Peter Mullan: 'Top of the Lake' series premieres in March

TOP OF THE LAKE premières on March 18 at 9pm
All New 7-Part Original Series

Peter Mullan has worked extensively in both film and television as an actor, director and writer. He started directing films at age 19 before moving into acting, making his theatre début in 1988 before moving to film and television.

His film credits include War Horse, Tyrannosaur, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Neds, Children of Men, The Last Legion, Criminal, Young Adam, Session 9, The Claim, Ordinary Decent Criminal, Miss Julie, My Name is Joe, Trainspotting and Braveheart.

He recently completed filming in New Zealand for the Jane Campion directed television series Top of the Lake. His other television work includes The Fixer, Boy A, Shoe Box Zoo, Entering Blue Zone, Ruffian Hearts and Rab C Nesbitt.

Throughout his career Peter has received numerous awards and nominations. In 2011 he won a Sundance World Cinema Special Jury Prize for his role in Tyrannosaur, the role also earned him a nomination for Best Actor at the British Independent Film Awards, 2011 also saw him receive a nomination for Best British Actor at the London Critics Awards. For his part of Mr Mcgill in Neds, he was awarded the World Cinema Special Jury Prize for breakout performance. His brilliant portrayal of an unemployed former alcoholic in My Name is Joe, earned him the award for Best Actor at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, as well as best actor at the Valladolid International Film Festival.

Peters is also a award winning writer and director, his films include Orphans and The Magdalene Sisters, which won the European Union Media Prize, the ALFS award for Best British Director and the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for, amongst others, a Cesar award, the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film at the BAFTAs, the Best Screenplay BAFTA.

Source (including photo): Sundance Channel


Read more about Top of the Lake here 

Peter Mullan: 'The Fear' reviews & interviews, 'Top of the Lake' premiere

The Fear
Reviews -

• Telegraph
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• The Arts Desk
• Metro
• Guardian
• Mirror
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• BBC

Interviews -

• Telegraph
• Evening Times

Top of the Lake
Jane Campion’s alternative TV miniseries heads to Sundance
The main event at January’s Sundance Film Festival may turn out not to be a movie at all, but Jane Campion’s six-part miniseries, “Top of the Lake.” Starring Elisabeth Moss and the Scottish actor Peter Mullan, the layered drama will screen just once in Park City, on Sunday, January 20, prior to airing on the Sundance Channel, which co-produced it with the BBC.
Working on separate episodes, Campion shared the directing duties with Garth Davis. The series, co-written by Campion and Gerard Lee, has been blurbed as follows: “’Top of the Lake’ is a powerful and haunting mystery about the search for happiness in a paradise where honest work is hard to find. Set in the remote mountains of New Zealand, the story follows the disappearance of a twelve-year-old, five-months pregnant, who was last seen standing chest deep in a frozen lake.
“Robin Griffin [Moss] is a gutsy but inexperienced detective called in to investigate [the girl’s] case. During the investigation, she collides with Matt Mitcham [Mullan], the missing girl’s father and local drug lord. Robin will find this the case that tests her limits and sends her on a journey of self-discovery.”
Holly Hunter (Campion’s “The Piano”), David Wenham (“The Lord of the Rings”) co-star. Lucy Lawless (“Xena,” “Spartacus”) appears in the first episode. It was photographed by Adam Arkapaw (the upcoming “Lore”).
What sounds on the surface a less perverse “Twin Peaks,” or a mystical “CSI,” is likely to require trenchant feminist analysis given the involvement of Campion, director of “An Angel at My Table,” “The Portrait of a Lady,” and “In the Cut,” as well as “The Piano.”
During an onstage interview at the Cannes TV market Mipcom in October, the Australian auteur noted that the series is thematically interested in “post-menopausal” over-40 women. As the Hollywood Reporter recorded it, “they are a ‘fascinating’ subset that no one is typically interested in dwelling on, she explained. The women are a self-contained counterpoint to the patriarchal structure surrounding them, and Holly Hunter is the central figure in their encampment.”
“We’re trying to go against the police procedural aesthetic,” co-writer Lee added. Campion said she was inspired to choose the long-form TV format after watching “Deadwood,” “Mad Men” (in which Moss plays Peggy Olson), and “The Killing.” She and Lee “determined there was ‘more freedom’ and ‘fewer restraints’ imposed upon creators nowadays in TV than in film.” The chorus agreeing with her on this — and television drama’s current supremacy over film drama — has grown exponentially in 2012.
Source: Blouin Artinfo

Peter Mullan

Drama to screen on British TV
A star-studded drama series shot in Queenstown [New Zealand] looks set for its first international screening soon - and early reports promise a dark tale of drug lords, rape and murder.
Top of the Lake was shot in and around Queenstown, Glenorchy and Paradise from February to May. The six-episode series was directed by Kiwi Oscar-winning director Jane Campion and produced by Emile Sherman, who also won an Oscar for helming production on The King's Speech.
The series stars Mad Men beauty Elizabeth Moss, Holly Hunter and character actors Peter Mullan and David Wenham.
An interview at Cannes with Campion and co-writer Gerard Lee reveals the mystery-detective story revolves around the disappearance of a pregnant 12-year-old.
Campion, who owns a property in Glenorchy, said the story was "set in a landscape I know very well" and began with a central character, Tui, being pregnant at 12 and walking into the depths of a lake.
This "inciting incident" compelled the Elizabeth Moss character, a detective visiting the area, to become involved.
The location was very important to the series, Campion said.
"It's a mind-blowingly spectacular wild location that viewers would have never seen before," Lee said.
A partial trailer for the series has been posted on the BBC 2 website, which says the series will be screening soon.

Source: The Southland Times