Twins Peter and Michael Spierig first became interested in film making back in the mid 1980s and at the age of 10 began making short films. While in High School Peter Produced and Directed a number of short films that won him "Most Promising New Filmmaker" acclaim at the Queensland New Filmmakers Awards (QNFA).
In 1997, the brothers graduated from the Queensland College of Art. Peter graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Film and Television while Michael graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design. While at university, they jointly produced and directed a number of award winning short films.
Peter and Michael continued to write and direct short films while making a living in the advertising industry. Their final short film “The Big Picture” went on to win and screen at several prestigious national and international film festivals including Rotterdam International Film Festival at which it was purchased by a US Distributor. After making over fifteen short films and dozens of television commercials, the Spierig Brothers decided to take the leap into feature film production in early 2000, writing and directing their first highly regarded feature film, Undead. Self-funded and made locally, the zombie film quickly gained a cult-following.
On the set of Daybreakers with Writers/Directors Peter and Michael Spierig. Photo credit: Ben Rothstein
All interior locations for the film were built from scratch by a design team, who dug through junkyards to find set dressings. The brothers then set out on their biggest challenge of creating over 305 visual effects on their laptops. During that time they also continued to edit and arrange the sound design.
Undead screened at 17 major film festivals, including Edinburgh, Montreal, Toronto, Sitges, Berlin, Amsterdam and Puchon. At the Melbourne International Film Festival, the International Federation of Film Critics awarded Undead the prestigious Fipresci Award. The film was sold to 41 countries, and was released in the US and Canada by Lionsgate, who developed a close relationship with Peter and Michael, and backed their second production, Daybreakers.
After selling a 16-page treatment of Daybreakers to Lionsgate, Michael and Peter Spierig developed the script with the company for over two years. Producer Chris Brown was stunned by the first draft he read. “It was such an original idea. Genre is great fun, but the thing that made this script so exciting is that it was a new take on a very established form.”
Filmed in Queensland, Australia, Daybreakers has an international cast including Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe and Sam Neill and was released worldwide in January 2010 through Lionsgate. To date, the film has taken over $50 million dollars at the international box office.
- Peter Spierig and Ethan Hawke on the set of Daybreakers
- Michael Spierig on the set of Daybreakers
The Spierig brothers presented awards at the 2010 Sydney short film festival Tropfest and recently returned from the USA where they completed Television commercials for Coke Zero and Universal Studios.
They are working on their next feature film, The Power of the Dark Crystal in which a girl made of fire steals a shard of a legendary crystal in hopes of reigniting the dying sun.
In 2010 Griffith Film School honoured their ongoing commitment to filmmaking and their continued support of local industry with the presentation of the inaugural GFS Alumni Award. The brothers work is continued through their production house Blacklab International Pty Ltd.
Pictured here with GFS Lecturer, Nicholas Oughton.