Drew Turney
As a one-time assistant to Anthony Minghella, South Australia-born Bruna Papandrea was always on a fast track to Hollywood.
She produced Jonathan Teplitzky’s Better Than Sex way back in 2000 before really cracking Hollywood with 2013’s Warm Bodies, but a partnership with another Hollywood player – Reese Witherspoon – has borne the most fruit for the 44 year old since arriving in America.
Their production company Pacific Standard (which has a remit to find and tell interesting stories about women) has been on a great wicket as the name behind the critical hits Gone Girl and Wild. Witherspoon/Sofia Vergara comedy vehicle Hot Pursuit was less well received, but things are still on an upward curve, with dozens of projects and options lined up in the future.
Papandrea recently received the Virgin Australia Orry-Kelly International Award at the Australians in Film Awards held in LA, and she spoke to Moviehole.net from the red carpet.
There’s no question Australian actors are successful in Hollywood, but what do Australian producers have to offer?
It’s in the water. I mean, I can’t tell you how many Americans say to me ‘I’ve never met an Aussie I didn’t like’. The way you grow up in the film industry there, even as a producer, you learn every part of the process and there’s still a culture that supports films and filmmaking.
So when you come here you come with skills but also an incredible work ethic – the actors have that and I think producers are the same. But it’s a wonderful place to start making films. I’d like to go back and make lots there.
Any plans to do that?
Yeah, we just optioned a novel called The Drive. It’s unpublished and it’s set in outback Victoria. So I hope to go back and make that film.
So is it the skill of being more hands on that works when you get to Hollywood?
Yeah, definitely, but I think it’s also because we’re very honest. We speak our opinions, we speak our minds. One of the things people often don’t do in Hollywood is they’re always waiting for someone else’s opinion. It’s really important to set yourself apart with your own and that’s what people want. That’s unique in Australia.
Do we respond to different kinds of stories that make us stand out as producers?
We think more instinctually about a story. In America there’s not a kind of government funded system here so you have a lot more market concerns when you’re putting your movies together. As an Australian you have the luxury of thinking ‘what are the stories I want to tell that excite me?’
Do you look at projects from a uniquely Australian perspective or does it not matter where you’re from?
From a storytelling perspective. I think about what works in the world, not what just works in Australia.
Is what will work here in the US automatically going to work in Australia?
No, no, no! I don’t think so at all. I mean, we have a big problem in Australia with Australian movies not working financially as much as they should, like they do in other countries. It’s something that needs to change in Australia but I think Australians actually have very savvy tastes. I always find my favourite arthouse movies work better in Australia than almost anywhere in the world.
What’s missing back there that they have in Hollywood, apart from the obvious like money?
I think we really need to start supporting our own kind of storytelling and celebrate it more. The same way the French do and the Danish do.
