RICHARD Gray is first and foremost the second eldest grandchild of the late Fred and Mary Guy, well-known long-time Hamilton residents, but the Melbourne born filmmaker has also forged a reputable career in the Hollywood film industry, having released a new movie this week.
The eldest child of Maree, Fred and Mary’s eldest, Mr Gray has just celebrated the release of the premiere of his new movie ‘Murder at Yellowstone City’.
Although he didn’t grow up in Hamilton, Mr Gray said he had many fond memories and maintained strong family connections to the western Victorian town.
Schooled in Melbourne, by the age of 15 he was making short films and working in movie theatres in Victoria, and went on to win multiple international film festival awards for his short film ‘Yellow Brick Dreams’.
Mr Gray attained a bachelor’s degree in film at the Victorian College of the Arts School of Film and Television.
Growing up, he spent many school holidays in Hamilton visiting family and staying with his grandparents, in fact it was while at Fred and Mary’s McIntyre Street residence that he wrote his first film in 2004, a romantic drama called ‘Summer Coda’ that was released in 2010.
In the six intervening years between writing and the film’s release, Mr Gray worked in television to develop and secure finance, by producing and directing a Lifestyle Channel cooking show called ‘Stefano’s Cooking Paradiso’, starring Stefano De Pieri.
He eventually moved to the United States to pursue his career in film making and released several films across multiple genres that he directed, produced or co-wrote, including ‘Robert the Bruce’ in 2019, a sequel to Braveheart, the horror film ‘Mine Games’ in 2012, ‘Blinder’ in 2013 that starred Australian film icon Jack Thompson, and the Alaskan set feature ‘Sugar Mountain’ in 2016 starring Jason Momoa.
It was in his co-owned purpose built studio, Yellowstone Film Ranch in Montana, where he directed ‘Murder at Yellowstone City’ - a classic western, circa late 19th century, with plenty of shoot-outs set in what was once a thriving gold-rush boom town fallen on hard times.
The film’s stars include Richard Dreyfuss of ‘Jaws’ and ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ fame, and Thomas Jane who recently starred in the ABC’s mini-series ‘Troppo’ alongside Irish actor and film director, Gabriel Byrne, who has previously starred in ‘End of Days’, ‘Lost Girls’ and ‘The Man in the Iron Mask’.
A film review by Variety commended Mr Gray’s latest film as a well-crafted mix of traditional western and murder mystery and noted that director, Richard Gray, had assembled an exceptional cast.
‘Murder at Yellowstone City’ premiered at the Classic Cinemas in Elsternwick on Wednesday night and is in Australian cinemas this week.
