Favourite Movie Friday with director David Michod

The film critic-turned-filmmaker’s debut film Animal Kingdom took out a jury award at Sundance and a tonne of others at the IF Awards in Sydney last month (including best director and best lead actor). He also wrote Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Natalie Portman vehicle Hesher, which is out next year, but most importantly, he shared his favourite movies (or movie rather) with me here:

“It’s so weird, there are so many different movies I really love but the one I think I love most is Apocalypse Now. In part because it works on such a grand scale, but it’s full of such beautiful detail. It was the first time I remember watching a movie and thinking `it would be fun to make that movie. Terrifying, but an adventure. It represents everything I love about films, making them and watching it.”



You can read my exclusive interview with David Michod here.

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Patiently waiting

For most, a trip to India is a spiritual experience. This was certainly the case when Sydney filmmaker Claire McCarthy (above) and her sister worked as volunteers with Mother Teresa's nuns for six months in Calcutta. Although she made a documentary of their time there for the ABC called Sisters, McCarthy was inspired by the individual stories of the couples who came to the mission to adopt. Those stories are coming to life on the big screen in her latest film The Waiting City.

The first Australian film to be shot entirely in India, it stars Australian acting talents Radha Mitchell, Joel Edgerton and Isabel Lucas. McCarthy said as well as the couple's `love story', they set out to capture the mayhem and exotic chaos of India in the film.
``It was certainly challenging to shoot in almost semi-documentary style, not using sets and trying to integrate our actors into real situations in one of the most populated cities,'' she said.
``We had a crew of about 120, with five different languages spoken on set.
``But it was one of the highlights of my career working in someone else's country.
``We didn't want to feel like we were coming in and taking over, we wanted it to feel like we were doing things more like a local film than an international film.''

However, they encountered more than a few hurdles. Shot throughout India in 2008 and 2009, McCarthy said they were `really tested' when the Mumbai Terrorist Attacks occurred.
``We had the terrorist attacks happen at the mid-point of shoot and a lot of the crew were form Mumbai and directly affected.
``We had friends staying at the hotel, it was quite full on.
``Things like that can make or beak the situation and it definitely brought us together.''But McCarthy said they also encountered some luck during production, particularly with the film's star Radha Mitchell (above), who is also a producer on The Waiting City.
``I was making a music video for Old Man River on the banks of the Ganges and one of the production crew asked me who my fantasy leading lady would be for The Waiting City and I said Radha,'' she said.
``It somehow got out to The Times of India and she was Googling herself one day and was like `what the hell? I'm supposed to be shooting a film in India and I've never heard of it.'
``She got in touch with her agent who found a copy of the script and then she came onboard.
``This is really a love project for her and her support was totally invaluable - she worked for us for a lot less than what she would work for America.''

Another rising Aussie star in the film is Joel Edgerton (below), who was most recently seen in Animal Kingdom. McCarthy said during the auditions she had her eye on Edgerton.
“I’ve seen him do quite macho roles and he did a knockout audition,” she said.
“I wanted to cast an actor who could be really likable, naturally funny, sing and be quite manly – he has all of these qualities that I thought the film needed.
“And since filming his star has really risen and he’s in quite a few coveted roles in America.”The Waiting City premiered at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival and was released in cinemas on Thursday.

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No MUFF too tough

If Aussie filmmaker Joseph Sims has his way, 2010 will be the genre revolution in Australian cinema. After the success of Aussie genre film Animal Kingdom and hype surrounding upcoming releases The Loved Ones and Red Hill, Sims hopes his debut feature film Bad Behaviour will continue the move away from `depressing dramas' and add to the renaissance of thrillers, chillers and blood-spillers.
"There has been a slew of Australian films that are beginning to break the mould,'' said Sims.
"A lot of the depressing dramas are quite good, but they're all similar and I think it's not being creative; it's just being safe and finding those trends.
"Australian has an amazing history of genre cinema in the 70s and 80s, then in the 90s and 2000s we turned very arthouse.
"A lot of the fun and more exciting films that push the boundaries have slipped away.
"But with Wolf Creek in 2005 it started to bring genre back, and 2010 will be the genre revolution.''

It certainly seems that way, with Bad Behaviour announced as the headliner at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF) this month and hand-picked to screen on closing night. Shot entirely on the Gold Coast in January and February, Bad Behaviour is a Tarantino-esque action thriller that was written, produced and directed by Sims. The twenty-something filmmaker said it is very exciting to have his work screen at `Australia's biggest and coolest genre film festival'.
"Every festival is important and with Bad Behaviour it has been my mission to make a big splash,'' he said.
"We've been building momentum up to the premiere, which has almost sold out, and the idea is to create a shit fight between the distributors as to who will take us on.''
Playing `out of type' and taking on the role of the film's protagonist is renowned Australian actor John Jarratt. Jarratt said he hopes the film will `take off' so he can be viewed as a more versatile actor.
"My character is an everyday copper who gets into an extraordinary situation,'' he said.
"I'm a hero in this one and everyone only thinks I can play a villain.
"After Bad Behaviour it would be nice if people saw me in different light, instead of playing Mick Taylor in Wolf Creek all the time.
"It was probably one of the best performances I've done and it was well received, but the bad part is before that I had a lot of diverse roles.''

Jarratt said he was attracted to the low-budget, independent feature because of Sim's `fantastic script' which he hopes will transfer onto the big screen.
"It's a good piece of work and if it's good, it doesn't matter what genre it comes from or what country,'' he said.
"Like, Samson and Delilah went mainstream because it had the x-factor and so does this.''

Sims said he is currently in the process of `polishing the film off' and is is working with Australian filmmakers such as Brian Trenchard-Smith (BMX Bandits), Mark Hartley (Not Quite Hollywood) and Sean Byrne (The Loved Ones) on the final product.
"Thankfully they have all liked it because it's so original and this strange, non-linear narrative,'' he said.
"It really is one of those movies where you have no idea what's going to happen next.''
Bad Behaviour will premiere at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF) on closing night, August 28 at 7pm. Bad Behaviour is expected to get a national release in early 2011. Having attended cast rehearsals late last year and spending a few days on set in January, I'm really excited to see this puppy taking off as it has serious substance. Speaking of puppies, there's a whole program of awesome undergound cinema screening at MUFF so to get the full run down, head here.

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King of the jungle

It is one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world and this year Sundance was ruled by one man; Aussie film student turned film critic turned film director David Michôd (above). After making a string of award-winning short films, Michôd's full length debut Animal Kingdom took out the dramatic grand jury prize for world cinema and reviewers compared his work to that of Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese.

Michôd also had another film in competition at the festival, Hesher, starring Natalie Portman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Rainn Wilson, which he co-wrote with director Spencer Susser who was nominated for the dramatic grand jury prize.
``It was incredibly exciting,'' says Michôd.
``I already felt like I won before the awards were presented because for it to play the way it played and for it to go down the way it went down…it was so exhilarating.
``I didn't need a prize; I already had my wildest dreams achieved.
``I was extremely happy that Hesher got in and Spencer was going to be there too.
``It's quite extraordinary when you think it about it because out of the 12 to 13 films in competition and the 2500 entries, we had them both in.
``I was very much living in an Animal Kingdom bubble. . .and to be there with so many of the cast and crew it felt fun, like being on tour with a rock band.
``It was great to be there with Spencer and Hesher and on some weird level it felt like we owned Sundance, but I think that way because I’m self-obsessed.''

Michôd says he had already left the festival when the award was presented because he didn't know `how the film was going to be received.' It was not his first time at Sundance, as he ventured there in 2008 in a déjà vu situation when his short film Crossbow was selected along with two others he co-wrote; Spider, directed by Nash Edgerton, and I Love You, Sarah Jane, directed by Spencer Susser and starring Mia Wasikowska.
“It really felt like people were talking about us and that there was something new coming out of Australia,” he says.
“People became aware we were all working on each others films.
“It was incredibly rewarding to go through the whole trauma of making a feature film and having it land there – I wouldn’t want it to play at any other festival.”

That wish cam true and to great result, with reviews for Animal Kingdom unanimously positive so far. Michôd says he had been carrying around the idea for the film for a while, however, it was his move from Sydney to Melbourne that prompted him to put pen to paper.
``It felt like a big city to me and I read a lot of true crime writing,” he says.
“It gave this new personality to the neighbourhoods behind the stories.
``I wanted to do a big, sprawling, crime story in Melbourne.”

His crime epic took a back seat while he finished film school and then got a job in Sydney working at Inside Film magazine where within two-years he became editor.
Michôd says he learnt a lot about how the business works in his time at the magazine and saw the distribution, marketing and publicity side of the filmmaking process which `filmmakers don't often get to see.' He says now that Animal Kingdom is to be released soon, he is surprised he was not more fearful of reviews given his experience writing them.
``I do think of myself as a sensitive soul and I'm surprised I didn't fear having the tables turned after having cast judgement for so long,'' he says.
``I didn't really enjoy reviewing films and I knew that if I didn't just jump out and have a crack, make Animal Kingdom, then I was never going to do it.''
As he began to gather momentum for Animal Kingdom through short film work, he also established a connection with Blue-Tongue Films, a loose-jointed Australian moviemaking collective founded by the Edgerton brothers Nash and Joel. Michôd, Spencer Susser, Nash Edgerton, Luke Doolan and Joel Edgerton (pictured in order above) make up the core of the group.
“The beauty of Blue-Tongue is it’s a collective of friends,” says Michôd.
“We’re all off making films with different production companies, but we always make sure we’re involved in each others stuff.
“It’s all about feeling like your not doing it alone, especially in the early days when you’re making shorts and none of you have any idea if there are careers awaiting you.”

Once the project was up off the ground, Michôd says `one of the most encouraging things' was how quickly people came on board.
``I felt good about it, but I didn't know it would work and I was racked with self-doubt,” he says.
“So, to have actors with such an incredible body of work jump on board quickly and enthusiastically made me think the material would work.
``It feels intimidating walking on set and all these powerful personalities and actors are waiting for you.
``But when you know the movie inside out, you know what you need to say.
``I know I wanted it to be quite simple and almost beautiful.
``I knew early on and talked about this a lot with the cinematographer that I didn't want it to be full of funky camera stuff.
``I didn't want it to feel like a rock 'n' roll crime movie that's about how cool criminals are.''

Animal Kingdom stars a who's who of Australian acting talent such as Guy Pearce, Joel Edgerton, Luke Ford, Ben Mendelsohn, James Frecheville and Jacki Weaver. It is psychological crime drama about a 17-year-old boy (Frecheville) as he tries to survive amongst his criminal family and manage a detective who is determined to save him. Animal Kingdom opens in cinemas on Thursday and you can check out the trailer below.

In the meantime, if you find the indie and oh-so-awesome film collective Blue-Tongue Films as interesting as I do, then I suggest you head over to the NY Times and read this far superior piece by Michael Cieply. Tis’ fascinating.

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