Caffeinated Clint
At just 25 years of age, Maeve Dermody has appeared in no less than major Australian films; and in each one, she’s played a vastly different character. Hot on the heels of her bravura turns in both “Black Water” and “Beautiful Kate”, Dermody takes on the role of the intelligent introvert Melody in writer/director Leon Ford’s “Griff the Invisible”. I caught up with Dermody to talk about this very ‘different’ flick a few days ago.
I was going to congratulate you and say, you’re playing the Lois Lane or Betty Ross of this film, but then…I don’t really say this is a superhero satire. Do you?
No, I don’t. I think it’s a bit of a foil for something else.
What do you see it as as?…
The romance of it. Well, I think it’s about… I mean I think, it’s kind of a study of different forms of deceiving reality and potential loneliness inside that. And then kind of the power of love. I’m not really a softy but yeah, I think that really is it and it’s not… It’s kind of in a very genuine way I think. To be clever in a genuine way. Yeah.
And you had been on board this film for a while. It’s been a long journey to the big screen for it. Was it 2009 or something?
Yeah, well, not really. I mean, I started… I read it in… When did I read it? In the beginning of 2009, yeah. And then there’s a really long casting process because, for a number of reasons, getting the kind of the mix between us, Ryan and Leon when we started, and he had a baby in the middle of that. So it was really long. And then, yeah, we shot in October 2009. So yeah, I guess it feels… It doesn’t feel… It feels like that we did it last year. It’s really strange. I don’t know what happened last year that made it feel… It was actually been a year and a half since we shot it.
And you knew Leon before, is that right?
A little bit. I knew him as an actor. I knew… I’ve seen him in a few plays, and we had a few mutual friends. But I was really surprised when I read the script. I had no idea that he was such a clever writer as well.
That’s for sure. And pre-production would have been rushed I guess?
Yeah, it was a bit. They pulled it together in two months. We had to keep waiting for Ryan to become available. And yeah, when he was, just luckily, everyone was kind of ready to go. But they had the particular heads of department they wanted to use, because they have worked with them on their shots. And that’s Nicole and Leon. And then, yeah, it just kind of came together. It was really fated and kind of, yeah, it was really lucky. It was blessed. It was kind of a blessed production here…
You’re saying pre-production was rushed, does that mean that the prep and rehearsal time that you guys got was also short? stumpy?
No, it was the same amount. It actually ended up being really helpful that both Ryan and I have been sort of testing and had these characters in our minds for six months. And then we suddenly had two months, and he couldn’t actually commit all until two weeks of rehearsal. But we really didn’t touch it too much. We kind of… We didn’t do a lot of sitting around the table, breaking it apart; we both of knew where were going with it. We just kind of meet on screen and pretty much let it happen. Leon was very pretty trusting for a first-time director to be honest. He didn’t have this neurosis get in the way.
That’s good. How long of a shoot was it?
Six weeks. I’m pretty sure… Yeah.
That’s good. And so obviously, the chemistry that you and Ryan had in the movie was pretty much chemistry bubbling up on the set itself, because you didn’t have this long rehearsal process. You have to kind of…
Exactly.
Create it.
And I think that’s part of it. Yeah, and I mean. Because we’ve got to meet on screen and they kind of spend the whole film discovering the mystery of one another, it was sort of important that we didn’t… I mean, we didn’t spend a lot of kind of matey time together, for that reason. We just kind of kept it a little bit sacred, and it was just… They got the casting right, hopefully. And yeah, just trusted it. And so, yeah, we didn’t… We really didn’t tamper with it very much.
And what appealed to you about playing this character? I mean, was it that because it was a romantic kind of film, as you see it? Or…
Sure. I’m all for romantic films. But it was more the intelligence of the writing and I like how odd it is. It’s even… It’s odd on screen but then it’s also sort of the combination of the aesthetic and the writing and the edit. I don’t know. It sort of became an even more bizarre film in post, I think. But yeah, no. I really, really, really responded to the writing. I hadn’t read a script so good. It’s sort of spot on in terms of being really funny and also moving at the same time. And not distinctly Australiana, I love that about it.
No, it wasn’t.
And also some of the qualities of the female. I mean, it’s just so rare to have that much screen time for one but also as in my character that’s so intelligent and passionate and multi-faceted.
For sure, for sure. I mean, you’re saying that this film isn’t so much an Australian film as it is just a good film, that’s there for audiences. It was the same with Andrew Traucki’s “Black Water”, which you did a couple of years ago, and is one of the most criminally under-seen films ever.
I agree. He’s about to get it back with The Reef… I mean, he’s starting to get some credit…
Yeah, exactly. So what do you think stands out about the latest one, Griff the Invisible?
What stands out about it?
Yeah, what do you think stands out… I mean it’s just not…
I don’t know if it stands out from other things that I’ve done. It’s not so much that. I mean it’s a bonus that it’s so different from the other two roles, the Black Water role and my role in Beautiful Kate. And genre wise, I mean, one of my favourite things of being an actress is the different challenges that genres present as an actor. How you climb into different roles and what’s demanded, what’s expected of you and what kind of rules apply to that world, and I love all that stuff. But it’s also just, you just go off the quality of the script and the people involved. And I also knew Nicole O’Donohue, the producer, beforehand. And I knew I wanted to work with her. She’s a brilliant woman. And having Jan Chapman and Scott Meek, who’s executive producer.
And then this movie, because Ryan is in it, it’s going to have international appeal as far as I’m concerned. Is that exciting for you to see that this will be…
Yeah, absolutely. And it’s exciting and useful to be honest. I mean, we’ve got the same agents in the States. And just to have a film where we’re both… Where they can get on board for both of us and push us both is really, really useful. And yeah, of course, and as many people… If a lot of people can see it, then that’s the best news.
Has it been a good show reel for you? Have you been attacking the States lately?
I haven’t had much access to it, to be honest. Because it’s been bit of a sacred… It’s kind of being…
No knocking down the doors yet?
No. It’s got a US release in June and I’m sure they’ll be knocking then [Laughs].
Well, that’s good.
I won’t be there but, yeah.
But that’s when the phone will be ringing off the hook for you.
That’ll be nice. Bring it on. [chuckle]
“Griff the Invisible” is now showing
