Father Geek here with a report on a new supernatural thriller flick coming from that land beyond beyond, that land past hope & fear, Australia... Latauro, our reporter/editor on the scene was johnny-on-the-spot and has sent in a faithful report on the Q & A that accompanied the Aussie premiere amid all the lightning strikes and atypical fire and brimstone raining from the southern skies...

THE INSIDE STORY

The PREMIERE Q&A session...

On a very dark & rainy night buried in the middle of traffic-laden Camberwell, the Australian pre-release Premiere of THE INSIDE STORY took place. In attendance were many of the cast and crew, who took to the stage after the film to answer questions from the audience.

How did I (Latauro of AICN Downunder) know about it? A while ago, I was contacted by a guy called Robert Sutherland who told me about the film and the festivals it had been in (more on them later). Curious, I checked up on the film to see how Rob was connected to it. Turns out he’s the writer/producer/director of the piece. See, THE INSIDE STORY doesn’t have a distributor. It has Rob. His impressively tireless efforts to make this film and then get it seen become apparent over the course of the Q&A.

The film is the recipient of the Australian Writers Guild Award for Best Feature Film Screenplay.

FILM SYNOPSIS

(from the press notes)

Young astrophysicist Dean Olsen discovers a mysterious book in the cellar of the old family mansion. Seduced by the knowledge that the book can grant him, Dean ignores his uncle’s warnings and unleashes a dark power locked away for generations. As the mysteries of the universe are laid bare before him, Dean must confront an ancient evil that threatens to destroy not only himself, but the very fabric of creation.

THE Q&A PLAYERS

ROBERT SUTHERLAND –

As mentioned above, the writer/producer/director of the film. Imagine Steven Soderbergh if he was ten years young and looked a little more realistic. He has a quiet air about him, but you can see the determination that drove him to keep going with the film after such a long time.

ANDREW CURRY –

Actor Andrew Curry has fast become a recognisable face in Australian film and television. He’s had many appearances in local TV product, and is beginning to crop up in more feature films. He is part of a dynasty of acting siblings, including Stephen Curry (star of TAKE AWAY, reviewed in this week’s AICN-D column).

CHARLES ‘BUD’ TINGWELL –

It seems strange to introduce him, especially given that, when he’s introduced here in Australia, it’s always just left at ‘He needs no introduction...’. Bud is a legend in these parts, and I don’t even know where to begin. With ninety feature films to his credit, as well as numerous television appearances, Bud seems to win over new generations with recurrently iconic roles. He has starred alongside Richard Burton, James Mason, and every Australian actor born in the past century.

(Spoilers have been edited out. Also, parts where I dropped the Dictaphone on the floor.)

The director begun by discussing the eight years it took to make the film.

SUTHERLAND: We shot the film in 1999... (pause) That’s a long time ago.

MODERATOR: Compared to other filmmakers around the world, the amount of time you had to work on this film pales in comparison. For instance, Scorsese took two years to put GANGS OF NEW YORK together.

SUTHERLAND: That’s right, it is all relative. I mean, some films get made in six months because of studio backing and so on. But I think eight years is pretty standard for first-time filmmakers.

MODERATOR: At this point I’d like to introduce the cast members and bring them down the front. Andrew Curry, who played the role of Dean, and Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell also joining us here... is Kate here?

SUTHERLAND: Kate’s actually heavily pregnant. She said she might not be able to make it...

CURRY: She’s in contractions.

SUTHERLAND: She might have been going into labour when I last spoke to her.

CURRY: And she’s not here? Slack!

MODERATOR: What’s unusual about this film is that it has notable actors, whereas most first-time filmmakers use unknowns. I’m thinking about films such as CLERKS or David O’Russell’s SPANKING THE MONKEY. How did you manage to get these people on board?

SUTHERLAND: The casting process was quite length and complicated. We were two weeks away from shooting and we still hadn’t cast the role of Edward, which was absolutely terrifying. We had all the locations locked in... well, we had the *two* locations locked in... (audience laughter) We hired a camera, what about that? (more laughter) So, we were having a production meeting and someone said “Bud Tingwell”. I said, “I’d love to get Bud, but he’s not available.” One of the crew said, “He’s a mate of mine, let me call him up.” We called Bud and he said he’d love to read a script. So we sent it over, and I’m thinking, “How long does he need to read it before I start bugging him?”. I gave him a day or so... But he rang me the next day and said he wanted to do it, and that was absolutely amazing. It really felt like we were cooking with gas. Andrew came on even later than that. Two days before shooting the lead actor pulled out – he’d been on board for a couple of weeks – but oddly, I had this sense that it was still going to work. I’d been playing telephone tag with Andrew Curry for about three months, but we’d never actually hooked up. So I quickly rang him on the Thursday before we started shooting and asked if he could come in for an audition today. He said, “Okay,” and we tested him with Bud. It was great, they had a real rapport, and a lot of light-heartedness I wanted to bring out in the film. So he got the job on the spot – it was just magic.

MODERATOR: (to the actors) Is there anything you want to add to that?

TINGWELL: No, nothing except that for the last sixty years I’ve often thought, “Who couldn’t they get?”. (audience laughter) Came that close. (more laughter)

MODERATOR: I understand, Rob, that you were working on the script on-and-off while working at Myers (big Australian department store). I read that you went through something like twenty-two drafts of the script. Is that right?

SUTHERLAND: Yeah, I started working back in 1994 with a three-month Christmas contract. The plan was to just write the script, raise the money and shoot it. Five years later I was still writing it, which obviously wasn’t the plan, but it really took that many drafts to get it right. It was only around draft number nineteen that it all began to fall into place. It was quite a complicated script to write, as you can imagine.

MODERATOR: Andrew, do you want to take us through how got this role? Looking through your bio, you’ve got appearances in “Blue Heelers”, “The Games”, “Lano & Woodley”, “State Coroner”... Is this your feature debut?

CURRY: Uh, no, not really. It’s my first lead role; I actually had a small role driving a truck in ROAD TO NHILL... (laughter) I would like to say that working on a low-budget movie as opposed to a big-budget feature – not that there are huge budgets in Australia – but everyone in the cast and crew were there because they *wanted* to be there and they believed in the project. Most of the time people are there because they’re being paid and it’s there job, but there’s not as much passion there as there was on this film. I think it comes through on-screen that everyone was there because they believed in it and they loved the story. It was a great cast to work with, a great crew, and everything ran smoothly. I’ve been on film shoots where people have ended up in fisticuffs because they couldn’t agree on a point. But this film was such a joy to work on, and a everyone I’ve spoken to has said the same thing.

MODERATOR: It’s a film that, I think, is rare in Australia. It’s so rare that we actually step outside those quirky little comedies. This is something that’s quite ambitious. I’d like to ask Bud, you’ve obviously done a lot of film and television – is this similar to anything you’ve done in the past?

TINGWELL: I’ve had a run of amazing scripts. They sent me THE CASTLE script, and I thought it was fantastic. And Rob [Sitch, the director] said, “Any advice?” And I said, “Yes, don’t let us change a syllable.” And we didn’t. Then the next script I got was Paul Cox’s INNOCENCE, and I said, “Don’t let us change a syllable.” And I think I said exactly the same to Rob [Sutherland], I was astonished when I read the script, it was superb. I was very happy to say, “Yes,” and get in there. It was a great experience shooting with Rob, because I hadn’t long finished shooting INNOCENCE. Paul Cox is one of the great directors, and is acknowledge so around the world, as I discovered on a trip to America where we won Best Picture at a festival over there a couple of years ago. They just talk about Paul Cox as being the Master Director. So it was very interesting to work with Rob, who worked in exactly the same way as Paul. Especially without – what’s Paul got? – at least two hundred years of experience. I must admit, sometimes Rob would say, “What would Paul Cox had done?”, and I’d say, “Well, he might have rehearsed it a bit more.” (laughter) It was a really terrific experience, and I’m astonished at the high standard of what’s up on the screen. I think the camerawork is just extraordinary...

SUTHERLAND: (calling to the cinematographer in the audience) Stand up!

TINGWELL: No, no, don’t. You’ll give the man an ego. (laughter) He’ll ask for money next... (more laughter) I suppose I’d better reveal a secret: David Stratton [co-host of “The Movie Show”, prominent Australian film critic] gave it a rave for “American Variety”. But I have to confess that I was a bit disappointed when he gave THE CASTLE one-and-a-half stars... but he’s made up for it now. But for *David* to rave – that’s pretty good going.

AUDIENCE QUESTION: I was just wondering if you’d received any funding for the marketing.

SUTHERLAND: Uh, no, in a word. The only funding I’ve received for marketing is whatever the financier has been able to continue to provide us, which isn’t much ’cos I bled him dry on the production. The marketing has really just been me getting on the phone, or getting on the email... but I have to give Bud a huge amount of credit, because in the absence of a publicist I ring Bud and I go, “Now, who do you know?”, and he says, “Well, I’m great mates with Derryn Hinch [journalist], and I’m great mates with such-and-such...”, so I call them up and ask if they want to put Bud on the radio.

AUDIENCE QUESTION: Prior to making this, what other film work have you done, if any?

SUTHERLAND: I made a very highly-regarded short film called COMPUTER GAMES, which I’m sure none of you have ever heard of...

(There’s some loud clapping and hooting from up the back.)

SUTHERLAND: It seems some of you have. Thanks, Elizabeth. (laughter) No, I haven’t had a formal education in film, but I’ve been making films since I was a kid. I’ve always had some sort of project on the go, whether it’s an experimental animation or a special effects short. COMPUTER GAMES I finished in 1995 before starting on INSIDE STORY. The main education I’ve had is hanging around with other filmmakers and reading lots of books, which is pretty much what you get at film school anyway.

AUDIENCE QUESTION: Do you have another project in the pipeline?

SUTHERLAND: Yeah, I have a few things on the boil., but I don’t have a lot of time to put into it because I’m trying to market THE INSIDE STORY. I’ve got several things in the writing stage, but very early days.

MODERATOR: I know you traveled to the Tribeca Film Festival, which Robert de Niro set up after September 11.

SUTHERLAND: Tribeca was a fantastic experience. It was a real surprise that the film was selected. We were in Sydney Film Festival in June last year, and from there we were selected for the Hawaii International Film Festival, and went to Hawaii in November. And we were selected at the last minute [for Tribeca], flew over for a week. The audience response was fantastic. It was a real privilege to go over there.

THE INSIDE STORY is on limited release from July 31 at the Rivoli Theatre in Melbourne. Look for the AICN-D review next week.