Caffeinated Clint
When screen veteran Geena Davis was approached by Australian director Andrew Lancaster to head the cast of a film he was putting together in his home country, the actress assumed it’d be an Aussie film – featuring a lone American character.
By the time the actress, known for such classic films as ”Beetlejuice”, ”Thelma & Louise”, and ”The Long Kiss Goodnight”, was quarter-way through reading Brian Carbee’s semi-autobiographical script, she realized she hadn’t been offered an Aussie movie at all – the story takes place completely in Carbee’s home state of Connecticut.
“We assumed it’d be shooting in Connecticut – since that’s where the movie takes place”, Davis, on the promotional trail for ”Accidents Happen” in Sydney, says. “But it turns out there was this great financing available if we shot it in Australia. But still, I was like, ‘Really!? Sure we don’t want to shoot it in Connecticut? I mean, we have a Connecticut right here! We have one of those!”
But Davis, who by this stage was completely sold on the script (“I loved the script – it was really-written, and I thought the character they were offering me would be a really cool character to play”), was happy to go-along with whatever the filmmaker and the bean-counters wanted. And she now believes the producers made the best decision to shoot the film downunder – and not only because they’d have saved themselves a few dollars.
“Firstly, I don’t think anyone would even know that it was made in Australia – if they weren’t told beforehand. And though the rest of the cast are Australian, they all do flawless American accents – they’re awesome!
“But mainly, I really liked working with all the Australians – everyone is very laid-back, relaxed and just likes to have a good time on set. Not to say they weren’t talented and didn’t always have their mind of the job – every one of them was soooo talented – but the cast and crew just knew how to have a good time, and keep things light and breezy. It was a lot less stressful than working on some American film sets”, Davis says, adding “[It] did us all good”.
Davis, who won an Oscar for her role in the 1988 comedy ”The Accidental Tourist’, says – and it shows, check out her filmography! – It’s always the story that comes first with her; it was never going to matter where ”Accidents Happen” was shot.
“The script is so strong, and the story is so solid, that it didn’t matter where it was being filmed – I was going to do it anyway”, Davis, who made her film debut in the Dustin Hoffman comedy Tootsie (1982), says. “It’s just such a good one. It’s the story, and script, that immediately attracted me to the project in the first place. If I’m reading a script and I suddenly start going ‘Wow, I’d like to say that!’ or ‘Wow, I’d like to do that!’, then it’s safe to say it’s something I’m going to go for. I was attracted to this part immediately”.
In ”Accident’s Happen”, Davis plays a tactless, slightly rough-around-the-edges suburban mother whose eccentric family experiences a string of bad luck.
It’s safe to say Davis, whose most famous roles include a high-spirited fugitive in ”Thelma & Louise”, a sweet-as-sugar female baseball player in ”A League Of Their Own”, and an amnesiac spy in ”The Long Kiss Goodnight”, has never played a character like Gloria Conway before.
“Not that I haven’t played unusual mothers before – like the, er, parent of a rodent [in the ”Stuart Little’ movies] – but I’d never played a profoundly foul-mouthed mother before, and I thought it’d be fascinating to play that.”
The strong story and character also overshadowed any early concerns Davis may have had about working with a first-time director.
“I’d seen some of Andrew’s work with shorts and commercials and they were great. I also spent quite a bit of time with him and got an understanding of his vision for the movie – the look, how he wanted it shot, and what story he wanted to tell with it – so I ultimately felt very comfortable with him.”
When she wasn’t embodying the part of a cussing Aussie mother, Davis and her children checked out the many sights of Sydney – including the Taronga Zoo and the Blue Mountains.
“Because it was Summer in America the kids were off from school, so they were able to come with me”, says the mother of three, and wife of Iranian American plastic surgeon Reza Jarrahy . “So any time off I spent with them – and we had a great time; there’s just so much to do in Sydney.”
Davis loves Australia, in particular Sydney, because it also reminds her a little bit of home.
“There’s very little culture-shock between Sydney and Los Angeles”, the former model, raised in Massachusetts, says. “It’s a very comfortable transition. Things work the same way. You guys drive on the other side of the road, but other than that, it’s pretty similar.
“Only you guys are slightly cooler”, she winks.
The last time Davis was in Sydney was in 1999. She was participating in a pre-Olympics event for Archery – along with 300 other potential arrow-shooters. The actress, who unfortunately just missed out on a place to participate in the Sydney Olympics, says she still tries to fit in some archery in her spare time.
“But I haven’t done it lately – my kids are pretty little still, and it’s pretty time-consuming”, Davis, who only took up the sport two years before her Olympic try-out, says. “When I was competing I had to practice three or four hours a day, so it’s a big commitment. But fortunately Accident’s Happen came along at a time when I’d taken a break from Archery, so it worked out great”.
Not that Davis is ever run off her feet anyway. The actress will freely admit she doesn’t do as many movies as she used to, because, quite simply, she doesn’t need to – financially, she’s doing quite Okay.
”Accidents Happen” was, besides a pilot that didn’t get picked up, Davis’ first project since her acclaimed but short-lived TV series ”Commander-In-Chief”, which wrapped in 2006.
“I’ve always been fussy, and I have the luxury of not needing to take jobs that don’t appeal to me, so I’m pretty much willing to wait as long as it takes to find something that arrests my imagination.”
It goes without saying then that Davis doesn’t not what she’s doing next.
“Though it’s funny, someone just asked me about a sequel to ”Beetlejuice” – which, though I haven’t heard anything about it, might be interesting. I would do that. Thing is, do ghosts age? Wouldn’t we be stuck in the age we were? Alec [Baldwin] and I would have to look as we did then – who knows, maybe we could? I better get in touch with Tim Burton”.
– CLINT MORRIS
“Accidents Happen” is now showing
