Australian actors Deborah Mailman and Rachel Griffiths have begun production on the final six-episode season of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s award-winning female-led political drama series “Total Control.”
With screenplays by Stuart Page, Julia Moriarty, Pip Karmel and Meyne Wyatt, season three picks up almost two years after the explosive events of the second season.
Outsider turned kingmaker, Alex Irving (Mailman), is completely at home in the nation’s capital. While Rachel Anderson (Griffiths), now an occasional ally, is threatening to upend the entire system by establishing her own political party. However, as Alex attempts to carve out a nation changing legacy, a controversy engineered by her enemies threatens to destroy her career and public reputation. In the final season, Alex must make a choice: either she can stay true to her principles and accept defeat, or she can get her hands dirty and fight back.
Directed by Wayne Blair and Jub Clerc,...
With screenplays by Stuart Page, Julia Moriarty, Pip Karmel and Meyne Wyatt, season three picks up almost two years after the explosive events of the second season.
Outsider turned kingmaker, Alex Irving (Mailman), is completely at home in the nation’s capital. While Rachel Anderson (Griffiths), now an occasional ally, is threatening to upend the entire system by establishing her own political party. However, as Alex attempts to carve out a nation changing legacy, a controversy engineered by her enemies threatens to destroy her career and public reputation. In the final season, Alex must make a choice: either she can stay true to her principles and accept defeat, or she can get her hands dirty and fight back.
Directed by Wayne Blair and Jub Clerc,...
- 6/1/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Australian series “Bad Behaviour,” which is set to premiere at Berlinale Series next month, has its first trailer and release date.
The series – based on the book by Rebecca Starford – will bow on Australian streamer Stan on Feb. 17 as a boxset.
“Bad Behaviour” is a four-part series that tells the story of an exclusive girls boarding school, where the options are to be bullied or to become a bully as the girls vie for power and acceptance.
The show stars Jana McKinnon (“We Children from Bahnhof Zoo”), Markella Kavenagh (“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”) and Yerin Ha (“Halo”).
McKinnon plays 25-year-old Jo Mackenzie, who has flashbacks to her brutal year at boarding school when she bumps into an old friend, Alice (Ha).
Erana James (“The Wilds”), Tuuli Narkle (“Mystery Road: Origin”), Dan Spielman (“Stateless”), Diana Glenn (“Harrow”), Mantshologane Maile (“The Pm’s Daughter”) round out the cast alongside newcomers Melissa Kahraman,...
The series – based on the book by Rebecca Starford – will bow on Australian streamer Stan on Feb. 17 as a boxset.
“Bad Behaviour” is a four-part series that tells the story of an exclusive girls boarding school, where the options are to be bullied or to become a bully as the girls vie for power and acceptance.
The show stars Jana McKinnon (“We Children from Bahnhof Zoo”), Markella Kavenagh (“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”) and Yerin Ha (“Halo”).
McKinnon plays 25-year-old Jo Mackenzie, who has flashbacks to her brutal year at boarding school when she bumps into an old friend, Alice (Ha).
Erana James (“The Wilds”), Tuuli Narkle (“Mystery Road: Origin”), Dan Spielman (“Stateless”), Diana Glenn (“Harrow”), Mantshologane Maile (“The Pm’s Daughter”) round out the cast alongside newcomers Melissa Kahraman,...
- 1/18/2023
- by K.J. Yossman
- Variety Film + TV
Jana McKinnon, Markella Kavenagh and Yerin Ha have joined the cast of Australian TV series “Bad Behaviour.”
Filming of the four-part show, which is adapted from the acclaimed book of the same name by writer Rebecca Starford, has now completed in Victoria, Australia. It is expected to play on Australian streaming platform Stan later this year.
McKinnon (“We Children of Bahnhof Zoo”) stars as scholarship student, who arrives at Silver Creek for a year of character building at the wilderness campus of an exclusive girl’s boarding school. Instead, she finds herself in a dormitory of the most volatile and the most vulnerable.
Kavenagh has recent roles in “Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” while Ha has credits including “Halo.” Other newly-announced additions to the cast are: Tuuli Narkle (“Mystery Road”), Dan Spielman (“Stateless”), Diana Glenn (“Harrow”), Mantshologane Maile (“The PMs Daughter”), Erana James (“The Wilds”) and newcomers Melissa Kahraman,...
Filming of the four-part show, which is adapted from the acclaimed book of the same name by writer Rebecca Starford, has now completed in Victoria, Australia. It is expected to play on Australian streaming platform Stan later this year.
McKinnon (“We Children of Bahnhof Zoo”) stars as scholarship student, who arrives at Silver Creek for a year of character building at the wilderness campus of an exclusive girl’s boarding school. Instead, she finds herself in a dormitory of the most volatile and the most vulnerable.
Kavenagh has recent roles in “Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” while Ha has credits including “Halo.” Other newly-announced additions to the cast are: Tuuli Narkle (“Mystery Road”), Dan Spielman (“Stateless”), Diana Glenn (“Harrow”), Mantshologane Maile (“The PMs Daughter”), Erana James (“The Wilds”) and newcomers Melissa Kahraman,...
- 3/24/2022
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Director Corrie Chen has hit a stride in her career where she is able to make projects she really believes in.
Tonight is the premiere of one such example in Sbs/Goalpost Television’s New Gold Mountain, with Chen having directed all four episodes.
Set in 1857 Ballarat, the mini-series looks at the gold rush from the perspective of Chinese miners, with the story unravelling around a murder mystery. The stellar ensemble cast includes Yoson An, Alyssa Sutherland, Christopher James Baker, Dan Spielman, Mabel Li, Leonie Whyman, Sam Wang, Rhys Muldoon, Alison Bell, Chris Masters Mah and Travis Cotton.
Sbs director of content Marshall Heald has called New Gold Mountain the broadcaster’s “most ambitious drama yet”, with producer Kylie du Fresne noting it draws inspiration from Deadwood. The series is dense in detail in terms of costuming and production design, and boasts a diverse cast of around 65 speaking roles, all in multiple languages,...
Tonight is the premiere of one such example in Sbs/Goalpost Television’s New Gold Mountain, with Chen having directed all four episodes.
Set in 1857 Ballarat, the mini-series looks at the gold rush from the perspective of Chinese miners, with the story unravelling around a murder mystery. The stellar ensemble cast includes Yoson An, Alyssa Sutherland, Christopher James Baker, Dan Spielman, Mabel Li, Leonie Whyman, Sam Wang, Rhys Muldoon, Alison Bell, Chris Masters Mah and Travis Cotton.
Sbs director of content Marshall Heald has called New Gold Mountain the broadcaster’s “most ambitious drama yet”, with producer Kylie du Fresne noting it draws inspiration from Deadwood. The series is dense in detail in terms of costuming and production design, and boasts a diverse cast of around 65 speaking roles, all in multiple languages,...
- 10/13/2021
- by Jackie Keast
- IF.com.au
The second season of Total Control will launch on the ABC November 7.
In the first season, political newcomer Alex Irving (Deborah Mailman) engineered a coup against Rachel Anderson (Rachel Griffiths), the Prime Minister who appointed her to the Senate.
In season two, both Alex and Rachel find themselves treading different political paths. After being dumped by her own party, Rachel relies on strategist Nick Pearce (Alex Dimitriades) to guide her political ambitions, while Alex finds herself surrounded by a new team, led by her brother Charlie (Rob Collins). But politics can be a nasty business. Will Alex’s determination and the tenacity of her grass-roots driven team be enough? Can she survive a system determined to shake everything she values? And can these political adversaries become political allies?
Reprising their roles in the Blackfella Films series are Rob Collins, Wes Patten, Anthony Hayes, William McInnes, Huw Higginson and Lisa Flanagan,...
In the first season, political newcomer Alex Irving (Deborah Mailman) engineered a coup against Rachel Anderson (Rachel Griffiths), the Prime Minister who appointed her to the Senate.
In season two, both Alex and Rachel find themselves treading different political paths. After being dumped by her own party, Rachel relies on strategist Nick Pearce (Alex Dimitriades) to guide her political ambitions, while Alex finds herself surrounded by a new team, led by her brother Charlie (Rob Collins). But politics can be a nasty business. Will Alex’s determination and the tenacity of her grass-roots driven team be enough? Can she survive a system determined to shake everything she values? And can these political adversaries become political allies?
Reprising their roles in the Blackfella Films series are Rob Collins, Wes Patten, Anthony Hayes, William McInnes, Huw Higginson and Lisa Flanagan,...
- 10/7/2021
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
In Goalpost Pictures’ gold rush drama New Gold Mountain, Alyssa Sutherland plays a widow who overcomes the trauma of an abusive marriage and embarks on a quest for greater independence in 1850s Australia.
While it may be easy to classify her turn as Belle Roberts as a strong female character, the actress told If it was a description she was hoping to avoid.
“I like the attention we put on having much more well-rounded female characters but I get a little bee in my bonnet sometimes when all this focus gets put on these ‘strong female characters’,” she said.
“Women are just strong – that’s how it is.
“All the women in my life are very interesting and compelling people – it’s just taken a while to see the same thing on screen.”
Filmed at Sovereign Hill and around Melbourne and regional Victoria last year, New Gold Mountain follows the...
While it may be easy to classify her turn as Belle Roberts as a strong female character, the actress told If it was a description she was hoping to avoid.
“I like the attention we put on having much more well-rounded female characters but I get a little bee in my bonnet sometimes when all this focus gets put on these ‘strong female characters’,” she said.
“Women are just strong – that’s how it is.
“All the women in my life are very interesting and compelling people – it’s just taken a while to see the same thing on screen.”
Filmed at Sovereign Hill and around Melbourne and regional Victoria last year, New Gold Mountain follows the...
- 10/4/2021
- by Sean Slatter
- IF.com.au
New Gold Mountain brings to the screen the untold story of the Chinese miners who arrived in the Victorian Goldfields in their thousands in the 1850s to try to make their fortune. Using inspired-by-real-life characters and shining a light on forgotten events, this revisionist Western is based in the harsh wild west era of the Australian gold rush and unearths a murder mystery.
Filmed in Sovereign Hill and around Melbourne and regional Victoria, the epic four-part series from Goalpost Television will air over two weeks, starting October 13 at 9.30pm on Sbs and Sbs On Demand.
Directed by Corrie Chen, New Gold Mountain stars Yoson An, Alyssa Sutherland, Christopher James Baker, Dan Spielman, Mabel Li, Leonie Whyman, Sam Wang, Rhys Muldoon, Alison Bell, Chris Masters Mah and Travis Cotton.
The mini-series is created and written by Peter Cox and produced by Kylie du Fresne and Elisa Argenzio. Writers include Yolanda Ramke,...
Filmed in Sovereign Hill and around Melbourne and regional Victoria, the epic four-part series from Goalpost Television will air over two weeks, starting October 13 at 9.30pm on Sbs and Sbs On Demand.
Directed by Corrie Chen, New Gold Mountain stars Yoson An, Alyssa Sutherland, Christopher James Baker, Dan Spielman, Mabel Li, Leonie Whyman, Sam Wang, Rhys Muldoon, Alison Bell, Chris Masters Mah and Travis Cotton.
The mini-series is created and written by Peter Cox and produced by Kylie du Fresne and Elisa Argenzio. Writers include Yolanda Ramke,...
- 9/9/2021
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Stan has announced a slew of new local commissions as it ramps up ambitious plans to have around a third of its first-run slate come from original production.
These include Hoodlum Entertainment feature film Christmas on the Farm, Matchbox Pictures drama Bad Behaviour, and a number of projects with Roadshow Rough Diamond, with whom the Nine-owned streamer has extended its partnership. With the latter it is readying a third season of Bump and a spin-off, Year Of, as well as a Gregor Jordan-helmed crime drama, Ironside.
Last year, Stan flagged it intends to invest in more than 30 productions per year within five years, drawing on Nine’s production facilities and co-productions with international partners including Hollywood studios and international networks.
Earlier this month, the service announced a children’s feature film initiative with the Australian Children’s Television Foundation (Actf), and it has a lengthy list of upcoming local projects...
These include Hoodlum Entertainment feature film Christmas on the Farm, Matchbox Pictures drama Bad Behaviour, and a number of projects with Roadshow Rough Diamond, with whom the Nine-owned streamer has extended its partnership. With the latter it is readying a third season of Bump and a spin-off, Year Of, as well as a Gregor Jordan-helmed crime drama, Ironside.
Last year, Stan flagged it intends to invest in more than 30 productions per year within five years, drawing on Nine’s production facilities and co-productions with international partners including Hollywood studios and international networks.
Earlier this month, the service announced a children’s feature film initiative with the Australian Children’s Television Foundation (Actf), and it has a lengthy list of upcoming local projects...
- 8/22/2021
- by Jackie Keast
- IF.com.au
Deborah Mailman and Rachel Griffiths will be joined on screen by a host of new faces for the second season of the ABC/Blackfella Films’ Total Control, including Wayne Blair, who will also direct all six episodes.
Steph Tisdell stars in her first dramatic role, alongside other new cast members such as Alex Dimitriades, Colin Friels, Harry Greenwood, Rob Carlton, Daniella Farinacci, Brenna Harding, Benedict Hardie, and Anita Hegh.
Returning are Rob Collins, Anthony Hayes, William McInnes, Huw Higginson, Wes Patten, Lisa Flanagan and Harry Richardson.
Filming is currently underway, with production to take place across Sydney; Canberra, including at Parliament House, and Broken Hill.
The first season of the multiple Aacta Award-winning drama saw political newcomer Alex Irving (Mailman) engineer a coup against Rachel Anderson (Griffiths), the Prime Minister who appointed her to the Senate.
Season two sees Alex running as an independent. She’ll be ready for the...
Steph Tisdell stars in her first dramatic role, alongside other new cast members such as Alex Dimitriades, Colin Friels, Harry Greenwood, Rob Carlton, Daniella Farinacci, Brenna Harding, Benedict Hardie, and Anita Hegh.
Returning are Rob Collins, Anthony Hayes, William McInnes, Huw Higginson, Wes Patten, Lisa Flanagan and Harry Richardson.
Filming is currently underway, with production to take place across Sydney; Canberra, including at Parliament House, and Broken Hill.
The first season of the multiple Aacta Award-winning drama saw political newcomer Alex Irving (Mailman) engineer a coup against Rachel Anderson (Griffiths), the Prime Minister who appointed her to the Senate.
Season two sees Alex running as an independent. She’ll be ready for the...
- 3/25/2021
- by Jackie Keast
- IF.com.au
Ben Lawrence and Beatrix Christian’s Hearts and Bones was named best original feature film screenplay at the Australian Writers’ Guild’s annual Awgie Awards yesterday evening, while Shaun Grant and Harry Cripps took home the adaptation prize for Penguin Bloom.
Two of 2019’s top dramas, The Hunting, written by Niki Aken and Matthew Cormack, and Total Control (Episode 3), by Pip Karmel, were recognised in the television categories, while The Heights, lauded for its depiction of contemporary Australia, won Peter Mattessi the Awgie in the television serial category, ending a run of 16-straight years for Neighbours and Home and Away.
Playwright Suzie Miller’s critically acclaimed one-woman play Prima Facie took out the evening’s highest honours, winning the 2020 Major Award, the David Williamson Prize for Excellence in Writing for Australian Theatre, and in the stage category.
The one-woman play holds a mirror up to the Australian legal system, exposing...
Two of 2019’s top dramas, The Hunting, written by Niki Aken and Matthew Cormack, and Total Control (Episode 3), by Pip Karmel, were recognised in the television categories, while The Heights, lauded for its depiction of contemporary Australia, won Peter Mattessi the Awgie in the television serial category, ending a run of 16-straight years for Neighbours and Home and Away.
Playwright Suzie Miller’s critically acclaimed one-woman play Prima Facie took out the evening’s highest honours, winning the 2020 Major Award, the David Williamson Prize for Excellence in Writing for Australian Theatre, and in the stage category.
The one-woman play holds a mirror up to the Australian legal system, exposing...
- 12/8/2020
- by Sean Slatter
- IF.com.au
So hefty is the ABC’s slate in 2021, director entertainment and specialist Michael Carrington is confident audiences won’t even realise that many of the broadcaster’s productions faced shutdowns and delays during the pandemic.
As announced at the ABC’s upfronts this afternoon, the line-up for the new year includes new dramas Fires and The Newsreader, new comedies Fisk and Preppers, as well as the return of Total Control, Frayed, Jack Irish, Harrow and Superwog.
2021 will also see the premiere of Jungle Entertainment’s mental health drama Wakefield, with all eps planned to drop on ABC iview.
Also on the line-up is Closer Productions’ chef comedy Aftertaste, starring Erik Thomson, Natalie Abbott and Rachel Griffiths, and feature anthology Here Out West, penned by a group of emerging writers from Western Sydney.
“Seven or eight months ago we were in full production and overnight we stopped production all around Australia,...
As announced at the ABC’s upfronts this afternoon, the line-up for the new year includes new dramas Fires and The Newsreader, new comedies Fisk and Preppers, as well as the return of Total Control, Frayed, Jack Irish, Harrow and Superwog.
2021 will also see the premiere of Jungle Entertainment’s mental health drama Wakefield, with all eps planned to drop on ABC iview.
Also on the line-up is Closer Productions’ chef comedy Aftertaste, starring Erik Thomson, Natalie Abbott and Rachel Griffiths, and feature anthology Here Out West, penned by a group of emerging writers from Western Sydney.
“Seven or eight months ago we were in full production and overnight we stopped production all around Australia,...
- 11/25/2020
- by Jackie Keast
- IF.com.au
BAFTA Execs To Speak At British Urban Film Festival
Exclusive: The British Urban Film Festival (Buff) has set BAFTA Chair Krishnendu Majumdar and BAFTA Film Committee Chair Marc Samuelson for a 90-minute ‘in conversation’ session at this year’s festival, which is taking place later than usual and online as a result of the coronavirus lockdown. The pre-recorded Q&a, titled The Changing Faces of BAFTA, will be moderated by Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe and streamed via the festival’s website next month. Viewers will be able to submit questions in advance of the Zoom session via the Buff Facebook page. Actor and producer Femi Oyeniran will once again helm the annual Buff awards ceremony. Winners last year included Noel Clarke, Terry Pheto and Aki Omoshaybi. The festival’s full program is due to be announced in coming weeks.
Sbs Begins “Most Ambitious Drama Yet”
Oz broadcaster Sbs has begun its “most...
Exclusive: The British Urban Film Festival (Buff) has set BAFTA Chair Krishnendu Majumdar and BAFTA Film Committee Chair Marc Samuelson for a 90-minute ‘in conversation’ session at this year’s festival, which is taking place later than usual and online as a result of the coronavirus lockdown. The pre-recorded Q&a, titled The Changing Faces of BAFTA, will be moderated by Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe and streamed via the festival’s website next month. Viewers will be able to submit questions in advance of the Zoom session via the Buff Facebook page. Actor and producer Femi Oyeniran will once again helm the annual Buff awards ceremony. Winners last year included Noel Clarke, Terry Pheto and Aki Omoshaybi. The festival’s full program is due to be announced in coming weeks.
Sbs Begins “Most Ambitious Drama Yet”
Oz broadcaster Sbs has begun its “most...
- 11/18/2020
- by Andreas Wiseman and Jake Kanter
- Deadline Film + TV
Sbs unveiled its largest ever local drama slate at its upfronts today, including a new four-part crime series from Bunya Productions and Caama, Copping it Black, to be directed by Erica Glynn and Steven McGregor.
Next year will also see the broadcaster air a hefty roster of local unscripted projects, including the seven one-off docs produced via the Australia Uncovered initiative, and landmark factual series covering off on topics such as domestic violence, adult literacy, disability, ageism and obesity.
Goalpost’s gold rush drama New Gold Mountain, delayed due to Covid-19, is now underway in Victoria, with Yoson An, Alyssa Sutherland, Christopher James Baker, Dan Spielman, and Mabel Li toplining the cast.
Set in the Bendigo Goldfields in 1855, it follows the charismatic headman of the Chinese mining camp who suddenly finds himself struggling to maintain the fragile harmony between Chinese and European diggers and authorities when a murdered European woman...
Next year will also see the broadcaster air a hefty roster of local unscripted projects, including the seven one-off docs produced via the Australia Uncovered initiative, and landmark factual series covering off on topics such as domestic violence, adult literacy, disability, ageism and obesity.
Goalpost’s gold rush drama New Gold Mountain, delayed due to Covid-19, is now underway in Victoria, with Yoson An, Alyssa Sutherland, Christopher James Baker, Dan Spielman, and Mabel Li toplining the cast.
Set in the Bendigo Goldfields in 1855, it follows the charismatic headman of the Chinese mining camp who suddenly finds himself struggling to maintain the fragile harmony between Chinese and European diggers and authorities when a murdered European woman...
- 11/18/2020
- by Jackie Keast
- IF.com.au
Monica Zanetti’s screenplay of Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie’s Dead Aunt), Ben Lawrence and Beatrix Christian’s Hearts and Bones and Ally Burnham’s Unsound have been nominated for best original feature in the 53rd annual Awgie Awards.
The contenders for the feature film adaptation prize are Thomas M. Wright and Erik Jensen’s Acute Misfortune, Lisa Hoppe’s H is for Happiness, Shaun Grant and Harry Cripps’ Penguin Bloom and C.S. McMullen’s The Other Lamb.
The TV series prize promises to be a close race between episodes of Glen Dolman’s Bloom, Michael Petroni’s Messiah for Netflix, Belinda Chayko’s Stateless, Samantha Strauss’ The End and Pip Karmel’s Total Control.
Timothy Hobart, John Ridley, Jeremy Nguyen, Alan Nguyen and Michele Lee’s Hungry Ghosts will square off against Matthew Cormack and Niki Aken’s The Hunting for best miniseries.
In the TV serial category it must...
The contenders for the feature film adaptation prize are Thomas M. Wright and Erik Jensen’s Acute Misfortune, Lisa Hoppe’s H is for Happiness, Shaun Grant and Harry Cripps’ Penguin Bloom and C.S. McMullen’s The Other Lamb.
The TV series prize promises to be a close race between episodes of Glen Dolman’s Bloom, Michael Petroni’s Messiah for Netflix, Belinda Chayko’s Stateless, Samantha Strauss’ The End and Pip Karmel’s Total Control.
Timothy Hobart, John Ridley, Jeremy Nguyen, Alan Nguyen and Michele Lee’s Hungry Ghosts will square off against Matthew Cormack and Niki Aken’s The Hunting for best miniseries.
In the TV serial category it must...
- 9/25/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Alastair McKinnon.
Matchbox Pictures’ MD Alastair McKinnon outlines the company’s readjustment and emphasis on development, reflects on the success of Stateless and his bullish, post-pandemic outlook.
Q: Apart from the shutdown of Clickbait and the delay in shooting The Real Housewives of Melbourne, Matchbox Pictures’ productions have not been impacted by the lockdown?
A: They are the only two programs that were in physical production that needed to shut down. However we had a number of other shows at various stages of development for which our schedules and timelines have absolutely been impacted by the lockdown.
It has been a period of intensive readjustment and planning to adapt to the new environment and make sure our energy is in the right place, which I feel absolutely confident it is.
Q: I assume you and your colleagues are devoting more time to development, including the adaptation of Rebecca Starford’s...
Matchbox Pictures’ MD Alastair McKinnon outlines the company’s readjustment and emphasis on development, reflects on the success of Stateless and his bullish, post-pandemic outlook.
Q: Apart from the shutdown of Clickbait and the delay in shooting The Real Housewives of Melbourne, Matchbox Pictures’ productions have not been impacted by the lockdown?
A: They are the only two programs that were in physical production that needed to shut down. However we had a number of other shows at various stages of development for which our schedules and timelines have absolutely been impacted by the lockdown.
It has been a period of intensive readjustment and planning to adapt to the new environment and make sure our energy is in the right place, which I feel absolutely confident it is.
Q: I assume you and your colleagues are devoting more time to development, including the adaptation of Rebecca Starford’s...
- 4/26/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Matchbox Pictures/Sbs’s ‘Hungry Ghosts’.
Female-led TV drama projects from Good Thing Productions, Matchbox Pictures and Porchlight Films are among the four selected to be developed through Film Victoria and Sbs’s Pitch to Pilot initiative, aimed at bringing compelling stories from diverse voices to screen.
Each of the four teams receive $20,000 for further development before they pitch the projects to Sbs, with the successful team to receive an additional $20,000 to write a pilot script.
Producer Paula Salini (Wentworth) has teamed up with Virginia Whitwell and Nick Batzias at Good Thing Productions to bring Victorian writer Enza Gandolfo’s novel ‘The Bridge’ to the screen. Nicky Arnall (Playing for Keeps) is writing the series, titled West Gate, with Beck Cole (Mustangs Fc) to direct.
Writer/director Fatima Mawas and writer Angela Dix have come together on The Backroom. Mawas’ short film Amar was developed through the Sbs/Film Victoria...
Female-led TV drama projects from Good Thing Productions, Matchbox Pictures and Porchlight Films are among the four selected to be developed through Film Victoria and Sbs’s Pitch to Pilot initiative, aimed at bringing compelling stories from diverse voices to screen.
Each of the four teams receive $20,000 for further development before they pitch the projects to Sbs, with the successful team to receive an additional $20,000 to write a pilot script.
Producer Paula Salini (Wentworth) has teamed up with Virginia Whitwell and Nick Batzias at Good Thing Productions to bring Victorian writer Enza Gandolfo’s novel ‘The Bridge’ to the screen. Nicky Arnall (Playing for Keeps) is writing the series, titled West Gate, with Beck Cole (Mustangs Fc) to direct.
Writer/director Fatima Mawas and writer Angela Dix have come together on The Backroom. Mawas’ short film Amar was developed through the Sbs/Film Victoria...
- 4/13/2020
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
We present our interviews from the Tiff premiere of Australian TV Series Black Bitch (Total Control is perhaps a new title touted for the show).
The show had its premiere at the 2019 Toronto Film Festival, and those attending were director Rachel Perkins, Rachel Griffiths, Deborah Mailman, Harry Richardson. The series also stars Anthony Hayes, Sean Barker, Carolyn Dante, James Sweeny, Phillip John Hastings, David Nicoll and Graham Gall. The series is written by Jada Alberts, Angela Betzien, Pip Karmel.
Synopsis:
An Indigenous woman in Australia is thrust into the political limelight. Rachel Anderson is the embattled but cunning Prime Minister of Australia. Alex is a charismatic, indigenous up-and-coming politician who finds herself the centre of media attention following a shocking event. Rachel wants to use Alex to boost her popularity and further her own agenda. Alex is wise to the Prime Minister’s betrayal and sets out for revenge that...
The show had its premiere at the 2019 Toronto Film Festival, and those attending were director Rachel Perkins, Rachel Griffiths, Deborah Mailman, Harry Richardson. The series also stars Anthony Hayes, Sean Barker, Carolyn Dante, James Sweeny, Phillip John Hastings, David Nicoll and Graham Gall. The series is written by Jada Alberts, Angela Betzien, Pip Karmel.
Synopsis:
An Indigenous woman in Australia is thrust into the political limelight. Rachel Anderson is the embattled but cunning Prime Minister of Australia. Alex is a charismatic, indigenous up-and-coming politician who finds herself the centre of media attention following a shocking event. Rachel wants to use Alex to boost her popularity and further her own agenda. Alex is wise to the Prime Minister’s betrayal and sets out for revenge that...
- 9/7/2019
- by Jon Lyus
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
‘Black Bitch’ (Photo credit: John Platt).
The first two episodes of Blackfella Films’ ABC political drama Black Bitch will have their world premiere in the Primetime program at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Directed by Rachel Perkins and starring Rachel Griffiths as Australia’s embattled Prime Minister Rachel Anderson and Deborah Mailman as her rival Alex Irving, it’s one of six series from around the world in the line-up.
Perkins said: “News of our acceptance into Toronto, particularly given our series is one of the few chosen from the world, is a high point and a huge relief. Screening at Toronto is also special on a very personal level. It marks the 20th year of my collaboration with Deborah Mailman.
“My career has been built around her prodigious talent and I look forward to following our leading lady onto the red carpet.”
Among the other world premieres will be HBO’s Mrs.
The first two episodes of Blackfella Films’ ABC political drama Black Bitch will have their world premiere in the Primetime program at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Directed by Rachel Perkins and starring Rachel Griffiths as Australia’s embattled Prime Minister Rachel Anderson and Deborah Mailman as her rival Alex Irving, it’s one of six series from around the world in the line-up.
Perkins said: “News of our acceptance into Toronto, particularly given our series is one of the few chosen from the world, is a high point and a huge relief. Screening at Toronto is also special on a very personal level. It marks the 20th year of my collaboration with Deborah Mailman.
“My career has been built around her prodigious talent and I look forward to following our leading lady onto the red carpet.”
Among the other world premieres will be HBO’s Mrs.
- 8/15/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Deborah Mailman and Rachel Griffiths.
Blackfella Films’ Black B*tch (working title), a six-part drama for the ABC revolving around high stakes ambition, betrayal and treachery in the nation’s capital, started shooting today.
Directed by Rachel Perkins, the series stars Deborah Mailman as Alex Irving, a charismatic and contradictory Indigenous woman who is thrust into the national limelight after a horrific event.
Rachel Griffiths co-stars as Australia’s embattled Prime Minister Rachel Anderson, who, seeing a publicity goldmine for her party, makes her a captain’s pick for the Senate.
But Alex wants to be more than just a political stunt: she wants to make a difference. So after Alex is betrayed by the Pm she sets out for revenge that will send the political establishment into meltdown.
The supporting cast includes Harry Richardson, William McInnes, Aaron Pedersen, Rob Collins, Anthony Hayes, Celia Ireland, Trisha Morton-Thomas, James Sweeny, David Roberts,...
Blackfella Films’ Black B*tch (working title), a six-part drama for the ABC revolving around high stakes ambition, betrayal and treachery in the nation’s capital, started shooting today.
Directed by Rachel Perkins, the series stars Deborah Mailman as Alex Irving, a charismatic and contradictory Indigenous woman who is thrust into the national limelight after a horrific event.
Rachel Griffiths co-stars as Australia’s embattled Prime Minister Rachel Anderson, who, seeing a publicity goldmine for her party, makes her a captain’s pick for the Senate.
But Alex wants to be more than just a political stunt: she wants to make a difference. So after Alex is betrayed by the Pm she sets out for revenge that will send the political establishment into meltdown.
The supporting cast includes Harry Richardson, William McInnes, Aaron Pedersen, Rob Collins, Anthony Hayes, Celia Ireland, Trisha Morton-Thomas, James Sweeny, David Roberts,...
- 3/4/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
After directing two episodes of the second series of Broadchurch, Jonathan Teplitzky is in Malaysia calling the shots on three episodes of Indian Summers.
Set in colonial India in 1935, the second season of Indian Summers chronicles the further decline of the British Empire and clashes with the locals who are desperate for independence.
Julie Walters stars alongside. James Fleet, Rachel Griffiths and Art Malik. Walters portrays Cynthia, a widow and doyenne of the expats Royal Club in Shimla, a town in the foothills of the Himalayas. Fleet (The Vicar of Dibley) is Lord Hawthorne, Malik is the Maharaja Maritpur and Griffiths is his enigmatic Australian mistress Sirene.
The drama, which airs on the UK's Channel 4 and here on BBC First, is the second collaboration between Teplitzky and Griffiths: she co-starred in his 2011 film Burning Man with Matthew Goode, Bojana Novakovic and Essie Davis.
The series is being filmed in Penang,...
Set in colonial India in 1935, the second season of Indian Summers chronicles the further decline of the British Empire and clashes with the locals who are desperate for independence.
Julie Walters stars alongside. James Fleet, Rachel Griffiths and Art Malik. Walters portrays Cynthia, a widow and doyenne of the expats Royal Club in Shimla, a town in the foothills of the Himalayas. Fleet (The Vicar of Dibley) is Lord Hawthorne, Malik is the Maharaja Maritpur and Griffiths is his enigmatic Australian mistress Sirene.
The drama, which airs on the UK's Channel 4 and here on BBC First, is the second collaboration between Teplitzky and Griffiths: she co-starred in his 2011 film Burning Man with Matthew Goode, Bojana Novakovic and Essie Davis.
The series is being filmed in Penang,...
- 7/6/2015
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
After directing two episodes of the second series of British crime drama Broadchurch, Jonathan Teplitzky is juggling a sizable slate of film and TV projects.
The Railway Man director aims to re-team with producer Chris Brown on Mr Crankypants, a black comedy in the vein of their 2003 hit Gettin. Square.
With Us-born, UK-based writer Brock Norman Brock he.s developing Don Don, a feature about the encounter between a New York millionaire and a Thai Buddhist monk, both named Don.
He.s attached to direct Choir of Hard Knocks, a drama about a group of desperate people who find dignity and purpose under the baton of their choirmaster, which Pip Karmel is scripting for producer Marian Macgowan.
Moreover, he.s in talks to direct an episode of Essential Media & Entertainment.s 6-part Jack Irish series for the ABC and he.s keen to work in the new series of Essential.s Rake.
The Railway Man director aims to re-team with producer Chris Brown on Mr Crankypants, a black comedy in the vein of their 2003 hit Gettin. Square.
With Us-born, UK-based writer Brock Norman Brock he.s developing Don Don, a feature about the encounter between a New York millionaire and a Thai Buddhist monk, both named Don.
He.s attached to direct Choir of Hard Knocks, a drama about a group of desperate people who find dignity and purpose under the baton of their choirmaster, which Pip Karmel is scripting for producer Marian Macgowan.
Moreover, he.s in talks to direct an episode of Essential Media & Entertainment.s 6-part Jack Irish series for the ABC and he.s keen to work in the new series of Essential.s Rake.
- 1/26/2015
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
The day after Australian actress Yael Stone got married in the Us last year, she turned up for an audition with a slight hangover and in her words, "still glowing."
The Nida graduate who was a regular in Spirited and All Saints must have impressed the producers of Orange is The New Black, a TV dramedy set in a women's prison: She landed the role of inmate Lorna Morello in the 13-episde series which premiered in the Us on Netflix last week to rave reviews.
From Weeds creator Jenji Kohan, the show features Taylor Schilling as an engaged yuppie who is serving a 15-month stint in the slammer for her unwitting role in an international drug smuggling ring.
"The most appealing elements come from the wealth of supporting players, including a breakout turn by Yael Stone as a wonderfully distinctive character who seems to have parachuted in from a 1930s gangster film,...
The Nida graduate who was a regular in Spirited and All Saints must have impressed the producers of Orange is The New Black, a TV dramedy set in a women's prison: She landed the role of inmate Lorna Morello in the 13-episde series which premiered in the Us on Netflix last week to rave reviews.
From Weeds creator Jenji Kohan, the show features Taylor Schilling as an engaged yuppie who is serving a 15-month stint in the slammer for her unwitting role in an international drug smuggling ring.
"The most appealing elements come from the wealth of supporting players, including a breakout turn by Yael Stone as a wonderfully distinctive character who seems to have parachuted in from a 1930s gangster film,...
- 7/15/2013
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
A musical from Red Dog director Kriv Stenders, a feature about the choir of hard knocks directed by Jonathan Teplitzky and an untitled project from Joel and Nash Edgerton are three of 16 features that have received a share of $400,000 in development support from Screen Australia. Of these 16 projects, ten are new additions to the development slate, while the remaining six have been receiving ongoing assistance. Screen Australia.s head of development Martha Coleman said in a statement that the calibre of features was outstanding. .There.s a general acknowledgement from the marketplace that our filmmakers have raised the bar and I think the next wave of films in the coming years will be really interesting..
Synchronicity, which is written by Marissa Goodhill,. produced by Leesa Kahn and Catriona Hughes and has Kriv Stenders attached as director, is a musical set to the songs of Kylie Minogue. It follows 17-year-old Kylie...
Synchronicity, which is written by Marissa Goodhill,. produced by Leesa Kahn and Catriona Hughes and has Kriv Stenders attached as director, is a musical set to the songs of Kylie Minogue. It follows 17-year-old Kylie...
- 5/15/2012
- by Amanda Diaz
- IF.com.au
Some of Australia’s biggest names in film-making have received funding for new projects in the latest round of Screen Australia’s single-project feature development.
The funding round for script development has supported 16 projects totalling $400,000, ten new projects and six which receive continued support.
Martha Coleman, Screen Australia’s head of development said: “The calibre of feature projects coming to the Development Department is outstanding. There’s a general acknowledgement from the marketplace that our film-makers have raised the bar and I think the next wave of films in the coming years will be really interesting.”
Film-makers include Julia Leigh, the Edgerton brothers, Abe Forsythe and Kriv Stenders.
Julia Leigh is to direct her second film, Disquiet following on from Sleeping Beauty, which won best direction in a feature film at the Australian Director’s Guild Awards on Friday night. The psychological horror will be adapted by Leigh from her book of the same name.
The funding round for script development has supported 16 projects totalling $400,000, ten new projects and six which receive continued support.
Martha Coleman, Screen Australia’s head of development said: “The calibre of feature projects coming to the Development Department is outstanding. There’s a general acknowledgement from the marketplace that our film-makers have raised the bar and I think the next wave of films in the coming years will be really interesting.”
Film-makers include Julia Leigh, the Edgerton brothers, Abe Forsythe and Kriv Stenders.
Julia Leigh is to direct her second film, Disquiet following on from Sleeping Beauty, which won best direction in a feature film at the Australian Director’s Guild Awards on Friday night. The psychological horror will be adapted by Leigh from her book of the same name.
- 5/14/2012
- by Colin Delaney
- Encore Magazine
Wolf Creek director Greg McLean has received development support from Screen Australia for a new film set in Vietnam.
McLean’s project Black Echoes is among 13 projects to have been selected in the latest round of funding from the national screen agency.
Set in in the Vietnamese countryside, the film is about a group of tourists who go on an adventure into Viet Cong tunnels more claustrophic and scary than the famous Cu Chi tunnels.
Other projects to receive funding include The Outrageous Barry Rush, directed by Red Dog’s Kriv Stenders, written by Andy Cox and produced by Alan Harris, The Dressmaker by written and directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse and produced by Sue Maslin and the sequel to last year’s online hit, The Tunnel, called The Tunnel: Dead End by Enzo Tedeschi and Julian Harvey.
Single-project Development: Feature Development
Addition
Genre Romantic Comedy
Producers Bruna Papandrea, Cristina Pozzan...
McLean’s project Black Echoes is among 13 projects to have been selected in the latest round of funding from the national screen agency.
Set in in the Vietnamese countryside, the film is about a group of tourists who go on an adventure into Viet Cong tunnels more claustrophic and scary than the famous Cu Chi tunnels.
Other projects to receive funding include The Outrageous Barry Rush, directed by Red Dog’s Kriv Stenders, written by Andy Cox and produced by Alan Harris, The Dressmaker by written and directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse and produced by Sue Maslin and the sequel to last year’s online hit, The Tunnel, called The Tunnel: Dead End by Enzo Tedeschi and Julian Harvey.
Single-project Development: Feature Development
Addition
Genre Romantic Comedy
Producers Bruna Papandrea, Cristina Pozzan...
- 3/2/2012
- by Colin Delaney
- Encore Magazine
A sequel to last year.s successful low-budget horror film The Tunnel is currently in the works.
The sequel . titled The Tunnel: Dead End . received development funding from Screen Australia earlier this month and will pick up the story years down the track. No shoot date has been set for the horror flick.
It.s a sequel creators Enzo Tedeschi and Julian Harvey weren.t planning on. .Initially, we weren.t anticipating doing another Tunnel film but the overwhelmingly positive reaction to the original . as well as our fans clamouring for another on an almost daily basis . made us go back and give it a second thought,. Tedeschi and Harvey, of Distracted Media, said in a joint statement.
.We weren't going to go ahead unless we could find a story we were 100 per cent behind, which we now have, and are thrilled to have the support of Screen Australia.
The sequel . titled The Tunnel: Dead End . received development funding from Screen Australia earlier this month and will pick up the story years down the track. No shoot date has been set for the horror flick.
It.s a sequel creators Enzo Tedeschi and Julian Harvey weren.t planning on. .Initially, we weren.t anticipating doing another Tunnel film but the overwhelmingly positive reaction to the original . as well as our fans clamouring for another on an almost daily basis . made us go back and give it a second thought,. Tedeschi and Harvey, of Distracted Media, said in a joint statement.
.We weren't going to go ahead unless we could find a story we were 100 per cent behind, which we now have, and are thrilled to have the support of Screen Australia.
- 2/29/2012
- by Sam Dallas
- IF.com.au
Seventeen feature films have received support for development by Screen Australia, with a spend totalling $500,000.
The productions include projects involving Emile Sherman, Johnathan Teplitzky, Helen Pankhurst and Jan Sardi.
Martha Coleman, Screen Australia’s head of development, said: “I’m proud of our association with this compelling group of feature projects by such talented filmmaking teams. The quality and range of projects we are seeing is hugely inspiring and our development team care passionately about assisting the filmmakers we are working with to achieve the best possible version of their story. This is a very exciting time.”
Projects include:
Tim Winton’s best selling surfing story, Breath will get an adaptation by Simon Baker producing with Jamie Hilton and Mark Johnson and written by Peter Duncan. Four comedies have received funding including Ali’s Wedding, written by Osamah Sami and Andrew Knight will be developed by producers Helen Panckhurst, Michael McMahon...
The productions include projects involving Emile Sherman, Johnathan Teplitzky, Helen Pankhurst and Jan Sardi.
Martha Coleman, Screen Australia’s head of development, said: “I’m proud of our association with this compelling group of feature projects by such talented filmmaking teams. The quality and range of projects we are seeing is hugely inspiring and our development team care passionately about assisting the filmmakers we are working with to achieve the best possible version of their story. This is a very exciting time.”
Projects include:
Tim Winton’s best selling surfing story, Breath will get an adaptation by Simon Baker producing with Jamie Hilton and Mark Johnson and written by Peter Duncan. Four comedies have received funding including Ali’s Wedding, written by Osamah Sami and Andrew Knight will be developed by producers Helen Panckhurst, Michael McMahon...
- 10/14/2011
- by Colin Delaney
- Encore Magazine
Screen Australia has thrown its support behind 17 new feature projects, currently in development. More than $500,000 was injected into projects from such filmmakers as Emile Sherman and Iain Canning (The King.s Speech),.Jamie Hilton (The Waiting City),.and Jonathan Teplitzky (Burning Man). Sherman and Canning received funds.to develop.biopic, Life, by writer Luke Davies (Candy), as did Teplitzky for.drama Choir of Hard Knocks, which is to be written by Pip Karmel and produced by Marian Macgowan. Teplitzky, whose latest film Burning Man.will be released.by Paramount/Transmission on November 17,.is set to direct Colin Firth next year in Australian/UK co-production The Railway Man, based on the Eric Lomax book of the same name. Actor...
- 10/12/2011
- by Sam Dallas
- IF.com.au
A coin flip splits the new movie "Uncertainty" in two. That's how a young couple (played by Lynn Collins and Joseph Gordon-Levitt) at a turning point in their relationship decide which way to go on the Brooklyn Bridge. Who picks heads over tails ultimately isn't important, because the film follows both paths -- in one storyline, the two head to Manhattan, find a cell phone in a cab and become embroiled in a thriller, while in the other, they go to a family barbecue in Brooklyn and navigate more personal dramas. Which reality is the "real" one? The title should give you a clue.
"Uncertainty"'s not the first film to explore those what-if musings we've all indulged in, the ones that every holiday season drive George Bailey to an angelic vision of what the world would be like if he'd never existed. But it is one of a select...
"Uncertainty"'s not the first film to explore those what-if musings we've all indulged in, the ones that every holiday season drive George Bailey to an angelic vision of what the world would be like if he'd never existed. But it is one of a select...
- 11/13/2009
- by Alison Willmore
- ifc.com
SYDNEY -- Directors Scott Hicks and Phillip Noyce will helm two new Australian features next year with backing from the Film Finance Corp. Australia, the funding agency announced Wednesday.
Hicks will direct The Boys Are Back In Town, a U.K.-Australian co-production and his first Australian feature since Shine.
Boys tells the story of a sportswriter who is suddenly thrust into single parenthood and must bring up two sons from different marriages.
The film will be produced by Billy Elliot producer Greg Brenman and Tim White through Southern Light Films and has been presold to Hopscotch, BBC Films, Dea Planeta and Capitol Films. The screenplay, courtesy of Prime Suspect writer Alan Cubbit, is based on the book by U.K. sportswriter Simon Carr.
Noyce, meanwhile, is moving ahead with Dirt Music, a psychological romance set in the remote northwest of Australia. Justin Monjo and Pip Karmel are adapting the screenplay from the best-selling book by Australian author Tim Winton.
Noyce announced this year that Rachel Weisz and Heath Ledger were attached to star in Dirt Music, though Ledger reportedly pulled out of the project last month citing scheduling conflicts with the next Batman movie, in which he plays the Joker.
Hicks will direct The Boys Are Back In Town, a U.K.-Australian co-production and his first Australian feature since Shine.
Boys tells the story of a sportswriter who is suddenly thrust into single parenthood and must bring up two sons from different marriages.
The film will be produced by Billy Elliot producer Greg Brenman and Tim White through Southern Light Films and has been presold to Hopscotch, BBC Films, Dea Planeta and Capitol Films. The screenplay, courtesy of Prime Suspect writer Alan Cubbit, is based on the book by U.K. sportswriter Simon Carr.
Noyce, meanwhile, is moving ahead with Dirt Music, a psychological romance set in the remote northwest of Australia. Justin Monjo and Pip Karmel are adapting the screenplay from the best-selling book by Australian author Tim Winton.
Noyce announced this year that Rachel Weisz and Heath Ledger were attached to star in Dirt Music, though Ledger reportedly pulled out of the project last month citing scheduling conflicts with the next Batman movie, in which he plays the Joker.
- 12/13/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
SYDNEY -- Pip Karmel, the Academy Award-nominated editor of Shine and director of Me Myself I, will direct an adaptation of Geraldine Brooks' best-selling novel Year of Wonders, government funding agency Film Finance Corporation Australia announced Thursday. Phillip Noyce and Jeremy Thomas are attached as producers, along with Noyce's Australian producing partner Miranda Culley through his local production entity Rumbalara Films. Inspired by real events in the Derbyshire village of Eyam in 1665, the U.K.-Australian co-production depicts how one village deals with the onslaught of the bubonic plague.
"Me Myself I", a first feature by award-winning "Shine" editor Pip Karmel, is a minor variation on the increasingly popular theme of parallel lives.
But the film lacks the wit and engaging plot structure of "Sliding Doors". It's more reminiscent of the clumsy "Mr. Destiny", whose main character's relentless egocentricity denies the hero any personal happiness no matter which path in life he takes.
Debuting the film at the Toronto film festival before a planned release in first quarter 2000, Sony Pictures Classics might have a problem with a film whose chief audience -- women over 25 -- may not warm up to its heroine.
Rachel Griffiths plays Pamela Drury, a Sydney-based journalist who wins honors with almost every published article. But she is plagued by the fear that somehow life has passed her by because doesn't have a man. A couple of dispiriting encounters with men early in the movie leave her suicidal. Then, through a magical " accident," she encounters and switches places with her alter ego -- the Pamela who 13 years earlier said yes to Mr. Right.
Abruptly, she finds herself a suburban soccer mom coping with a distracted husband, three kids clamoring for attention, a dog and several overbearing friends. So guess what? Right, she despairs of that life too.
Karmel, who wrote and directed, doesn't make things completely black and white in either reality. Pamela grows affectionate toward the children and learns to tolerate having to wipe her youngest son's bottom after he goes to the toilet. And her husband is making an effort to improve his fidelity problem in what has been a rocky marriage.
In her other life, along with all her awards, the movie makes it clear she acquired advanced techniques in cooking and sex that now astonish her suburban Sydney family.
But the film, inspired by other films, lacks inspiration. The "what-if?" factor isn't nearly strong enough. Would a woman driven to investigative journalism truly turn into a writer of romantic how-to articles for a Cosmopolitan-like publication? And would a serious-minded female with considerable accomplishments really contemplate ending her life over a bad date?
Much of what passes for comedy is too mundane. Jokes stem less from adjustments to strikingly different lifestyles than from simple unfamiliarity with new routines such as family shopping and the need for a baby sitter.
Griffiths, in roles that require her to virtually be in every scene, has a valiant go at making the middle-brow material work. But the plain truth is that, as written, her Pamela isn't very likable.
The two men in her life -- David Roberts as the husband and Sandy Winton as a potential boyfriend in both realities -- are sketched in rudimentary ways. The actors project a warm presence on screen, but Karmel seems interested in their characters less as people than as a means to make her point.
Technical credits are satisfactory.
ME MYSELF I
Sony Pictures Classics
Gaumont
Producer: Fabien Liron
Writer-director: Pip Karmel
Director of photography: Graeme Lind
Production designer: Murray Picknett
Editor: Denise Haratzis
Color/stereo
Cast:
Pamela: Rachel Griffiths
Robert: David Roberts
Ben: Sandy Winton
Stacey: Yael Stone
Douglas: Shaun Loseby
Rupert: Trent Sullivan
Running time -- 104 minutes...
But the film lacks the wit and engaging plot structure of "Sliding Doors". It's more reminiscent of the clumsy "Mr. Destiny", whose main character's relentless egocentricity denies the hero any personal happiness no matter which path in life he takes.
Debuting the film at the Toronto film festival before a planned release in first quarter 2000, Sony Pictures Classics might have a problem with a film whose chief audience -- women over 25 -- may not warm up to its heroine.
Rachel Griffiths plays Pamela Drury, a Sydney-based journalist who wins honors with almost every published article. But she is plagued by the fear that somehow life has passed her by because doesn't have a man. A couple of dispiriting encounters with men early in the movie leave her suicidal. Then, through a magical " accident," she encounters and switches places with her alter ego -- the Pamela who 13 years earlier said yes to Mr. Right.
Abruptly, she finds herself a suburban soccer mom coping with a distracted husband, three kids clamoring for attention, a dog and several overbearing friends. So guess what? Right, she despairs of that life too.
Karmel, who wrote and directed, doesn't make things completely black and white in either reality. Pamela grows affectionate toward the children and learns to tolerate having to wipe her youngest son's bottom after he goes to the toilet. And her husband is making an effort to improve his fidelity problem in what has been a rocky marriage.
In her other life, along with all her awards, the movie makes it clear she acquired advanced techniques in cooking and sex that now astonish her suburban Sydney family.
But the film, inspired by other films, lacks inspiration. The "what-if?" factor isn't nearly strong enough. Would a woman driven to investigative journalism truly turn into a writer of romantic how-to articles for a Cosmopolitan-like publication? And would a serious-minded female with considerable accomplishments really contemplate ending her life over a bad date?
Much of what passes for comedy is too mundane. Jokes stem less from adjustments to strikingly different lifestyles than from simple unfamiliarity with new routines such as family shopping and the need for a baby sitter.
Griffiths, in roles that require her to virtually be in every scene, has a valiant go at making the middle-brow material work. But the plain truth is that, as written, her Pamela isn't very likable.
The two men in her life -- David Roberts as the husband and Sandy Winton as a potential boyfriend in both realities -- are sketched in rudimentary ways. The actors project a warm presence on screen, but Karmel seems interested in their characters less as people than as a means to make her point.
Technical credits are satisfactory.
ME MYSELF I
Sony Pictures Classics
Gaumont
Producer: Fabien Liron
Writer-director: Pip Karmel
Director of photography: Graeme Lind
Production designer: Murray Picknett
Editor: Denise Haratzis
Color/stereo
Cast:
Pamela: Rachel Griffiths
Robert: David Roberts
Ben: Sandy Winton
Stacey: Yael Stone
Douglas: Shaun Loseby
Rupert: Trent Sullivan
Running time -- 104 minutes...
- 9/15/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
CHICAGO -- A radiant drama about a concert pianist's emotional turmoil, "Shine" dazzled Saturday night viewers at the 32nd annual Chicago International Film Festival. Crescendoing with a number of previous festival accolades, this Fine Line release should similarly win the hearts of select-site audiences when it is released later this fall. It will surely grace many end-of-year top 10 lists.
"Shine" is based on a true story, centering on the life of one David Helfgott, a promising concert pianist who "cracked" under the strain of playing Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3. The breakdown was due only in part to the demands of confronting that awesome work on a technical, as well as artistic level, but had its roots in Helfgott's tumultuous childhood. In his household, his father (Armin Mueller-Stahl) ruled with an iron-fisted hand with one major goal in mind, that young David (Alex Rafalowicz) would someday be a great pianist.
In Jan Sardi's complex and perceptive scenario we see that the father's rule was in large part an attempt to live vicariously through the accomplishments of his son. But, we further see how his autocratic rule placed the young pianist in a contradictory bind: While his father encouraged him to the highest artistry, he also forbid many practices that would ensure David's reaching such a height.
Rafalowicz magically conveys that young boy's turmoil in marvelous, shimmering detail. He evinces both the boy's passion and talent, as well as providing clues to his insecurities and inner confusions. In effect, David Was expected to interpret works -- by Chopin and Liszt as well as Rachmaninoff -- with a feeling beyond his years. And more debilitating, his emotional life was so constricted by his father that David instinctively knew he did not have the range-of-life to adequately play such mature wonders.
Alternately lilting and frisky, "Shine" is a terrific, complex character study. Under Australian director Scott Hicks' wand, the players, as well as the technicians, combine in a wonderful symphony of passion and despair and rise ultimately in transcendent triumph.
In large part this is due to Geoffrey Rush's virtuoso performance as the gifted but troubled adult pianist. It is a truly poetic characterization, graced with idiosyncratic flourishes and enlivened by a number of cadenza-like interludes of almost slapstick desperation. Other cast members are similarly superb, particularly Mueller-Stahl as David's overbearing father and John Gielgud as a wily music professor.
Cinematographer Geoffrey Simpson's compositions are marvelously apt, conveying the emotional link between David's troubled world and the healing power of the music he plays. Propelled by telling, singular images, as well as grand 'scapes of the mind, "Shine" is also accentuated by Pip Karmel's crisp, but resonant editing.
SHINE
Fine Line Pictures
A Scott Hicks Film
Producer :Jane Scott
Director: Scott Hicks
Screenwriter :Jan Sardi
Director of photography:Geoffrey Simpson
Editor :Pip Karmel
Production designer:Vicki Niehus
Costume designer:Louise Wakefield
Music :David Hirschfelder
Color/stereo
David as an adult:Geoffrey Rush
David as a young man:Noah Taylor
David as a child :Alex Rafalowicz
Peter :Armin Mueller-Stahl
Gillian:Lynn Redgrave
Cecil Parkes :John Gielgud
Katharine:Susannan Prichard
Sylvia :Sonia Todd
Ben Rosen :Nicholas Bell
Running time -- 107 minutes...
"Shine" is based on a true story, centering on the life of one David Helfgott, a promising concert pianist who "cracked" under the strain of playing Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3. The breakdown was due only in part to the demands of confronting that awesome work on a technical, as well as artistic level, but had its roots in Helfgott's tumultuous childhood. In his household, his father (Armin Mueller-Stahl) ruled with an iron-fisted hand with one major goal in mind, that young David (Alex Rafalowicz) would someday be a great pianist.
In Jan Sardi's complex and perceptive scenario we see that the father's rule was in large part an attempt to live vicariously through the accomplishments of his son. But, we further see how his autocratic rule placed the young pianist in a contradictory bind: While his father encouraged him to the highest artistry, he also forbid many practices that would ensure David's reaching such a height.
Rafalowicz magically conveys that young boy's turmoil in marvelous, shimmering detail. He evinces both the boy's passion and talent, as well as providing clues to his insecurities and inner confusions. In effect, David Was expected to interpret works -- by Chopin and Liszt as well as Rachmaninoff -- with a feeling beyond his years. And more debilitating, his emotional life was so constricted by his father that David instinctively knew he did not have the range-of-life to adequately play such mature wonders.
Alternately lilting and frisky, "Shine" is a terrific, complex character study. Under Australian director Scott Hicks' wand, the players, as well as the technicians, combine in a wonderful symphony of passion and despair and rise ultimately in transcendent triumph.
In large part this is due to Geoffrey Rush's virtuoso performance as the gifted but troubled adult pianist. It is a truly poetic characterization, graced with idiosyncratic flourishes and enlivened by a number of cadenza-like interludes of almost slapstick desperation. Other cast members are similarly superb, particularly Mueller-Stahl as David's overbearing father and John Gielgud as a wily music professor.
Cinematographer Geoffrey Simpson's compositions are marvelously apt, conveying the emotional link between David's troubled world and the healing power of the music he plays. Propelled by telling, singular images, as well as grand 'scapes of the mind, "Shine" is also accentuated by Pip Karmel's crisp, but resonant editing.
SHINE
Fine Line Pictures
A Scott Hicks Film
Producer :Jane Scott
Director: Scott Hicks
Screenwriter :Jan Sardi
Director of photography:Geoffrey Simpson
Editor :Pip Karmel
Production designer:Vicki Niehus
Costume designer:Louise Wakefield
Music :David Hirschfelder
Color/stereo
David as an adult:Geoffrey Rush
David as a young man:Noah Taylor
David as a child :Alex Rafalowicz
Peter :Armin Mueller-Stahl
Gillian:Lynn Redgrave
Cecil Parkes :John Gielgud
Katharine:Susannan Prichard
Sylvia :Sonia Todd
Ben Rosen :Nicholas Bell
Running time -- 107 minutes...
- 10/14/1996
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.