Warren Miller – The Voice Of The Skiing World
Whether you’re an experienced heli skiing veteran, or new to our exciting world, there’s one thing you’ll probably have in common – a love of Warren Miller ski movies. Maybe you are part of the generation that grew up watching his first directions as a movie maker, and have been skiing all your life, or are relatively new to his works, but always known about the man behind the voice. Either way, Warren Miller has managed to affect the humor and imagination of skiers through several generations.
Born in 1924 in Hollywood, CA, Warren had been interested in surfing, skiing and photography from a young age. In 1946, after a spell in the Navy, he moved to Sun Valley ski resort with a friend to spend the season skiing. Living out of a teardrop trailer in the parking lot, and ski instructing to make a little money, he documented his time through the lens of an 8mm movie camera. Through showing his movies, with his immediately recognized commentaries, to his friends and at parties, he soon realized he could turn this hobby of his into a business. Warren Miller Films was founded in 1949, and before long his movies were reaching a worldwide audience.
As well as having directed over 500 sporting films, Warren Miller has also spent time writing books, in particular non-fiction stories. But it’s the films we know and love from him that all have those certain definable qualities. As well as all having stunning visuals and impressive athletes, the movies have always had a dry, witty sense of humor to them, not the least brought about by Warren’s voiceovers.
In 1988, Warren Miller sold his company of the same namesake. Today his name grace’s 62 feature ski movies, although the fact is he has had nothing to do with the past seven of these. His trademark voiceovers quickly became a valuable commodity, and in recent years he has had to battle in the court of laws over rights surrounding these issues. As he began to get older he planned to take a back seat in his films – writing and narrating them, leaving the rest to his son, the previous owner of Warren Miller Entertainment. However, after the sale of the company to Time Warner, and subsequently to the Bonnier Group, a split in interests began to emerge.
Where Warren wanted to retain the original concept and style of all his previous movies that appealed to the broadest possible range of skiers, the new owners wanted a more extreme direction. His usual witty cracks and off-beat humor, often slating famous ski resorts, was completely pushed aside. The focus instead turned on how many advertisements the company could get into their films.
Holding his tongue as much as he could, Miller is trying to put the past behind him and is now focused on new projects, for instance launching Warren Miller, Phase 2. When asked which of his movies he is most proud of he replies, in that truly unique voice, “I think the picture that I would probably be proudest of is the one that I might make someday.”
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