Fran Walsh

Oscar-winning screenwriter and producer Fran Walsh prefers to remain in the background, but she is a key factor in partner Peter Jackson's Wellywood empire.

Walsh attended Victoria University of Wellington, majoring in English Literature, and graduating in 1981. During this period she also played in bands Naked Spots Dance and punk group The Wallsockets. 

Walsh began writing for the screen when producer Grahame McLean asked her to help out on rewrites for the drama A Woman of Good Character. Impressed by her abilities, McLean enlisted Walsh to work on the series Worzel Gummidge Down Under. Her eighties work also includes scripts for police show Shark in the Park, and composing songs for Stephen Sinclair's theatrical satire Big Bickies (1988).

Walsh met Peter Jackson in the mid-eighties, while he was doing post-production work on his feature debut Bad Taste. She was part of the writing team on Jackson's puppet follow-up Meet the Feebles (1989).

Since then, Walsh has worked on all of Jackson's films, collaborating closely with him on  Braindead (1992)(co-written by Jackson, Walsh and Stephen Sinclair); Heavenly Creatures (1994); The Frighteners (1996); King Kong (2005); The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001 - 2003);  The Lovely Bones (2009), plus the writing of two Hobbit films, for Mexican director Guillermo del Toro. Starting with Rings, Jackson and Walsh have often written alongside Phillipa Boyens.

Heavenly Creatures was based upon the Parker Hulme murders by two Christchuch teenagers in the 50s. The film would likely not have been made - at least not by Jackson - were it not for Walsh's own longtime interest in the case.

Heavenly Creatures brought Walsh and Jackson their first Oscar nomination for scriptwriting. Walsh also played an active role in casting, discovering young co-star Melanie Lynksey while on a casting call through North Island high schools.

The directing credit has always gone to Jackson, while Walsh shares writer and producer credits. By all accounts however, their roles overlap more than that designation would suggest. For example, Walsh occasionally served as a second-unit director on The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Walsh is often portrayed as residing in her husband's shadow, but her reticence seems to be deliberate.

Notoriously private, she declined to be interviewed in the Lord of the Rings DVD extras, although she does contribute to an audio commentary.

Walsh is the co-winner of three Oscars, in 2004, for her work on Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, including Best Music (for Original Song, Into the West), Best Picture, and Best Adapted Screenplay. She also won a Grammy Award for her part in co-writing the song.

In 2002 and 2003, she was nominated, with Jackson, for Best Picture. Among another 21 nominations and 29 wins are nods from the Australian Film Institute, the BAFTAs, the Golden Globes, the Grammys and the Writers Guild of America.

Walsh was also a co-writer with Jackson on Jack Brown Genius (1994), directed by Tony Hiles. Outside of the Walsh/Jackson partnership she has worked as a script supervisor on Harry Sinclair's The Price of Milk (2000), and script consultant on Sinclair's Topless Women Talk About Their Lives (1997) and Scott Reynolds' Heaven (1998).

A number of New Zealand Universities, including Massey and Victoria, have awarded Walsh with honorary degrees. In 2002, she became a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

After completing work on The Lovely Bones (2009), Walsh is slated to executive produce a number of projects, including The Hobbit and Halo.