Bruce Beresford

  • Australian director
  • Born August 16, 1940

Bruce Beresford (; born 16 August 1940) is an Australian film director who has made more than 30 feature films over a 50-year career. Notable films he has directed include Breaker Morant (1980), Tender Mercies (1983), Crimes of the Heart (1986) and Driving Miss Daisy (1989).


When the music and the characters are flawlessly synchronized, the opera develops an emotional force that movies and plays cannot match.

He's wrong. That's why his films look so terrible.


In opera, everyone's watching from a fixed viewpoint, and that really challenges you. Lighting, the sets, stage groupings, the music-but doesn't relate too much to film.

Film is shot in fragments, and the same moments can be shot again and again until the director is satisfied.

At HBO, they seem to be well-informed. They make what I think are really quite mature films.


I'd really been interested in opera when I was about 16, and I really like staging them.


The music of the most popular operas is so highly esteemed, it can stand endless revivals.

Quite a few operas are still being commissioned around the world, although nothing apart from audience popularity can ensure more than a few performances.

For a director, the most challenging scenes are the dialogue scenes.

Directing an opera is similar to directing a play. The singing must not get in the way of the drama.

Perhaps the most difficult thing is shooting scenes set 6,000 feet up in the mountains of Mexico.

It's not enough to hit the notes. There is no point in the singers just standing there and sounding wonderful if they're not connecting with the characters they are portraying.


There were movies that always made me want to be a director. You see brilliant scenes and the way the emotions were handled. I thought, I'd really like to do that.


In silent movies, they tended to put the camera down, and everybody walked in front of it and acted, and then they all walked off. Cutting was quite infrequent.

On stage, the audience watches from a fixed viewpoint and the director cannot retake something he doesn't like. It has to work straight through.

In my view, the operas of Carlisle Floyd will find a place in the permanent repertoire.



There's a bright spot in every dark cloud.

I don't rehearse films as much as opera or theatre. When I began directing films I thought a long rehearsal was a good idea. Experience showed me that the best performance was often left in a rehearsal room.

