Caffeinated Clint
Jonathan Teplitzky is a little cheesed at the way Australian Film Industry is releasing local product. He’s got everything crossed that his latest film as Director –“Getting Square”, about three singular crooks looking to go straight on the Gold Coast – doesn’t suffer the same fate as much of the local product has of late. CLINT MORRIS talks one on one with the talented Australian filmmaker about his faith in the system, David Wenham and Bringing Crime to the Gold Coast.
It hasn’t been a great year for Australian films. Are you worried – especially with films like “The Night We Called it a Day” bombing – about releasing yours now?
Not really. I think that’ll be analysed to death. It doesn’t really make sense why that happened because it [The Night We Called it a Day] was a good film. Paul’s a really good filmmaker.
Do you think it had anything to do with the fact that none of the cast members came out and plugged the thing?
Part of it. I don’t think people don’t go see movies if they’re good though. It’s all about an intriguing an audience and finding one. And I think we need to be a little more analytical about what our Audience [here in Australia] is, and also a lot more creative in the ways we target and put our films out there.
How did you get involved in “Getting’ Square”?
Andrew Dominic [Director of “Chopper”] brought the script to me actually. I’d heard it was a really written script, and at that point it was at Beyond. I went and rang Gary Hamilton there and he gave me a copy to read. At that stage it was like a 150 page monologue because Chris [Nyst] had never written a script before. But after just reading once, I was laughing aloud. I thought it’d be really fun to do and it had such great characters in it that I said ‘Fuck It, let’s do it’. It was also good because I didn’t have to write it.
Moving On. Was David Wenham always your first choice for the part of Spitieri in “Getting’ Square?”
Yeah. David was the first person I cast. I had to convince everyone else that David was right for it, and now the audience response to him is unbelievable. I know David, and I think he’s one of the best actors in Australia right now. There’s a lot of good talent here, but David has distinctiveness, and better more, I enjoy working with him. He’s got range – for instance, doing this part, which is a comedy part, he never played it for laughs. It’s just a brilliant piece of acting. And I knew he’d bring to the film a Junkie we haven’t seen before. It’s got all the traits of a Junkie but this is a specifically different version.
His clothes are hilarious in the movie, how did that come about?
He went out with a costume designer and I remember him coming back really excited about what he’d found. Those jeans were a pair of women’s old stone-wash jeans. I think once you’ve got the clothes, it’s very much another layer.
Did you watch David in “SeaChange”?
The first two seasons of “SeaChange” was when it all happened. Although I liked it after that, I liked the first two seasons mainly because of David. No matter what he does he’s always truthful to the character. No matter how unlikely or unreal the premise he’s always truthful to the character and I think once you do that you can get away with anything. That’s what I love about his work – their’s so much honesty and truthfulness in his performances, that he always rings true. It’s fantastic working with someone like that.
Do you think “Getting’ Square” will be one of the last things David will do in Australia for a while?
No. He’s going to do Rob Connolly’s next film “Three Dollars”, which has just been funded and rolls early next year. I think David will come back a lot actually. Not only to do good films, but to work with his mates. I think he’s in a position where he can pick and choose – but I’d say he’ll be doing flicks back here just as regularly. I’d love to do another film with him and again find something different for him to do.
How did you rope Timothy Spall into it?
When I first read the script I thought the Barrington character sounded really English, and having lived in England a long time, I knew exactly what would work and what wouldn’t. I think our shortlist was Tim, Robbie Coltrane, Ray Winstone and another guy I can’t recall. They were the names we were throwing about anyway. Tim basically read the script, saw what a good role it was and said yes straight away. In many ways, he was my first choice, because I thought it would be great to see him in a role he’s not normally associated with – a tough guy, gangster type. He’s just a brilliant actor. I’d love to do another film with him.
Sam Worthington’s a great young actor. How did he get involved?
He’s fantastic. In many ways his part was the hardest to cast because we needed someone who could convincingly play a tough guy and also have elements of the leading man about him. It was really a case of working out who we wanted to pitch this film at, because we had tested guys up to eight years older than Sam. Ultimately, we decided to go Sam and then have David playing the older, slightly more streetwise accomplice. It worked.
Why did you film “Gettin’ Square” on the Gold Coast?
Chris is from the Gold Coast, he’s very much a Gold Coast boy. Ultimately, it could have been shot anywhere but I just liked the idea of Crooks on the Gold Coast. When we were there people would come up and ask what we were doing. They assumed it was an American production, but when they found out we were doing a local film they were thrilled. So it just felt right. We didn’t want to have many scenes of the Touristy spots either, but use the back alleys and grungy streets. Apart from the Prison and the CIC headquarters – and this is including the Brisbane scenes – all the scenes were shot in the back suburbs of the Gold Coast.
Have you been on the Internet and looked at some of the film’s reviews?
Some of them yeah. There’s been some really good reviews. International Variety had a really good review, and there were some from the [Brisbane] Festival, a couple of good online ones – like yours and another girls. So far, so good.
Any plans for the DVD?
Yeah. Quite a few things in the works for it.
You going to do a commentary?
I hope so, but regardless we’ve got a few bits and pieces out of the film, some outtakes and some B-Roll stuff, and some deleted scenes we’ll add back in. It’ll be a good DVD I think.
Are you a fan of the DVD medium?
I love it. I love it a lot actually. What I like about it is that you can get access to some of the more obscure films – particularly European Films. You get to see them in the proper format too.
How did you manage to rope in say, Gretel Killeen and Joe Bugner for the cameos?
I really wanted to get some Gold Coast personalities into it, and although Gretel isn’t from the Gold Coast, she’s associated with it because of her work on “Big Brother” so we just rang her up. She loved it. She was great. Joe and Ugly Dave Gray were more than happy to be involved too.
Do you think the Australian Film Industry is healthy?
All it takes is one film to go through the roof. I don’t think it’s ever actually healthy or unhealthy, it is what it is. It’s a very small industry that’s under a microcosm. You have three films that don’t work and suddenly the film industry is falling apart, then you have two films over five years that are huge and suddenly it’s the incredible Australian Film Industry. I think there are a lot of unhealthy things in our industry – the way we develop stuff, the way we market stuff, the places we get our funding from. I’ve talked to a lot of filmmakers around the world and they say how great it is that we’ve got a source of funding, but then on the other hand, they don’t realise what comes with that. The industry just doesn’t evolve. I don’t think we’re that much of an industry anyway- everyone just wants to film their film and get it out, we should really be supporting one another as this ‘industry’. Hopefully our film will contribute something but when it comes to marketing films people here don’t have a clue.
I actually came from a film marketing and publicity background to journalism. What do you thinks so wrong with the way we market films here?
Look at the marketing campaign for say something like “Trainspotting”. Ninety percent of films are marketed this way, and then over here there’s “Trainspotting”. It gave a potentially difficult to sell film some incredible opportunities – and it took them. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a good film or a bad film, you’ve got to give it the opportunity and unfortunately we tend to just bland them out here. For instance, here they think that the stars faces have got to be on the posters. Australian stars don’t sell a film. Instead of that, go out there and push the envelope and find out new ways of doing things.
Talking of other films, are you developing anything new yet?
Yeah I’m developing a couple of others. I’m developing one out of England which I’ll shoot in America, and also developing a couple of local ones.
Have you thought about the cast for any?
Not really. The one in America I’ve only just got the first draft for.
Is it a similar film to “Gettin’ Square?”
No. Totally different. It’s based on a New York’s Novelist’s book called “Reservation Road”, about the aftermath of a hit and run. It’s a very internal Drama. Really what it’s about is what it means to be a father. In this case, one’s the perpetrator and one’s the father of the victim. It’ll have a thriller element, but that’s not necessarily the most interesting element of it. It’s a very timely movie too.
GETTING SQUARE Commences October 9 across Australia
