Nutter,

Simon West Simon Alexander West (born 1961) is an English film director and producer. He has primarily worked in the action genre, most notably as the director of the films '' Con Air'', '' Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'', '' The Mechanic'', and '' The Expend ...

, John McTiernan, and

Joel Schumacher Joel T. Schumacher (; August 29, 1939June 22, 2020) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Raised in New York City by his mother, Schumacher graduated from Parsons School of Design and originally became a fashion designer. He ...

. Menzies is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and is the Chairman of the Board for the Grand Jury of the Cordillera International Film Festival in Reno/Tahoe Nevada.

Filmography

Feature film

Short film

Television

Other credits

Focus puller Camera operator Other roles Refs:

References

External links

* *
cinematographers.nl profile
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Australian cinematographers People from Sydney {{cinematographer-stub