The Rehearsal
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Presents THE REHEARSAL A film by Alison Maclean (102 minutes, 2016) Language: English Canadian Distribution International Sales 1352 Dundas St. West 160 Queen Street West Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M6J 1Y2 Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5H 3H3 Tel: 416-516-9775 Fax: 416-516-0651 Charlotte Mickie E-mail: [email protected] +1-416-931-8463 www.mongrelmedia.com E-mail: [email protected] @MongrelMedia MongrelMedia CONTENTS SUMMARY INFORMATION 1 SYNOPSES 2 ABOUT THE FILM 3 ABOUT THE NOVEL & AUTHOR 99 8 QUOTES FROM ELEANOR CATTON ABOUT THE FILM 9 ABOUT THE PRODUCTION 10 ABOUT THE CAST 16 ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS 21 ABOUT THE PRODUCTION COMPANIES 28 FULL CREDITS LIST 29 SUMMARY INFORMATION KEY CREDITS PRODUCTION COMPANIES Hibiscus Films P/L and THE Film FUNDING New Zealand Film Commission, Park Pictures Media Partners, Film Buff P/L & Definition NZ PRODUCERS Bridget Ikin &Trevor Haysom DIRECTOR Alison Maclean SCRIPT Alison Maclean & Emily Perkins BASED ON THE NOVEL BY Eleanor Catton DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Andrew Commis ACS PRODUCTION AND COSTUME DESIGN Kirsty Cameron EDITOR Jonno Woodford-Robinson SOUND DESIGNER Dick Reade COMPOSER Connan Mockasin STARRING KERRY FOX as Hannah JAMES ROLLESTON as Stanley ALICE ENGLERT as Thomasin ELLA EDWARD as Isolde KIERAN CHARNOCK as William MICHELLE NY as Frankie SCOTTY COTTER as Oscar MARLON WILLIAMS as Theo TECHNICAL DETAILS FORMAT Digital Cinema Package DURATION 102 Minutes ASPECT RATIO 1:2.35 SOUND Stereo Mix / 5.1 CONTACTS International sales - Mongrel Media Australasian distribution - Footprint Films 1 SYNOPSES LOGLINE First-year acting student Stanley mines his girlfriend's family scandal as material for the end-of-year show at drama school. The result is a moral minefield. From the novel by Eleanor Catton. SYNOPSIS 50 words Stanley, a naïve 1st year drama student, seeks to impress his charismatic tutor, Hannah. When Stanley’s group hits on a sex scandal involving his young girlfriend, Isolde, as the inspiration for their end-of-year show, he finds himself in morally tricky territory. The Rehearsal, directed by Alison Maclean, is adapted from the novel by Man Booker award-winner Eleanor Catton. SYNOPSIS 100 words Stanley, a naïve 1st year drama student meets Isolde and begins a sweet, first love affair. Goaded by Hannah, the charismatic, domineering Head of Acting, Stanley uncovers a talent and ambition he didn't know he had. When his group hits on a sex scandal that involves Isolde’s tennis prodigy sister as fertile material for their end-of-year show, Stanley finds himself profoundly torn. The Rehearsal, directed by Alison Maclean and written by Maclean and author Emily Perkins, is based on the novel by Man Booker award-winner Eleanor Catton. 2 ABOUT THE FILM The Rehearsal, directed by Alison Maclean and written by Maclean and author Emily Perkins, is based on the novel of the same name by Man Booker prize winner Eleanor Catton. It’s a rite-of-passage story set in a drama school in New Zealand. Stanley, played by James Rolleston (Boy, The Dark Horse), a small town boy, encounters an eclectic bunch of fellow students while attending some very intense classes with Hannah, the demanding head of acting, played by Kerry Fox (An Angel at My Table, Shallow Grave, IntimaCy, Bright Star). Hannah goads her students to go all the way, pushing for the most revealing personal details in the quest for emotional honesty in their work. Stanley meets Isolde (played by newcomer Ella Edward), whose sister has been caught in a sex scandal at the girls’ tennis club, and quickly falls for her. When Stanley’s group at the drama school hits on the scandal as fertile material for their end of year devised piece, he’s faced with a difficult choice. The Rehearsal marks the return to New Zealand of expatriate director Alison Maclean (Crush, Jesus’ Son), who has been based in New York since 1992. She is joined by Bridget Ikin (producer of An Angel At My Table, Look Both Ways, My Year Without Sex, Sherpa), who returned from Sydney to produce with Trevor Haysom (In My Father’s Den, TraCker). Ikin and Maclean previously collaborated on the much-loved short film Kitchen Sink, as well as Maclean’s debut feature Crush with Haysom as Associate Producer. The Rehearsal features an ensemble cast of fresh young actors including Alice Englert (Ginger and Rosa, Beautiful Creatures), Kieran Charnock, Michelle Ny and Scotty Cotter. Acclaimed country singer Marlon Williams features in his first acting role, as does internet sensation Jamie Curry of “Jamie’s World”. Maclean describes The Rehearsal as “exploring messy moral territory as Stanley is torn between a new ambition to be seen and admired as an actor and his loyalty to his young girlfriend. The overheated world of drama school only magnifies the familiar desires and pains of these young adults. “It’s a crisis of conscience for Stanley and the story really comes alive when the two worlds of the drama school and Isolde’s family scandal begin to converge and intersect”. “The Rehearsal plays with the ambiguity of what’s true and authentic, and what’s performed. The quality I most admire in a film is a state of aliveness, 3 and that’s something I tried to capture in this story.” Ikin adds: “Stanley, the young drama student is having to make choices for himself, as he explores that fluid territory between his ambition and the fact that he’s living in a world which has moral boundaries. Along the way, he makes some inappropriate decisions. As the audience, you know that his mistakes are ones we’ve all made growing up.” Co-writer Emily Perkins says the story is essentially about “how far will you go to achieve your ambition? What will you betray? Who will you hurt? What will you change in yourself? When can that be good and when can it be dangerous? “It’s about a young man coming to the city to drama school, discovering his talent, encountering profound new influences and having an ethical dilemma about whether or not he’s going to use his girlfriend’s real life story to fulfil his artistic ambition. Along the way, he learns about friendship and trust, love and betrayal and where your moral core is in relation to how you live and how you work.” Kerry Fox (Hannah) sees Stanley as being “faced with an onslaught of desire to be a successful actor - to develop, to grow, to be inspiring - but throughout that he is confronted with an essential moral decision about whether he is right to use somebody else’s story - to use somebody he loves - in order to deliver art.” “Stanley becomes one of Hannah’s favourites. He wants to please her and he’s trying to gain her respect. But he goes too far.” James Rolleston says Stanley is thrown into the world of drama school: “He went into it with no knowledge and it was a whole different world for him. It was a big challenge for him, so he had a lot of things to learn. “Stanley’s a teenager from a little town and he’s quite a shy, quiet dude. He’s intelligent, he’s into books and reading and he’s really observant, takes a lot of things in. Because he’s a shy kid he’s intimidated by it, especially his teacher, Hannah. But once he got some friends and started to gain a bit of confidence, he opened up a bit, and he started clicking with Hannah and what she was teaching.” Kerry Fox says of her character, Hannah, that she “is very good at what she does. She is respected, but she’s a brutal person who is cruel to her students. She comes from the line of teaching that was very popular in the past, in which 4 acting students learn they have to be destroyed and pulled apart and that somehow the teacher is god-like enough to then reconstruct them.” Maclean says casting Kerry Fox as Hannah was “perfect. She is such a forceful dynamic actor. She has that natural authority that the character needed and a quality of direct bluntness, where you don’t quite know what she’s going to do next.” Alice Englert, who plays drama student Thomasin: “I love working with Kerry Fox. I really admire her and she inspires me. She has been extremely generous. There are so many times in which between takes she has actually just answered questions as an actress for the students and as a young aspiring actress that’s just wonderful. She’s extremely kind, extremely honest and I love that.” Ikin adds “I think the young cast had their own little drama school from the learning that they were able to intuit from the actors we cast as the other drama teachers, like Miranda Harcourt and Rachel House, who are also teachers of younger actors. There was a lot of morphing of life into art into life going on in making this film, which was really satisfying.” Ikin: “James Rolleston plays Stanley and I think this film is mirroring some things that are going on in his own life: he too is 18, he’s a small town boy who’s experiencing the city for the first time.” Acting coach Rachel House, who worked with Rolleston on Boy and The Dark Horse, says, “James always up for a challenge and he says this is the hardest role he’s ever undertaken and so it’s been exciting to watch him really step up and take it on. This role and the story is quite psychological, quite subtle and he’s really thriving in this new environment.