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Carroll Ballard

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Carroll Ballard
Born (1937-10-14) October 14, 1937 (age 87)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of California, Los Angeles
Occupations
  • Director
  • cinematographer
Years active1965–2005

Carroll Ballard (born October 14, 1937) is an American filmmaker. Originally a documentarian, he became known for directing sweeping, visually striking films with natural and ecological themes.[1][2] His body of work includes the films The Black Stallion (1979), Never Cry Wolf (1983), and Fly Away Home (1996).

Early life

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Ballard was born in Los Angeles in 1937. After serving in the U.S. Army, Ballard attended film school at UCLA, where one of his classmates was Francis Ford Coppola.[3] He made a well received student film called Waiting for May in 1964.[4]

Career

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Documentaries

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His early credits include the documentaries Beyond This Winter's Wheat (1965) and Harvest (1967), both of which he made for the U.S. Information Agency. The latter was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film.

He directed a short subject called The Perils of Priscilla (1969), which was filmed from the point of view of a cat who escapes from home.[5] Rodeo (1970) provided an intimate look at the 1968 National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City.[6]

He shot the title sequence of Coppola's 1968 musical Finian's Rainbow and was second unit cinematographer on Star Wars (1977), for which he handled many of the outdoor desert scenes.

Feature film director

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Ballard finally got the chance to make a feature film when Coppola offered him the job of directing The Black Stallion (1979), an adaptation of the children's book by Walter Farley.[7] The film was nominated for two Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor (Mickey Rooney). In 2002 the Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry.

He then directed Never Cry Wolf (1983), based on Farley Mowat's autobiographical book of the same name, which detailed Mowat's experiences with Arctic wolves.[8]

In the 1990s, he made two films: Wind (1992) and Fly Away Home (1996).

His most recent film is Duma (2005), about a South African boy's friendship with an orphaned cheetah.[9] Duma had tested badly and Warner Bros. planned to not release this film in the United States theatrically, but the film received acclaim from influential film critics like Scott Foundas and Roger Ebert, and it led Warner Bros to reconsider.[10][11] Warner Bros. finally gave Duma a limited theatrical release in the US.[12]

Ballard has received acclaim from film critics. Pauline Kael was an early admirer.[13] Kenneth Turan once wrote: "[Ballard] knows how to be both caring and restrained, minimizing a movie's saccharine content while maximizing the sense of wonder."[14]

Filmography

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As director

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Year Title Notes
1965 Pigs! Documentary short
Beyond This Winter's Wheat
1967 Harvest Documentary
1969 Rodeo Documentary short
The Perils of Priscilla
1971 Seems Like Only Yesterday
1974 Crystalization
The Hello Machine
1979 The Black Stallion
1983 Never Cry Wolf
1986 Nutcracker: The Motion Picture
1992 Wind
1996 Fly Away Home
2005 Duma

Other production credits

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Year Title Director Notes
1964 3 Nuts in Search of a Bolt Tommy Noonan Production designer
1968 Finian's Rainbow Francis Ford Coppola Second unit cinematographer
1977 Star Wars George Lucas
1995 My Family Gregory Nava Cinematographer: River crew

Awards and nominations

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Award Year Category Work Result
Academy Award 1968 Best Documentary Feature Film Harvest Nominated
Christopher Award 1997 Best Motion Picture Fly Away Home Won
Los Angeles Film Critics Association 1980 New Generation Award The Black Stallion Won
Western Heritage Award 1984 Best Theatrical Motion Picture Never Cry Wolf Won

References

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  1. ^ "Wide Angle / Closeup: Interview with Director Carroll Ballard". www.wideanglecloseup.com. Retrieved August 3, 2024.
  2. ^ "Carroll Ballard - Visual History Interview". www.dga.org. Retrieved August 3, 2024.
  3. ^ Schumacher, Michael (1999). Francis Ford Coppola: a filmmaker's life. Three Rivers Press, ISBN 0-609-80677-7, p. 237-238.
  4. ^ Steve Vineberg, "The Magician", The Threepenny Review, No. 108 (Winter 2007), p. 28
  5. ^ McCarthy, Todd (October 24, 2011). "New York Film Festival Wrap: Special Events, Fortuitous Encounters and Spontaneous Combustion". The Hollywood Reporter.
  6. ^ Sragow, Michael (June 20, 2017). "An Honest Bull Session with Carroll Ballard". The Criterion Collection.
  7. ^ Phipps, Keith (July 31, 2015). "When Kids Movies Were Dark and Beautiful". The Daily Beast.
  8. ^ Holloway, Ronald (August 31, 1983). "Review: Never Cry Wolf". Variety.
  9. ^ Dargis, Manohla (September 30, 2005). "Inching Toward Adulthood With a Cheetah for a Friend". The New York Times.
  10. ^ Taylor, Ella (August 25, 2005). "The Secret Lives of Cheetahs". LA Weekly. Archived from the original on September 22, 2024. Retrieved September 22, 2024.
  11. ^ Greenberg, James (July 31, 2005). "Carroll Ballard's Second Chance". The New York Times. Retrieved July 10, 2010.
  12. ^ McClintock, Pamela (September 22, 2005). "Inside Move: 'Duma' producer pays pic's way to Gotham". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved July 10, 2010.
  13. ^ Vineberg, Steve. "Critical Fervor." The Threepenny Review, no. 50, 1992, pp. 25–27. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4384114. Accessed December 24, 2020.
  14. ^ Turan, Kenneth (2004). Never coming to a theater near you: a celebration of a certain kind of movie. New York: Public Affairs. ISBN 1-58648-231-9.
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