| Reference Type |
The Sydney Morning Herald
newspaper
|
| Title |
Budget Cuts a winner for Aussie film |
| Author(s) | AAP |
| Town |
Sydney |
| State |
NSW |
| Country |
Australia |
| Publication Date |
20-07-2010 |
| Citation Date |
02-05-2012 |
| Site URL |
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/budget-cuts-a-winner-for-aussie-film-20100719-10hjh.html |
| Comments |
This article is so very relevant to the issues that are faced by the Australian Film Industry; it touches on the issues of budget cuts and international actors not willing to act within Australia. The article brings to the table the feelings of the writer in taking away the Australianness of the film and the article is clever to manipulate the reader to think aside all of the bad news about the film the film is wonderful in detailing Australiaâs lighthouse past. Like all articles it provides a short synopsis as if giving background to the text that is to follow. The combination of opinion and interview is an interesting strategy and in this case works effectively as it gives the article more credibility that it would otherwise have had. The use of words to attract viewers is clever and witty, and the article briefly touches on the underlying themes of the film without a complex discussion. The article is clearly intended for all ages here capable of reading the paper and I love the way it discusses the quirkiness of the writer and some of her ideas of preparation, this paper relates only slightly to my topic of interest simply by the facts that provide that many of the haulage ways of communication were in fact true and the environmental factor of isolation and its significance to the characters personality. Once again a very interesting article with some comprehensive treatment of the subject but mainly an overall clear overview of the film from the surface and just below. |
| Synopsis |
Slashing the budget of Australian lighthouse epic South Solitary was the best thing that could have ever happened to the film, writer and director Shirley Barrett says. The move took away the pressure to attach big name international stars to the film, and meant Barrett was free to cast local actors like Australians Miranda and Barry Otto and Kiwi Marton Csokas. "Because I wanted to shoot on this remote Tasmanian island the budget was really steep so we said we'd have to go for an international cast," Barrett says. "That prompted a lot of stuffing around, being stuffed around by international casting agents. "We spent a long time pursuing Maggie Gyllenhaal and at one point Paul Bettany was interested for a minute, until he found out it was in Australia. "It became a process of more and more unlikely people being mooted for the roles and you suddenly realise why bad casting decisions can be made - there's so much pressure to get a name, whatever name, and shoehorn them into the role." When the shoot relocated to mainland Victoria, the budget was downsized from $19m to about $6.5m. It would have angered most directors, but Barrett was thrilled with the news. She had Miranda Otto in mind when she wrote the script. "I really like (Gyllenhaal) as an actress, but I think Miranda is much better suited," says Barrett, who now describes the casting as "perfect". "I think just being Australian, Miranda has a similar sensibility, and having worked together before (in 1996's Love Serenade) she and I just have a connection which makes it very easy. "It's very much an Australian story - it's based on true stories about Australian lighthouse islands so it did seem a real shame (to go with a foreign cast). "I'm much, much, much happier with the way we ended up doing it." South Solitary tells the story of Meredith (Miranda Otto), unmarried and 35, who arrives at a remote lighthouse island in 1927 to assist her uncle Wadsworth (Barry Otto), in his newly appointed position as head lighthouse keeper. There she meets the withdrawn and battle-scarred assistant keeper Fleet (Csokas) who makes an unlikely companion. Having both the Ottos on set, there was minimum chat or fuss, but instead a very comfortable working relationship, Barrett says. "I think they were kind of amused at the idea of playing these characters," she says. "I think Barry quite enjoyed playing the fusty old head light keeper who's quite tough on his niece." In preparation for the film, Miranda Otto and Barrett looked up old 1927 home journals at the library and wrote long letters to each other, in character. "We created a history for her and I was her friend Myra and we'd write to each other," Barrett says. "We'd write them in longhand - I even bought a fountain pen and we'd post them to each other, we'd never email, so we had the thrill of them arriving in the post. "They start off quite earnest in character and they just get nuttier and nuttier. "I think we were just writing for our own amusement in the end - it was nothing to do with these lofty ideas of preparation," she laughs. The story of South Solitary was inspired by true stories of isolation and distress, written by people who lived on remote lighthouse stations in the days before satellite communication. As depicted in the film, in those days messenger pigeons and semaphore to passing ships were the only forms of communication with the mainland. "They really did have those terrifying haulage ways and messenger pigeons, the body being preserved in the bath tub is a true story that happened on Deal Island off Tasmania - it's horrifying," Barrett says. There may not have been much company on the island for Meredith, but the unrepentant Roaring Forties almost seem to be an omnipresent character in the film. "What we really wanted was a feeling of a really inhospitable place - that every time you stepped outdoors you'd be buffeted by this wind, a feeling you could be blown off," Barrett says. But that was not so easy to achieve with unseasonably beautiful weather plaguing the set. "My goal was that I really wanted it to look always grey and bleak and miserable with perhaps a little bit of sunshine towards the end as love blossoms," she says. "Portland (in southern Victoria, near Cape Nelson where filming took place) is notoriously dreadful. "We'd looked at the weather charts and it looked very promising, but of course we got the unseasonably fine conditions. "There are a few more scenes in sunshine than I would like."South Solitary opens nationally on July 29. |
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