A film by Ray Lawrence

Laura Linney Gabriel Byrne

j i n d a b y n e Canadian Distribution Mongrel Media 1028 Queen Street West Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M6J 1H6 Tel: 416-516-9775 Fax: 416-516-0651 E-mail: [email protected] www.mongrelmedia.com

Canadian Publicity Bonne Smith Star PR Tel: 416-488-4436 Fax: 416-488-8438 E-mail: [email protected]

Press Book April Films Design & Artwork Halcyon Pratt Stills Photography Anthony Browell, Matt Nettheim, John Tsiavis On Set at Jindabyne Catherine Mckinnon © April Films (Jindabyne) Pty Ltd 2006 j i n d a b y n e

A film by Ray Lawrence 4 SYNOPSIS Synopsis

On an annual fishing trip, in isolated all of this which disturbs her deeply. high country, Stewart, Carl, Rocco and Stewart is not convinced that he has Billy (‘the Kid’) find a girl’s body in the done anything wrong. Claire’s faith in river. It’s too late in the day for them to her relationship with her husband is hike back to the road and report their shaken to the core. tragic find. Next morning, instead of making the long trek back, they spend The fishermen, their wives and their the day fishing. Their decision to stay on children are suddenly haunted by their at the river is a little mysterious—almost own bad spirits. As public opinion builds as if the place itself is exerting some against the actions of the men, their kind of magic over them. certainty about themselves and the deci- sion they made at the river is challenged. When the men finally return home to They cannot undo what they have done. Jindabyne, and report finding the body, all hell breaks loose. Their wives can’t Only Claire understands that some- understand how they could have gone thing fundamental is not being fishing with the dead girl right there in addressed. She wants to understand the water—she needed their help. The and tries to make things right. In her men are confused—the girl was already determination Claire sets herself not dead, there was nothing they could do only against her own family and friends for her. but also those of the dead girl. Her marriage is taken to the brink and her Stewart’s wife Claire is the last to know. peaceful life with Stewart and their As details filter out, and Stewart resists young son hangs in the balance. talking about what has happened, she is unnerved. There is a callousness about

SYNOPSIS 5 6 PRODUCTION INFORMATION Production Information

Film Colour 35mm

Aspect Ratio Super 35mm 2.35

Sound Dolby 5.1 SR/SD

Location Jindabyne New South Wales Australia

Shoot duration 8 weeks

Running time 123 mins.

Country of origin Australia

PRODUCTION INFORMATION 7 8 PRODUCTION CREDITS Production Credits

April Films presents

An April Films Production with Film Finance Corporation Australia and Babcock & Brown in association with Redchair Films

of a film

Directed by Ray Lawrence

Written by Beatrix Christian

based on the story So Much Water So Close to Home by Raymond Carver

Produced by Catherine Jarman

Executive Producer Philippa Bateman

Executive Producer Garry Charny

Director of Photography David Williamson

Production & Costume Designer Margot Wilson

Art Director Deborah Riley

Editor Karl Sodersten ASE

Line Producer Tony Tvrdeich

Original Music Score Paul Kelly & Dan Luscombe featuring Soteria Bell

Sound Designer Andrew Plain

Casting Director Susie Maizels

PRODUCTION CREDITS 9 10 THE CAST Cast

Laura Linney Claire Gabriel Byrne Stewart

Deborra-lee Furness Jude John Howard Carl Leah Purcell Carmel Stelios Yiakmis Rocco Alice Garner Elissa Simon Stone Billy (‘the Kid’) Betty Lucas Vanessa Chris Haywood Gregory Eva Lazzaro Caylin-Calandria Sean Rees-Wemyss Tom Tatea Reilly Susan

THE CAST 11 Ray Lawrence Director

Ray Lawrence is one of Australia’s 2001 and launched the international most highly regarded directors. The careers of Vince Colosimo and Andrew award-winning Lantana was released Bovell. in Australia in 2001–2 and went on to critical acclaim and commercial success Lawrence made his feature debut with in Australia, the US, UK and Europe. Bliss (based on the best selling novel by The film’s ensemble cast includes Peter Carey) which screened in main Anthony LaPaglia, Geoffrey Rush, Vince competition at Cannes in 1985 along- Colosimo, Barbara Hershey and Kerry side the films of Peter Weir, Alan Parker Armstrong. In 2001, Lantana won seven and Paul Schrader. In Australia Bliss AFI (Australian Film Institute) Awards, received AFI Awards for Best Screenplay including Best Picture, Best Director, (Lawrence co-wrote with Carey), Best Best Actor for LaPaglia, Best Actress for Director and Best Film. Armstrong, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Andrew Bovell who based the script Jindabyne is Ray Lawrence’s third on his play Speaking In Tongues. It was feature. released by Lions Gate in the US in late

THE DIRECTOR 13 14 INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTOR Interview with Ray Lawrence

Talk to us about the very beginnings of it was, but somebody said there are only working with a ten-hour day. Having this story. three stories: man, woman and God— daylight-saving just meant I didn’t have whichever God that may be. I’m fasci- to get up so early. Our head grip [Dave After I finished Bliss, I was reading nated by how people stay together, why Nichols] has done all sorts of big films purely for pleasure and there was a story they break up and when they choose and he said Yarrangobilly is probably I thought would make a good film. I ran to or not, why some people have kids. the hardest location he’s ever worked in. into Paul Kelly. We had common inter- There doesn’t seem to be much else. You can drive to the area but then you’ve ests. We didn’t become fast friends then, basically got to walk in and it’s quite just interested in similar things. I started Can you talk about the first visits dangerous. It took forever to get the to tell him about the story, and he intro- to the Jindabyne area, to the Snowy stuff and the people in. And we had to duced me to the writings of Raymond Mountains… get them out before dark, so we had to Carver. One of these stories was So Much light the path. It was about two or three Water, So Close to Home, which had at its I used to go there all the time to fish, fly- kilometres in on a winding track. heart the most fantastic moral dilemma. fish, so I knew the area. That was part I thought maybe that would be better of the fascination with the story, the Shooting there was really beautiful, and than the one I was planning. That was outdoors. I really wanted to do a film the beauty of the place made the logis- almost 20 years ago. outside. So when Beatrix [Christian] tical problems facing us all seem a lot and I decided we were going ahead I easier. It was slow walking in the water, What was it about the story that made said, ‘Let’s do what Raymond Carver a lot like fishing except I didn’t have you stick with it? did. Let’s go where we want to set it and a rod. We spent all day in the water. I see what happens.’ There’s a story about think everyone really enjoyed it. It was I tried to do other things. It sort of came the lake. It was starting with a germ, the desire to embrace the landscape. and went. It was the same with Lantana. like a short story writer. We just walked The challenge for me was the beauty— There’s just one little thing in a story you around, saw a river and wrote about the there’s so much of it, and there are so like and sometimes you forget everything river. Years later when we brought the many meanings in this landscape that I else. It’s just that one little piece, like a key crew to the location they said, ‘It’s was always tense about whether I could hook, it catches you. With So Much Water, very similar to the script isn’t it?’ So, that capture it. So Close to Home, it was the difference of was the script. We knew where we were opinion that promoted very strong dis- going. Can you talk about why you use natural cussion between men and women. light? Tell us about the first week of filming There was a time when it wasn’t down at Yarrangobilly, in the river… It radiates out of my desire and hope to politically correct to talk about men get as natural a performance as possible. and women being different. Whereas The logistical problem of the film was I think it’s easier to get good perform- now, especially with this film… that everything was at least 45 min- ances without lights. Lights introduce utes away. So, 45 minutes there and a style to the film, they impose. The They’re really the only dynamics there 45 minutes back—it cuts down on your cinematographer has a style. Things are. Politics, the sexes, even if they’re shooting time. When we started we he likes, even if they’re subconscious, the same sex, it’s still somebody playing were shooting in daylight-saving time get imposed onto a film. On this film, a male or female role. I don’t know who so that was good, but we were still only except for the night sequences, where

INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTOR 15 16 INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTOR it’s pitch black, we haven’t used one film they’re all working basically the same all the people that I work with, in the light. They’ve all been domestic bulbs way, they all have their needs. I don’t main, are ones that I’ve worked with for or daylight. I turn more lights off than like seeing anybody’s work. I don’t like years. I turn on. I think the actors subcon- ‘hearing’ the words, I don’t want to know sciously react to it in a good way. So it’s someone has written them. I want the What would you like the audience to not a style thing, it’s a practical choice words to sound like they’ve just fallen take away after they’ve seen the film? that I’ve made to try and get rid of the out of their mouths. I don’t want any- paraphernalia that goes with making a body to see my work either. I much pre- The root of all this is to confirm people’s film. I’m not the only one who does it, fer to be like wallpaper. And they won- lives. I don’t like the aspirational thing, it’s just that I really do push it. der what I’m doing. That’s good. It takes I’ve said it before. It’s odd, having spent away a lot of the pressure that I think so much time in advertising. In the stuff In the setting up, there was a lot of talk is fake on a film. After a while the film that I do, I always try to take the aspi- with the actors about how it was okay to starts to make itself. The notion of that rational dimension out of it, and put in stumble, okay to make a mistake, it was happening, in the three times that I’ve some sort of confirmation. Aspirational okay to just… done it, has never let me down. is just a way of controlling people. It’s okay to be human. You look at some of Be. It is. Ultimately, that’s what they’re You’ve also worked with a lot of the peo- the magazines, and some of the shows, trying to do, just be there. It’s like giving ple around you for many years… and some of the products you see—not them permission to work towards a very average is it? It’s hard to feel sym- particular goal a particular way. In the I go to the same restaurant, sit in the pathetic for somebody who gets out of main I’ve chosen actors that embrace same chair and order the same meal. a Porsche. that particular style. I find it very comforting not having to explain things. I think I work in an Can you talk a little bit about the cast, unusual way, or I’m told I do. When I and working with them? find that I work with people that aren’t used to working my way, it’s just slower, I always seem to end up with ensemble because then I’ve got to get them up to casts. It’s difficult because, even though speed and they don’t always like it. So,

INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTOR 17 Beatrix Christian Screenwriter

Beatrix Christian graduated from later Writer-in-Residence. Her comedy, Australia’s National Institute of Dramatic Fred, was produced by the Sydney Theatre Art playwright’s studio in 1991. Her suc- Company and broke box office records. cessful career began with her first play It subsequently went on to be produced Spumante Romantica which was produced by both Melbourne Theatre Company by Sydney’s Griffin Theatre in 1992 and and Queensland Theatre Company. has been performed many times since. Beatrix’s most recent play, Old Her second play, Blue Murder, was staged Masters, was produced by the Sydney at Belvoir Street Theatre in 1994 and Theatre Company and won the 2002 Eureka Theatre Company in 1996. It Queensland Premier’s Literary Award won the Sydney Theatre Critics’ Circle for drama. Since 2001 she has adapted Award for best new play. The Governor’s three major plays for Sydney Theatre Family, directed by Neil Armfield, pre- Company: Chekhov’s Three Sisters, Ibsen’s miered at Belvoir Street in 1997 and was A Doll’s House, and Calderon’s Life is a nominated for an Australian Writers’ Dream. Guild Award and the NSW Premier’s Literary Award. The following year Beatrix is currently under commission Beatrix received the Australian National from the Sydney Theatre Company Playwright’s Conference New Dramatists’ to write a play for their next season Award to travel to New York. and is also writing the script for Ray Lawrence’s next film. At the Sydney Theatre Company, Beatrix has been Affiliate Writer and

18 THE SCREENWRITER THE SCREENWRITER 19 20 INTERVIEW WITH THE SCREENWRITER Interview with Beatrix Christian

Can you remember when you first person doing it, or two people doing it. century, even though nobody had any men couldn’t imagine themselves doing read Raymond Carver’s short story I started thinking about what that trip idea what was going to happen in the 21st it (leaving the girl there and going fish- So Much Water, So Close to Home, and to the river meant to the men. On the century, people were genuinely smiling ing) they were also much more prone how you came to write the Jindabyne other hand I didn’t like—it is not that I when they talked about it. They were to saying ‘Well she’s dead, you know, so screenplay? didn’t like the female character, but the quite optimistic. Then, after September there wasn’t really anything you could Carver stories are very rooted in their 11, when you talked to people about do.’ When you talk to women about it, When I was doing the adaptation of The own time and era and place, and the the future they tended to look haunted it was as if they instinctively understood Three Sisters for Sydney Theatre Company Carver female character seemed to me because everybody became very anxious that what the men did was actually we read a lot of Raymond Carver in prep- to have become somewhat dated. There about what might happen. shocking. And there it became quite a aration for that script. Raymond Carver was almost a passive-aggressive quality polarised situation. was quite fascinated with Chekhov’s to the way she would emerge, she would In our film, when Gregory comes out short stories and he had written some surface for a moment from her life, and kills, people suddenly become What would you like the audience to poetry that was like prose fragments, which was almost like a life of sleep, she haunted by the future. And that creates take away after they’ve seen the film? based on the Chekhov stories. There would respond and then she’d sink to the imperative for them to deal with was something about Raymond Carver’s the bottom again. The big question I some of the things that have risen up If you’re living in a world where you style. I felt the Carver writing was like had for myself was do I really want to from the past. The girl’s body being can’t control what happens, which we all clear water, something about it was so spend a year or two, knowing how long it found in the river is a beautiful but ter- are, where really quite bad things can simple and yet it was really evocative. It takes to write anything, in the company rible image of something rising to the intrude into everyone’s life, and where was ordinary and yet it took you some- of this woman? Ultimately, working with surface emotionally for the men. you feel quite powerless, when you’re sit- where much bigger than the story might Ray was the deciding factor. ting there watching television and there suggest. We used the Carver Chekhov Can you talk a little bit about the explo- are people being blown up and people fragments as a guide when we were doing In adapting So Much Water, So Close to ration of the different ways men and being killed in wars that you haven’t Three Sisters. So I was really familiar with Home to a new setting in both time and women handle problematic situations been able to prevent and all the rest of the writing. When Ray said he wanted place, what was the guiding idea that in the story? And how that compares it, how do you keep going, particularly if to do So Much Water I was really excited you wanted to address in Jindabyne? to Raymond Carver’s So Much Water, you no longer have faith in a particular but also a little anxious because Carver So Close to Home written all those years religion? So, one of the themes in the is an American icon. I went home and We conceived of the story as a kind of ago? film has been this sense of people’s read the story and I was pretty ambiva- a ghost story. Everybody in the story spiritual beliefs. My own feeling is that lent about it. There were things I loved is haunted by something, whether it’s The men’s business and women’s busi- you’ve got your personal integrity and about it, mainly the men and the trip somebody who’s died, or whether it’s ness in the story was quite a challenge for you’ve got community and, even though to the river. I got very curious about a past they would like to change, or me to write. I grew up in an era where, they seem old fashioned and simplistic, what happened at the river. It is not very whether it’s the person they thought politically, you were supposed to think hopefully by the end of the film when explicit in the story and I kind of got they might have been but never became. of men and women as being the same. As we see everyone gathered around at the hooked on this idea—what would have There is this group of haunted people, I’ve gotten older, of course, I’ve realised smoking we’ll get a sense those things happened if there had only been one and then you have the serial killer who that it’s possible to be equal and be very can actually help you through difficult man or two men? The fact there were emerges in his season to create havoc. different. As the script developed, and times. four men, seemed to me to be really fas- I talked to men and women, it became cinating. The dynamics of four people People are now haunted by the future. more and more obvious that they had agreeing to do something like stay at I think when you talked to people very different attitudes. You talk to men the river seemed very different to one about the future at the turn of the 20th about the fishing and even though most

INTERVIEW WITH THE SCREENWRITER 21 Laura Linney Claire

Laura Linney attended the acclaimed office smash Love, Actually. She was again Juilliard School and began her acting nominated for a Golden Globe and career in theatre. Her first film role was an Oscar in 2005, for Best Supporting in George Miller’s Lorenzo’s Oil (1992). Actress in Fox Searchlight’s Kinsey. Later She came to prominence playing Mary in the year, Ms Linney garnered wide- Ann Singleton in the groundbreaking spread praise for her performances in Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City TV P.S., The Exorcism of Emily Rose, and The mini-series on PBS in 1993. In 1996, she Squid and the Whale. Among the numer- co-starred with Richard Gere in the ous accolades bestowed upon her, she thriller Primal Fear. On the strength of has also received two Emmys, one for her performance, Clint Eastwood cast Wild Iris, a television movie, and the Ms Linney in Absolute Power (1997). Her other for her work on the final season of career continued to gather momentum Frasier. An accomplished theatre actress, with critical and audience acclaim for she regularly returns to the stage, and her roles in Peter Weir’s The Truman has been twice nominated for Tony Show (1998) and the award-winning Awards, first in 2002 for her portrayal You Can Count On Me (2000). For that of Elizabeth Proctor in the Broadway film she earned Best Actress nomina- revival of The Crucible, and again in 2005 tions from the Screen Actors’ Guild, the for her performance as Patricia in Sight Golden Globes and the Academy Awards Unseen. (Oscars) in addition to Best Actress awards from the New York Film Critics Upcoming feature films include Driving Circle and the National Society of Film. Lessons, Man of the Year, and Breach. In 2003, she starred in Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River and the Working Title box

22 THE CAST Film Credits

The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) The Squid and the Whale (2004) Kinsey (2004) P.S. (2004) Love, Actually (2003) Mystic River (2003) The Life of David Gale (2003) The Mothman Prophecies (2002) The Laramie Project (2002) Maze (aka Touched) (2000) The House of Mirth (2000) You Can Count on Me (2000) Lush (1999) Love Letters (1999) The Truman Show (1998) Absolute Power (1997) Primal Fear (1996) Congo (1995) A Simple Twist of Fate (1994) Searching for Bobby Fischer (aka Innocent Moves) (1993) Dave (1993) Lorenzo’s Oil (1992)

THE CAST 23 Interview with Laura Linney

Can you tell us when you first read the He has extreme faith and trust in his you’re doing, being invested in what story of Jindabyne? actors and his crew. I’ve always found you’re doing and trying not to predict that when you do things for the right what’s really going to happen when the I read the script two or three years ago. reasons, and that’s not always possible camera rolls. Anthony LaPaglia called me on the to do all the time, because we’re human phone and said there’s a script coming beings, but if you really try and do As an actress, how do you prepare for your way that a really great director is things for the right reasons, everything working this way? doing and you should do it. And I lis- sort of works out. He has been very tened to Anthony. So, I kept an eye out thoughtful and respectful to the story, Well, I think you have to do as much for it. It arrived. I read it, loved it, of why the story is being told, what’s being work as you possibly can on your own course. It’s based on the Raymond Carver told, who is telling it and he just stays out and then you surrender. You surrender short story so the primary resource was of the way. He guides it beautifully. It’s to the story, because that’s what Ray’s such a beautifully written piece of work, his movie, through and through. But he doing. He has prepared and prepared and the script is equally wonderful. So lets everyone do what it is they know how and made every choice and every deci- when you have material that’s that good, to do, and then he braids it together in sion with great care and with fierce in the hands of someone who has such this fabulous creation. The entire movie respect and responsibility towards the insight, and you’re filming in a remark- is one take, and I’ve worked on mov- script and the story. And then he knows able location, it’s hard to say no. ies before that are one take, but not an to step back and let the work unfold on entire film. He only works with natural its own. Everybody works very differently Can you talk to us about Claire, your light, so there’s very little equipment and I tend to work very differently on character? around, and things move very fast. And, every single movie I do. With this one, I fortunately, I’ve worked this way in the read the script over and over and over. I My character is an American who mar- past, with Clint Eastwood, so I have a read it every day. In the United States ried an Irishman and lives in Jindabyne little bit of experience with it. And I’m there is the Arthur Murray School of with their young son. She is haunted by very glad that I’ve had that experience Dance and they used to have these kits, the consequences of her life and some to prepare me for this one. You learn I think in the fifties, that you could of the choices that she has made. Their a lot about relaxation and how to trust send away for. They would arrive at marriage is challenging, as most are. the story and not think too much about your house and it would be shoe prints They’ve weathered a lot, they have a lot yourself. The trick is to sort of move in that you would put on the floor and you to weather, they have a great love for through the scene and just move out of would step from step one to step two to each other, but they’re trying to figure it. If you start thinking too much about, step three. A great script in the hands each other out. ‘it’s only one take and I’ve got to get it of a great director is a little bit like that. right’, nothing will happen and it won’t Between a really great director and a Can you tell us what it is like work- be very interesting. So there is just a really great writer those steps are all ing with Ray Lawrence? sense of staying calm, knowing what there for you, and you just have to follow

24 THE CAST and the rest of it will. It is where skill What was it like working in Australia, and faith will intertwine. and in the Jindabyne landscape in particular? Can you talk about the notion of differ- ence between men and women in the You know, as someone who’s not accus- story? tomed to this environment, I’ve never seen a sky that felt so much like a dome. There is a split, without a doubt. You do I’ve never seen a landscape that was wonder if three women had gone fishing so vast. Vast! We have Montana and and found a man floating in the water, Wyoming in the United States, but noth- what would they have done? The very ing like Jindabyne. Being in a country nature of what and who a man is, and that is so large, and with so few people, what and who a woman is, really comes there’s this wonderful power to the into play. And the complexities of that. nature and the beauty of the landscape. There are certain things that men will On a daily basis it affects you, both posi- never understand about women and tively and negatively. It can be a little dis- certain things that women will never quieting at times and then other times it understand about men. I think that is can be so beautiful. You feel so fortunate part of what keeps us together. It is part to look around and there’s no other per- of the nature of the two sexes, how you son in sight. You’re looking hundreds of can be so close intellectually and physi- miles in every direction. So there’s an cally and so divided. It just opens up odd emotional balance to that. There into unknown and frightening territory is a real confluence of energies pulling about the sexes. And all of that is bub- you in different directions here. The bling under the surface as well. magnificent beauty, at times, is daunt- ing because it is so wild. What do the men and women have in common?

Everyone in this movie is struggling for something that is a little beyond them. They are struggling for some sense of life or identity or place, or something. Things are shifting for everybody.

THE CAST 25 Gabriel Byrne Stewart

Irish-born Gabriel Byrne has worked with some of cinema’s leading direc- tors including the Coen Brothers, Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmush, Ken Loach, John Boorman, David Cronenberg, Michael Mann, and Bryan Singer. Moving between independent and big-budget Hollywood films, he has starred in 35 pictures, produced three and writ- ten two. He was nominated for a Tony Award for Eugene O’Neill’s Moon For The Misbegotten in 2000. Mr Byrne made a welcome return to Broadway in 2005, winning glowing reviews for his perform- ance as Cornelius Melody in another O’Neill play, A Touch of The Poet.

Upcoming features include Wah-Wah, starring with Emily Watson, and Played.

26 THE CAST Film Credits

Assault On Precinct 13 (2005) Miller’s Crossing (1990) The Bridge Of San Luis Rey (2004) Diamond Skulls (Aka Dark Obsession) P.S. (2004) (1989) Vanity Fair (2004) The Courier (1988) Shade (2003) A Soldier’s Tale (1988) Ghost Ship (2002) Lionheart (1987) Emmett’s Mark (2002) Siesta (1987) Spider (2002) Hello Again (1987) Virginia’s Run (2002) Giulia E Giulia (aka Julia And Julia) When Brendan Met Trudy (2000) (1987) Canone Inverso - Making Love (2000) Gothic (1986) End Of Days (1999) Defence Of The Realm (1985) Stigmata (1999) The Keep (1983) Enemy Of The State (1998) Hanna K. (1983) Quest For Camelot (aka Magic Sword: Quest The Rocking Horse Winner (1983) For Camelot) (1998) Excalibur (1981) The Brylcreem Boys (1998) The Man In The Iron Mask (1998) Polish Wedding (1998) This Is The Sea (1997) The End Of Violence (1997) Smilla’s Sense Of Snow (1997) Dr Hagard’s Disease (1996) Somebody Is Waiting (1996) The Last Of The High Kings (1996) Mad Dog Time (1996) Frankie Starlight (1995) The Usual Suspects (1995) Dead Man (1995) All Things Bright And Beautiful (1994) Little Women (1994) Trial By Jury (1994) A Simple Twist Of Fate (1994) Prince Of Jutland (1994) A Dangerous Woman (1993) Point Of No Return (1993) Into The West (1992) Cool World (1992) Haakon Haakonsen (aka Shipwrecked) (1991)

THE CAST 27 28 THE CAST Interview with Gabriel Byrne

What is Jindabyne about? examine not just who they are individu- actors. All the things that actors like to as myself, the more sure the journey felt. ally but who they are as a couple. depend on, like make-up and lighting When Stewart and his friends commit The story is about four men who come and so forth, the security and comfort of this transgression they don’t even know upon the body of a woman in the What was it that made you want to do eight or ten takes, that’s all gone. Every they are doing it. They do this thing, they river and, not out of any sense of bad- this film? actor is different. Some actors get it on actually think they are doing something ness or lack of feeling, decide to leave the first take, others, you know, are just right, by tying up the body and leaving it the body in the river and not report it I met Ray Lawrence in New York. When warming up after take five or six or ten in the water, but it is after they get back to the police until they get back from we met he talked about how he saw the maybe, but you don’t have that security. they realise what they have done. That their fishing trip. Like many situations film as a ghost story, the idea that this It allows you an incredible freedom and, has happened to me in my life. I have that we find ourselves in, in life, we’re incident that’s taken place haunted the ultimately, it’s your responsibility. You done something and didn’t think about unaware of the consequences of our lives not just of the men who it happened can always ask for another take. Ray the consequences of it and sometime actions until those consequences come to, but all the people on the periphery doesn’t give much direction. He doesn’t later I realise, how could I have done home to visit us in all kinds of unex- by implication. It sounded intriguing. even say action. I’ve never worked with that? What did I do? It is something you pected ways. So the film is really about I’d seen Lantana and I knew that he a director who never said action before, never forget. how this incident haunts these men and would make something really interest- and he usually talks about the scene the lives of the people who are closest ing. This is a film that makes you think after it’s over. So, yes, it’s scary. Ray will What do you think people will take to them. about your life. I remember Ray saying say he’s not directing the film, that he’s from this story? to me, ‘I think you should do this film. trying to contain what’s happened, but Tell us about Stewart, the character you It would be really nice if you came to I think that everything, everything, in a Everybody, I think, comes to a differ- play. Australia and did it. It would be a work way, comes from his vision. Ray thinks ent conclusion. It brings up all kinds experience but I think it would be an unlike any other director I’ve ever of questions about morality and, in Stewart is a working-class, ordinary man important spiritual experience for you.’ worked with, he shoots like no director Stewart’s case, his marriage, and what who owns a garage. He used to be a rally That is what stuck with me. Nobody has I’ve ever worked with and his vision is is responsible behaviour. Guilt, regret, driver and he has given up that life to ever said that to me before as a reason unique to him. community, ritual, marriage, sex, love, become settled in this community. Not to do a film. friendship between men, friendship a simple man, but a man who lives a Does this affect the way you approach between women, all those issues to a pretty simple predictable life up until What has it been like working with Ray your character? greater or lesser extent are raised. The this moment. As a result of this incident Lawrence and his one-take process? audience’s reaction to it will be complex. he’s forced to examine who he really In a more conventional approach to On the one hand you have people who is morally, emotionally, and socially. This is the least conventional film I making a film, it is like climbing a rock, will disagree with the actions of the men. Stewart and Claire have had their trou- think I have ever done and it is letting you have more places to grab hold of. On the other, people will understand it. bles like any couple in a long-term rela- go of all the things that you can usually Here you don’t seem to have any places Hopefully people will identify with the tionship. They love each other but as a rely on. The whole thing is about letting to grab hold of. I think that the closer I reality of the dilemma that these people result of this incident they’re forced to go. It’s a scary sort of process for most moved to thinking about the character are forced to confront.

THE CAST 29 Deborra-lee Furness Jude

A native of Melbourne, Deborra-lee Jude, my Jude—you always get very posses- Furness graduated from the American sive of your characters. Jude is in a lot of pain. Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. She comes across on the page as sort of grumpy, She has since received a string of awards and she’s mean to her granddaughter, but it’s including honours from the Seattle like anything, when you understand where International Film Festival, the Australian someone is coming from, you get them. I love Film Critics’ Circle Award and the pres- her strength to battle on, to fight through tigious Variety Award. Additionally, her what she’s got to get through to come out the guest role on the Australian ABC’s hit other side. There’s no handbook on how to television series SeaChange earned her deal with grief. When you’re suffering, you a nomination for an Australian Film just have to go through it. She has incredible Institute Award. Deborra-lee has worked loyalty to her husband, they’re a great team, extensively in Australian film, television and as I see her, she’s a matriarch. She’s been and theatre. Recognised for her roles in this town the longest and I think she feels in the Australian features Jenny Kissed a certain responsibility to make sure everyone Me, Waiting, A Matter of Convenience, else is okay, even though we find her at this Angel Baby and Shame, which won critical time in her life when she needs to be looked acclaim around the world for both the after. For some people it’s hard to go back and film and her performance, she has also let others take care of them. So she’s tough, distinguished herself in her television she’s strong. roles, including as Corelli in the series of the same name and, before that, Act Men and women are very different and we of Betrayal, Fire and Kings. Deborra-lee’s deal very differently with grief. I don’t think US credits include Blue Heat, Voyager the men really get to the nitty-gritty. I think and Newsies. Having directed theatre women need, have the need, to talk more. We in both London and the US, she more have to say, I feel this, I feel that. We need to recently wrote and directed her first talk about it. So I think women talk and men short film, Standing Room Only. Deborra- go fishing! lee currently resides in the US with her husband, son and daughter.

30 THE CAST John Howard Carl

John Howard graduated from Australia’s All of the characters have some struggle in National Institute of Dramatic Art their personal lives. Carl is a fairly straightfor- (NIDA) in 1978 and has established ward and honest person who runs a caravan himself as one of Australia’s most prolific, park. He’s a shambling, pot-bellied man, of in-demand and beloved actors. He has generally good humour, who drinks too much. appeared in numerous feature films He hasn’t properly dealt with his daughter’s including A Man’s Gotta Do, Japanese Story, death some year and half or so before. He’s The Man Who Sued God, Blackrock, Dating caught between his granddaughter, Caylin- the Enemy, Young Einstein, A Cry in the Dark, Calandria, whose behaviour is becoming Strikebound and The Club. In television he increasingly wild as she tries, in her little-girl has cemented a huge fan base with his fantasy way, to get rid of the pain that she’s appearances in a number of critically feeling, and his wife, Jude, who hasn’t prop- successful, top-rating Australian series erly begun to grieve for her daughter either. including SeaChange, Changi, Always Carl is not necessarily a particularly philo- Greener and All Saints. As a theatre actor sophical person, nor a deep thinker, although he commanded attention from his every now and then he unwittingly comes out earliest performances, including the with very wise things. title role in Nicholas Nickleby, as Iago in Othello, and as Galileo in The Life of Galileo. He has received a Critics’ Circle Award and a Variety Club of Australia Heart Award for his performances in The Crucible and The Mongrels, and has been nominated for two Australian Film Institute Best Actor Awards.

THE CAST 31 Leah Purcell Carmel

Leah Purcell is one of Australia’s leading What I loved about the script was there were actresses. Her performance alongside six strong lead characters and they all had Anthony LaPaglia and Geoffrey Rush their own journey. An ensemble piece is hard in Ray Lawrence’s Lantana brought to write and hard to cover and, although it her recognition when, jointly with the was a smaller part, Carmel, my character, other female leads, she received the had a middle, beginning and end. That’s Independent Filmmaker Award for Best something you look for as an actor, so you Actress, as well as a nomination for a Film can really sink your teeth into it. Critics’ Circle of Australia Award. She followed this success with roles in the For Carmel it’s about being haunted from your award-winning Somersault, and the 2005 past. Trying to work out who you are, where AFI winner The Proposition. Prior to this you fit in life and where you don’t fit. She she appeared in the short feature Lennie doesn’t belong. Well, she does belong, but she Cahill Shoots Through and Somewhere doesn’t know where she fits into the circum- in the Darkness. Ms Purcell’s first regu- stances within her own personal journey as a lar television role was in the hit series character, and with the other characters, and Police Rescue, followed by an Australian the life in Jindabyne. Carmel is a city girl. I Film Institute Best Actress nomination think she opted to go to the bush where there for her role in Fallen Angels. She has had was a strong Aboriginal community. She’s enormous success on stage, including never denied her aboriginality, she’s always with her triumphant, self-devised, one- aware of it, she’s always proud of it, but she woman show, Box the Pony which toured just didn’t know how to connect to it. She’s a to London and the Edinburgh Festival. strong woman, a professional, she’s gone to Most recently she gained great acclaim university to be a teacher. At the same time, for her portrayal of Condoleeza Rice in she’s fighting with her own demons. She’s got David Hare’s play Stuff Happens in sellout this yearning inside her that she doesn’t quite seasons in both Sydney and Melbourne. understand. She’s confused, she’s at a cross- roads, and she’s the character that doesn’t quite fit in. As the story of the film unfolds, the indigenous issue that does arise is really thrown at her, and she doesn’t know how to deal with it.

32 THE CAST Stelios Yiakmis Rocco

Stelios Yiakmis was born in New Zealand Rocco is an unbelievable gift to me as an in 1965. After graduating in drama from actor. He doesn’t have a great deal to say, he’s the University of Otago, he found fame not stupid, but he’s not a great intellectual. in the long-running and hugely success- He comes from a very visceral approach to ful New Zealand serial Shortland Street life. That’s what people are looking for in where he played Dr Johnny Marinovich. story telling. The punters really don’t care His feature film appearances include what you think, they’re interested in how This Is Not a Love Story and The Last Tattoo. you feel in a situation. They’re interested In Australia, Stelios has appeared in in how human beings viscerally respond to top-rating network programs McLeod’s being thrown into peculiar and challenging Daughters and All Saints. Stelios’ thea- situations. tre credits include the lead role of Petruchio at the Christchurch Court Theatre production of Kiss Me Kate.

THE CAST 33 Alice Garner Elissa

Alice Garner has been acting since she Elissa is quite self-possessed and prepared was child, in theatre, film, television and to stand up for herself and for Billy. What’s radio. Her film credits include features important about the relationship between Monkey Grip (Australian Film Institute Elissa and Billy is that Billy is a very young nomination), Nostradamus Kid, Lover man and he’s still open to influence, particu- Boy, Love and Other Catastrophes (Film larly from other, older men. I think Elissa’s Critics’ Circle Award, AFI nomination) concern is that he not be moulded by them and Strange Planet, as well as numerous into a kind of hard and uncommunicative short films. She played Carmen in the man, which is what those older men seem to acclaimed Australian television series her to be. SeaChange (ABC-TV) and followed this with her role as Caitlin in the top-rat- My character was not a mother in the first ing Secret Life of Us (TEN). In theatre she script that I read but, being a breast-feeding has performed with leading Australian mother, I brought Ted to the rehearsals in companies including Playbox, Anthill Jindabyne. Bea, the scriptwriter, was quite and Melbourne Theatre Company. An keen on him, and on the second day she came accomplished cellist, she has recorded up and said, ‘I want Ted to be in the film.’ So several albums with Xylouris Ensemble Simon Stone and I had to sit down and figure and, with them, featured on the sound- that one out—whose child is he? It actually track of Rachel Perkins’ film One Night enriched our characters and our relationship the Moon (2001 AFI best original score; a lot. 2003 APRA Best Soundtrack Album). Ray doesn’t want people to think about their performance too much, he just wants it to happen as spontaneously as possible. When you’re performing with a baby it means that you’re not thinking about yourself. I had one scene when I had to perform without Ted and I felt quite bare.

34 THE CAST Simon Stone Billy (‘the Kid’)

At the beginning of his acting career Billy is what Ray calls a blow-in. He’s just Simon has earned a reputation as ‘a been brought by the winds of chance into this new talent to watch.’ By age 18 he had town, and he’s one of those marvellous chame- already made four television appear- leons that can adapt himself to any situation. ances on popular favourites in Australia He finds a home amongst strangers. I think such as Blue Heelers, MDA and John that’s his eternal attempt in the film, to fit Safran’s Music Jamboree. He recently in and belong. He’s someone who always has completed his acting training at the respect for everyone around him. That’s how Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) he can be a chameleon, because he loves life in Melbourne and has a great passion and loves being with people and interacting for theatre. In his final year at VCA he with them. Then things become more difficult played in the classics The Cherry Orchard, and there is a wedge driven between everyone The Three Sisters, Midsummer Night’s Dream in the film. I think Billy starts to realise that and The Caucasian Chalk Circle. Jindabyne he needs to look after himself and the things is his first feature film. that are really dear to him, instead of just try- ing to belong. His relationship with Stewart is incredibly important to him. His relationship with Elissa is his greatest passion.

THE CAST 35 Betty Lucas Vanessa

Betty Lucas’ career spans 50 years, Vanessa is a mother, a grandmother and a encompassing radio, TV, film and stage mother-in-law. I think she is bossy. She has both in Australia and the UK where she looked after Tom from when was a baby until initially played juvenile lead roles for 18 he was 18 months old. She has become part months at the Playhouse, Nottingham. of the household and she has taken over. Of In Australia Miss Lucas has played lead- course this woman is very efficient, she is a ing and feature roles for commercial the- good housekeeper, but she is bossy. People atre companies and all the State theatre develop habits you know, and unless some- companies. Selected stage productions one tells them they just keep going. She is include Patate, opposite Leo McKern for lonely, and every time she leaves the place the the Melbourne Theatre Co, The Crucible, audience sees she is unhappy. So you get the playing Elizabeth Proctor for The Old contrast of this woman who presents herself in Tote, and later Rebecca Nurse for The this way, but she is not going to let them see Sydney Theatre Company; most recently, that she is lonely. Claire and Vanessa are not Suddenly Last Summer for Company B and exactly close, there is that feeling that Claire Aunty and Me for The Ensemble Theatre. is trying so hard, but you feel they are never In feature films Miss Lucas has appeared going to get together. in Wendy Cracked a Walnut, My First Wife, Stanley: Every Home Should Have One, Rat I have been a working actress since I was six- Race, The Alternative, Between Wars and teen, but you are never sure of yourself. No A Girl in Australia. She has made many matter how old you get, you think, ‘Can I do appearances on series television and it? Will I be able to do what he wants?’ We miniseries, most recently in the popu- talked a little bit about my character, but not lar Australian television shows Always much. I eventually got a phone call from Ray. Greener, All Saints and Blue Heelers. He said, ‘Betty, you have a natural sweetness. I want your character to have steel inside.’ He just said those words.

36 THE CAST Chris Haywood Gregory

Chris Haywood has amassed an impres- As a character Gregory is the embodiment of sive 72 film credits in his 30-year career, an evil spirit. Here’s a community which is including the Australian classics The carrying on day-to-day life when suddenly Removalists, Breaker Morant, Heatwave, there’s a shocking murder that takes place The Man from Snowy River, Razorback, and the perpetrator of this event is living Shine, Muriel’s Wedding, Blackrock, Oscar there amongst them as if nothing is happen- and Lucinda and Kiss or Kill. Chris ing. I think it’s a very good sort of analogy also appeared in the first features of as to what’s happening with the state of the acclaimed directors Peter Weir (The Cars world at the moment. that Ate Paris), Phillip Noyce (Newsfront) and Scott Hicks (Freedom). His per- formances have been honoured with three Awards from the Australian Film Institute (from a total of eight nomina- tions) for his roles in the feature films A Street to Die For and Emerald City, and for television in Stingers. Additionally, he has garnered three Logie Awards for his work on television—for Essington, Good Thing Going and Janus.

THE CAST 37 Eva Lazzaro Caylin-Calandria

At 10 years of age Eva Lazzaro is already earning a reputation as a rising young star since her appearances on the popular Australian television drama series Blue Heelers, as well as in televi- sion commercials. Jindabyne marks her feature film debut.

Caylin-Calandria lives in Jindabyne, in a caravan park. Her parents own a caravan park—well her grandparents do. Her mum’s died, and she has no dad. I must say, a lot of the time I feel sorry for her. I think she’s two sides of the coin. One side of her is just an innocent seven-year-old girl, and the other side has experienced a lot with her mum’s death from breast cancer. I think Caylin- Calandria finds the death of her mum really scary, and she finds Jude really scary, because Jude’s a scary lady, you know? Not in real life, Deb’s a lovely, kind woman, except Jude is scary. I think she’s very scared of Jude and, towards the end, she feels comfortable with Carl. Caylin-Calandria has kind of adopted Claire as her mum because she’s thinking, ‘Well, I’ve got to find a new mum, because my mum’s dead, so I’ll take Claire, she’s good enough.’

38 THE CAST Sean Rees-Wemyss Tom

Despite his tender age, seven-year-old Sean Rees-Wemyss already has a string of credits to his name as a voice-over artist and through his appearances in television commercials. Jindabyne is his first feature film.

Ray was just really kind and funny. He gave me a spider because I really love spi- ders because I know a lot about them. I’ve read nearly all the books on spiders in the Melbourne library. In some ways I feel sorry for Ray. He’s got a really big job, dealing with this and dealing with that. Sometimes the mic’s not right, and sometimes the actors make a mistake, and Ray has got to be there no matter what. It would be really tiring for him to just sit there all day, staring at the screen. Just imagine sitting down and just staring at one plant for, like, two minutes then getting up for one second and saying, ‘Next time can you do this?’ and getting back in this little box thing, and sitting down and staring at it for two minutes. So, yeah, I feel sorry for him. And I don’t feel sorry for him in a way, because he can explain well and that would make it easier. I think he’s just one of the best directors.

THE CAST 39 Tatea Reilly Susan

Jindabyne is Tatea’s first feature film. She started her career as a performer with the Aboriginal Dance Theatre. At the age of nine Tatea appeared in the short film Nightwork before beginning her training at the PACT Youth Theatre. Over her four years at PACT she has concentrated on music, dance, and set design as well as helping devise various performance pieces including for the Stand Your Ground project. Most recently she appeared with PACT as part of the Constellations season.

40 THE CAST The Production Team

David Williamson Matrix, Anna and the King (nominated Paul Kelly Soteria Bell Director of Photography for an Academy Award for Produc- Composer A group of singers based in Melbourne, David Williamson’s relationship with the tion Design in 2000) and Real Women Paul Kelly is one of Australia’s best- Australia, Soteria Bell performs tradi- director Ray Lawrence goes back to Bliss, Have Curves. Deborah was assistant art known singer/songwriters. David Fricke, tional and original music from around Ray Lawrence’s award-winning first fea- director on Moulin Rouge which won music editor of Rolling Stone in the the world including Mongolia, Bulgaria, ture. An integral part of the team, David a prestigious US Art Directors’ Guild US, called Kelly ‘one of the finest song- Estonia, Venezuela, India and Japan. Williamson has been lighting commer- Award for Excellence in Production writers I have ever heard, Australian or With unique and unusual arrangements cials for Ray Lawrence for many years. Design. More recently, Deborah was art otherwise’. With around 20 albums to for voice and minimal instrumentation He is one of the most experienced cam- director on the highly praised 21 Grams his name, including several film scores, including violin, thumb piano, tuned era operators in the world whose 27 film and was Australian art director on Paul Kelly has never gone out of favour. glasses and harmonium, members of credits include all three of The Matrix 2004’s Godzilla—The Final Wars. She has In 1989 Paul Kelly wrote a song and the group have diverse backgrounds in films, Peter Pan and Muriel’s Wedding. just completed work on the new Work- released an album (So Much Water So the fields of improvisation, harmonic ing Title feature The Middle of Nowhere. Close To Home) inspired by the same Ray- singing and classical styles. mond Carver story on which Jindabyne Margot Wilson is based. Production & Costume Designer Karl Sodersten Andrew Plain A costume designer on over 19 feature Editor Sound Designer films and mini-series, some of her cred- In 2001 Karl cut Ray Lawrence’s Lantana Dan Luscombe Andrew has been providing quality its include Japanese Story, Ghost Ship and and his work was nominated for editing Composer soundtracks to Australian and overseas Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line. Mar- awards from both the Australian Film Dan Luscombe is a Melbourne-based films and television series for the past got was nominated for an AFI Award for Institute and the Film Critics’ Circle of musician, and a member of The Black- 20 years. Andrew, with his own company Best Costume Design for Ray Lawrence’s Australia, while the film itself picked up eyed Susans, Dan Kelly and the Alpha Huzzah Sound, has worked on a wide Lantana, and in 2005 she won the award seven AFI Awards. Karl has been editing Males, and Paul Kelly and the Boon range of projects including Jane Cam- for her work on John Hillcoat’s The since the late 70s and his work has been Companions. Having previously worked pion’s In The Cut, Gillian Armstrong’s Proposition. Margot has been in constant wide and varied. He started his career together on the film Tom White, this is Charlotte Gray and Oscar and Lucinda, demand since her career in produc- with commercials and later moved into the second time Dan Luscombe and Ray Lawrence’s Lantana, Rolf De Heer’s tion and costume design began in 1996, television. For the ABC he has cut TV Paul Kelly have collaborated on a film Alexandra’s Project and Dwight Little’s when she designed the costumes for the features, documentaries, children’s and score. Anacondas—The Hunt for the Blood Orchid. Sydney Theatre Company’s production science series. For Channel 7 he worked Over the years, Andrew’s work has been of A Fabulous Night at the Trocadero. on comedy series including Norman recognized with numerous awards Gunston. For SBS, Karl made documen- including two Golden Reel nominations, taries, food series, cultural and sports 10 AFI Best Sound nominations result- Deborah Riley magazines. In 1986, he started his own ing in three AFI Awards for Best Sound, Art Director company, Karl Marks Pty Ltd. Though and an Independent Film award for Best With a design background in both archi- specialising in commercials where he Sound Design. tecture and theatre arts Deborah has has won national and international forged a successful and varied career awards, he has also cut many short films in film, advertising, theatre and corpo- and music clips. rate work. Her film credits include The

42 THE CREW Catherine Jarman Producer

Catherine’s career in the film indus- tion for them there before rejoining try began in 1980 working with Ray Window Productions as Ray Lawrence’s Lawrence at his production company producer. Since that time she has Window Productions. In 1984 she produced commercial campaigns in worked on Ray Lawrence’s first feature Australia, the US and France that have Bliss as production assistant. In 1985 received awards and recognition world- Catherine worked on Australian and off- wide. Window recently won the most shore projects until a job offer took her prestigious award at Cannes, the Gold to London where she worked with RSA, Lion award. one of the world’s most successful pro- duction companies for commercials. In 2000 Catherine line produced the critically acclaimed feature film In 1988, Catherine worked for RSA in Lantana. Australia and facilitated all produc-

THE PRODUCER 43 Philippa Bateman Executive Producer & CEO April Films

Philippa Bateman is CEO and one of the ing to Australia in the mid-1990s where founders of April Films. April started she worked as a senior development life with a first-look deal with Universal and production executive for the AFC Studios and later United Artists/MGM. (Australian Film Commission). Philippa She was also the acquisitions repre- backed the first films of directors such sentative for United Artists/MGM for as Rowan Woods (The Boys, Little Fish), Australia from 2002–2004. Gregor Jordan (Two Hands, Buffalo Soldiers, Ned Kelly), Christina Andreef In 2004, with April partner Garry (Soft Fruit) and Tony Ayres (Walking on Charny, Philippa set up the April Water, Home Song Stories). Philippa has Babcock & Brown Movie Venture with overseen the production of several fea- investment bank Babcock & Brown. ture films including The Boys (directed Jindabyne, directed by Ray Lawrence, is by Rowan Woods and starring Toni the first film to be financed through the Collette and David Wenham) and venture. Thank God He Met Lizzie (starring Cate Blanchett and Frances O’Connor). Prior to working in film exclusively, Philippa worked in the visual arts, jour- She has been and remains responsi- nalism and academia. Her career in ble for the creative development of the feature film began in Los Angeles work- April slate and works closely with writers ing with Oscar-winning screenwriter and directors on all April projects. She William Kelley (Witness, directed by is also in charge of the creation and Peter Weir). She continued to work in implementation of April Distribution’s feature script development and feature marketing strategy. production in the UK before return-

44 THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS Garry Charny Executive Producer & Executive Chairman April Films

With a background in corporate advi- venture in Australia. Prior to that, he sory, finance, theatre and the law, Garry practised for over a decade as a Sydney was responsible for the merger of April barrister specialising in commercial and Films and Macquarie Film and Television equity work. to create April Entertainment—of which he is a major shareholder. He was instru- Garry is a former director of Belvoir mental in establishing and implement- Street Theatre Limited and owner ing The April Babcock & Brown Movie of Charny Green Productions whose Joint Venture with leading investment productions include the award-winning bank Babcock & Brown—currently the Gertrude Stein and a Companion (starring pre-eminent private equity financier of Miriam Margolyes and Pamela Rabe) feature films in Australia. and The Venetian Twins (starring Drew Forsythe and Dennis Olsen). He has He is Executive Chairman of April produced and directed extensively for Films and a principal of Wolseley the stage and executive produced many Corporate and Media, a leading Sydney- hours of television. based corporate advisory house. In that role he has been responsible for Garry’s other passion is horse racing advising on and investing in numer- and breeding and for some years he ous media transactions including the was involved with the internationally building and running of the (now pub- renowned Strawberry Hill Stud. He licly listed) Macquarie Radio Network, currently owns Belannah Stud and has the start-up of Macquarie Film and been a director of Australia’s leading Television, the takeover bid for the racehorse auction house, Magic Millions Brisbane Broncos Football Franchise Sales. and Ecomm—a General Electric joint

THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS 45 April Films Production Company

A leading Australian independent pro- Having raised substantial private equity As part of its commitment to unique ing in the middle. April works with both duction company, April Films is part for its development slate, April in 2004 financing structures April is currently new talent and established filmmakers. of the April Entertainment Group of entered into a joint venture with inter- in discussions regarding the creation of companies that also includes April national investment bank Babcock & a US$50m feature film fund to finance The next two April projects slated for Distribution. Brown to finance the production of both Australian and international pro- financing are Ego Trip and Kill Day. In Australian films using private equity— duction. development are Geraldine Brooks’ April started life with a first-look deal The April Babcock & Brown Movie March, as well as Goodbye Steve McQueen with Universal Studios and then United Venture. April Films’ creative focus is on the and The View From the Ground. Artists/MGM with a remit to develop, development, production and acquisi- acquire and produce distinctive feature Jindabyne was the first of these films and tion of quality films with international For more information on April Films, films out of Australia with Australian the joint venture was responsible for and domestic appeal. The April slate please see www.april.com.au. filmmakers. This continues to be April’s raising approximately 90% of all pri- divides between original, director core business. vate equity invested in feature films in driven films and concept driven genre Australia in 2005. movies with a difference. It does noth-

46 THE PRODUCTION COMPANY

On Set at Jindabyne by Catherine Mckinnon

Make It Look Easy ters, Stewart and Claire Kane, played by or the other will turn to stare out the asks, where are you at? Ray lifts the bot- Monday 18th April 2005. It’s 3pm on Gabriel Byrne and Laura Linney. She window, and the hint of some darker tle of 42 Below ready to pour. Catherine the 34th day of the Jindabyne film shoot. wants to talk about the final moment concern flickers across their face. Below opts for a cup of hot water. Ray Lawrence, the director, and Beatrix between Stewart and Claire. How will Ray’s window is a lake. Black coots (water So far this rejection of alcohol, and Christian, the writer, sit at a table in they play it? What will it be? hens) swim across the choppy surface, those earlier glances out the window, Ray’s hotel room at Crackenback Resort. navigating their way past upended boats are the only indications from the three Ray pours vodka into glasses. Slides one There is a familial ease to the way they and floating branches, their bleat the of them, that one of the most expensive across to Bea. Ray’s little black notebook, are with each other. Teasing, laughing, tinny version of a ship’s foghorn. But it’s days in the shoot is going disastrously with his storyboard sketches, is open on exaggerated groans of despair. Ray’s the trees on Crackenback Mountain that wrong. And that the ‘smoking scene’, as the table in front of them. The pair are face is drawn but there’s a wildness in attract the most attention. Big strong scripted, as currently being discussed, thrashing out the end of the film. Not his eyes; an air about him of mad exu- eucalypts cowed by the force of a swirl- may never be shot. the final moment (that’s sorted) but the berance. His energy finds release in his ing wind. • • • • second-to-last scene, dubbed by them, hands. He sketches in and scribbles out the ‘smoking scene.’ faces with frenetic intensity. Bea is stiller, By the time the producer, Catherine One day, back when Ray was a kid, his yet somehow effervescent, as though any Jarman, turns up, Bea and Ray are on dad said something he’s never forgotten. Ray’s bothered by the order of shots. moment she might fly up into the air. their second vodka. They greet her cheer- ‘Always make it look easy.’ That phrase They’re not sitting together right. And When she pauses to think, she places fully. Catherine takes off her blue jacket. stuck in his mind. And those few simple some of the actions of the characters, her hands palm-down on the table and She hangs it over the back of a chair. words frame his life. Frame his work. now he has time to consider them, could tips her head back, as if to steady herself Her movements are measured, almost be tweaked. Bea’s not disagreeing but while she receives inspiration from the tranquil, as though each step has been Back then his dad would take him to the her focus is the film’s two main charac- heavens. But every now and then, one given thought and attention. Catherine cinema four or five times a week. I think

ON SET AT JINDABYNE 49 MONARO PLAIN—GREGORY’S ROCKS the kid wants to go out, his dad would When Ray was older he realised that project ideas. Ray couldn’t stop think- was already a fan of Carver’s writing. say to his mother. It was his dad who recreating stories wasn’t always going to ing about one Carver story in particular, She went home, curled up on her couch, wanted to get out but Ray didn’t mind be so easy but a sense of play remained So Much Water So Close to Home. But he and reread So Much Water So Close to going along. In those days the movies important. And making it look easy couldn’t get anyone interested in back- Home. She found herself curious about rolled on, one after the other. You could remained important too. ing the film. So he continued making the men. What happened at the river? sit in the cinema for hours. Sometimes commercials, working with Catherine But she was less pleased with the female • • • • Ray would fall asleep, nestled in next to Jarman as producer, telling her all about character, Claire. his dad, and wake up in the middle of a It was the heady eighties when the musi- the story he would one day make about movie, but he’d always be able to catch it cian and songwriter, Paul Kelly, first got four fishermen who go on a fishing trip Raymond Carver was one of the dirty up later in the day. On the weekends his Ray Lawrence interested in Raymond to the mountains, find a dead body in realists of short story writing. He wrote grandfather took him to the movies too. Carver’s writing. The film Bliss had the river, and decide to keep on fishing. about the people he lived with, the peo- So he was seeing five, maybe six, mov- been made (written by Peter Carey and ple he knew well. His partner and soul ies a week. After each movie he’d come Ray Lawrence from Carey’s novel, Bliss) Then one night, in the late nineties, mate for the last eleven years of his life, home and act out scenes standing on and had screened in Competition at Ray watched a play in a darkened thea- the poet, Tess Gallagher, said he liked top of the bed. He’d whip off his pyjama Cannes in 1985. That same year the film tre. It was called The Governor’s Family. to go ‘nose to nose’ with his characters. cord, flick it in front of him and pretend had taken out awards for Best Director, Something in the language (poetic, He didn’t judge them. So Much Water to be Tony Curtis in The Vikings. The Best Screenplay, and Best Film at the but in a way that gave ordinary words a So Close to Home was first published in shortened version. The seven-year-old Australian Film Institute Awards, and shine) captured his imagination. The 1977 (in Furious Seasons And Other Stories) Ray Lawrence version. had been nominated in ten other cat- playwright was Beatrix Christian. Ray with a severely edited version appearing egories. Producers kept asking Ray for gave Bea the Carver story to read. Bea in What We Talk About When We Talk

50 ON SET AT JINDABYNE About Love, published in 1981. she wasn’t sure she could write. She’d spent years working in theatre (an Tess Gallagher had written (in an article environment where it’s the passion not on another film using Carver’s work) the money that keeps you going) and that the problem with past adaptations had learnt to trust her instinct when it of Carver’s short stories had been ‘to came to accepting or rejecting work, but stay so close to the originals that a on this project she was still waiting for robotic pandering to the text resulted. her instinct to kick in. They were like someone ice skating with an osprey’s egg on which the bird is still It’s a slow climb into the Snowy nesting. Nothing new came to the stories Mountains. It’s an old range and the and they were damp with poignant high peaks are rounded, unlike the silences.’ For the Jindabyne filmmakers, sawtooth shapes that dominate younger it was very gratifying to hear that Tess ranges. So there is no sense of grand Gallagher is a fan of Bea Christian’s arrival. At first this disappointed Bea. adaptation. When she stepped into her hotel room at Crackenback she couldn’t get to those The Carver story So Much Water So Close cigarettes quick enough. She’d only had to Home is imbued with an atmosphere of two puffs when there was a knock on her sexual violence heightened by Claire’s door. It was Ray. He was full of chatter. fears about what her husband might He wanted to go exploring. They drove have done at the river. But Bea and out of town and ended up on a lonely Ray wanted Claire to question her own dirt road, somewhere on the plains, not choices, as well as her husband’s. They far from Dalgety. They stepped out of discussed changes to the story and both the car and walked up the road. The thought that Claire’s isolation seemed wind howled around them. The sky unnatural in the contemporary context was overwhelming. Mesmerising. The of a small town. Perhaps they could land seemed to go on forever. Bea tried internalise her isolation? They wanted to imagine Claire standing there and her to have a job and friends. Bea knew suddenly she felt a connection. It hap- that to write this screenplay she had to pened in a moment. Hard to describe make Claire a character she could relate what happens in a moment but feeling to. A woman with her own dark side. small in that vast landscape did it for Bea. Instinct told her she could write Early in 2003 Bea and Ray went on a trip this screenplay. to Jindabyne. It was a six-hour drive. A few hours in Bea felt frazzled. She was Ray, who had been sitting with the story stuck in a car with a director she didn’t for twenty years, who had fished in rivers know all that well, and who, worse yet, summer after summer, imagining what didn’t smoke, talking about a project it might be like to find a body floating MONARO PLAIN

ON SET AT JINDABYNE 51 in the water, could see the film unfold- wetsuits. With Dave Nichols, key grip, ing already. He could see the opening Matty and Marc lug camera equipment sequence taking place right there on across to the opposite bank. Matthew the plain. Spowart, video split operator, sets up in the tall grass. These men are the river Yarrangobilly: The First River cowboys. Fearless, stoic, hard-working, For the filming of Jindabyne three of the they keep their smiles stored in a vault. Kosciuszko National Park’s rivers will be used to create one fictional river, each Ray, Dave and Jamie cluster together, location imbuing the scene being shot then wade deeper into the water to work with a particular mood or sensibility. At out the first shot. The sound crew and Yarrangobilly it is magic and meditation. grips clamber for positions on islands of At the Snowy River at Island Bend, dark- dry rock. There is only one woman in ness and death. And at the Thredbo the river, Kira Bohn, the script supervi- River at Thredbo Diggings, spiritual sor. She’s a tall lanky American with a restoration. blinding smile. She shivers in her wet- suit and, like one or two of the unit boys, • • • • her steps are measured as she takes up Early in the morning, on the second day her position alongside Ray. On the river of the shoot, cast and crew tramp, sin- banks, among the green and yellow gle file, down a stony mountain pathway grasses, stand the rest of the crew. in the northern end of the Kosciuszko National Park. It’s a half-hour trek from Catherine Jarman settles beneath a unit base to the riverside camp. Cast Mountain Gum. Already she has sur- and crew arrive, dump their loads and prised crew members with her ability to stretch their limbs. greet them by name. Next to her, stands executive producer, Philippa Bateman. Down by the river the light is a cool blue. The two women complement each other. It’s a magical place. Otherworldly. Alive Philippa’s sharp intelligence is more with bird noise and the rush of water. mercurial. She’s witty, insightful, quick Some of the crew drag off their clothes with everything she does but with an eye and yank on wetsuits. Ray steps into the for detail. With business partner Garry river. It’s clear but icy. Jamie Crooks, Charny, Philippa runs April Films and the first assistant director, a weathered they raised the finance for Jindabyne. lone ranger with a wiry build and white- blonde hair, directs the crew in. Philippa tugs a bright beanie down over her dark hair. She is mindful of the DOP Dave Williamson and his focus crew stabilising equipment on the slip- puller, Matty, and clapper loader, Marc pery riverbed (one trip and a leg could YARRANGOBILLY RIVER (the Windon brothers) don’t bother with be broken or an arm sprained) but the

52 ON SET AT JINDABYNE mood of the crew is infectiously festive. on a raft, captures it on camera. Ray jokes. Ray is not happy. Something else Jindabyne: Water & Light can’t stop smiling. His own dark cinema is bothering him too. It’s to do with Jindabyne (the town where Stewart and • • • • has been set up on a second raft. He the casting. And the physical ease of Claire live) is an actual service centre Gabriel Byrne, Stelios Yiakmis and Simon stands waist-deep in the river with a the men in the water. Fly-fishing is not for the Snowy Mountains. A busy ski Stone, stand back from the bank. Along black cloth over his head and over the just about the thrill of catching fish, it’s place in winter, it has more hush in with John Howard, who arrives tomor- monitor. The magic of the location is all about becoming part of the environ- summer. The Snowy River once ran row, they play the fishermen in the story. there on film ment. It’s a meditative thing. Sacred through old Jindabyne but in the sixties Gabriel is frowning. He’s uneasy about would not be too strong a word. But it the river was dammed, the townspeople the day ahead. The fishing sequences The crew set up for the scene where can’t be romanticised. moved to higher ground, and the old were originally scheduled to take place Stewart helps young Billy catch his first town drowned. The new Jindabyne has at the end of the shoot. They’ve been trout. There are many fishermen among There’s a famous line by Heraclitus. no main street, or main square, that moved forward as a safety measure. Bad the crew and they have high expecta- You can never step into the same river the community is built around. Instead weather might cause the river water to tions for this scene. It needs to be exhil- twice. Every fly-fisherman knows this is all the buildings follow the curve of rise. Gabriel is playing Stewart Kane, arating. true. How we experience our lives each the lake, watching over it, as if keeping petrol station owner, one-time rally day is something that continually shifts a mournful eye out for the old town driver and the most experienced fisher- That fish has to jump, Phil Brown, the and changes, just as the river shifts and hidden beneath the water. man. He had envisaged weeks of getting on-set paramedic, says later. He’s a keen changes. But along with the wonder to know the river, getting the feel of his local fisherman. If that fish doesn’t there goes a certain amount of terror. Jindabyne, an indigenous word, means rod. Now, after being in Australia less jump, he explains, the scene won’t feel valley. Indigenous artefacts still lie on that two weeks, and after fly-fishing for authentic and it will change his whole Australia is an ancient country. Some of the banks of the lake but the riverside less than that, he has to wade into the attitude to the film. its landforms have been undisturbed for campsites that were thousands of years water and teach Simon, who plays Billy millions of years. To walk in this river, old, and the old homesteads from the (the young kid Stewart has taken under Ray, a long time fly-fisherman, knows is to walk in a place where some of the last hundred and eighty years, are no his wing) how to fly-fish. Experience the pressure is on. Ray and Craig Daly, earliest of our species have wandered. more. The islands in the middle of the tells Gabriel that to look like a compe- the fly-fishing instructor, wade over to To be confronted with death in this lake were once hills. In the last drought, tent angler, who does this year in year give advice to the actors. The fish wran- environment is also to be confronted when the water level dropped, elderly out, will require inspired acting. gler hooks up a huge trout. It thrashes with life —with the wonderful terror of locals went out to visit the site of the old about in the water. The wrangler lets the living. church that in their childhood memo- However, Stelios and Simon, newer fish go. The camera rolls. ‘Off you go,’ ries stood towering over their homes. to the film industry, are fearless with says Ray. The crew set up for another shot. Ray Further on from the islands a sacred excitement. They almost trip over each wanders off for a quiet cast. Ray’s two indigenous site now lies hidden other to get to the water. Simon lifts his line into the air. Gabriel loves are finally coming together, fish- • • • • holds up a guiding hand, mutters quietly ing and filming. He grins as Jamie The first shot is of Billy. And then to Simon. Ray calls out directions. ‘Let comes up to join him. There is an Ray only uses natural light when film- Stewart teaching Billy how to cast. As him go, Simon. Don’t pull him yet, give ease in their movement as they wade ing. This landscape, with its amazing the actors wade forward the river rip- him some space.’ Ray wants to give the back towards the crew. That ease tells shifts of light and colour, is ideal. But ples with greens and browns. Light trout time to put up a fight. But this par- everyone, don’t worry about the jump- for some of the actors the landscape is jumps across the water surface and ticular trout is feeling sleepy. Simon reels ing trout shot, we’ll get it tomorrow. overwhelming, even a little frightening. runs up the trunks of eucalypts. Dave him in easily. Everyone is disappointed. Don’t worry about any of it, we’ll get it Williamson, now perched precariously ‘Poor fish has stage fright,’ someone tomorrow.

ON SET AT JINDABYNE 53 Laura Linney arrives in the mountains scenes out of narrative flow means that the post-natal depression that marred named Byron, is on hand to give advice. direct from the Oscars where she’d the framework for what you’re doing is the birth of her first child) and by the In the story Claire comes to the surgery been nominated for her role in Kinsey. broken up. This is a challenge for the murdered girl being indigenous, thus early in the day to have a blood test. She She feels disorientated at first. It’s as if a actors and the crew. It’s easy to feel dis- adding racial tension into the mix. A wants to confirm her pregnancy. Claire tornado sucked her up from the red car- connected from your work. You can be combination of strength and vulnerabil- is tense in this scene, frightened that pet and spat her out in Jindabyne. She lonely one day and yet the next day, feel ity is needed to play her. These qualities the difficulties that followed the birth of finds the wildness of the mountains beau- like everyone you are working with is a Laura easily embodies. Her uncompli- her first child could take place all over tiful but daunting. The animals, strange member of your extended family. One cated beauty comes from within. She’s again. It’s not the most difficult scene and intimidating. Her pale blonde hair feeling does not discount the other. a strong-willed, intensely private person, for Laura but a certain amount of emo- and soft skin make her seem too delicate but also passionate. She likes to have tional intensity is required. • • • • for the bright Australian light. She looks fun. A lot of my relatives come from the radiant. Almost too radiant. Ray insists Claire from the Carver story has south, she says, when she first visits the Jamie Crooks realises that Laura needs she has her hair dyed a dirty brown for emerged, in Jindabyne, as a complex house that will be her character’s home, a concentrated environment. He plays the role of Claire. woman. Forthright, with a desire to do and proceeds to delight cast and crew by tough cop to Ray’s soft cop. He walks the right thing, not only by her fam- mimicking the accents of various aunts. through the medical centre demanding Film sets are unusual places. Make- ily, but by her community too. She is quiet. He stares people in the eye. believe places. Lots of busy people, lots proud, misguided, generous. Like the Laura’s first day of shooting is on of waiting people. It’s often hard to grasp original Claire, she is disturbed by not Saturday, March 12, straight after ‘Any talking and you’re out,’ he says the essence of what you’re doing. As a knowing what happened at the river, but Yarrangobilly. The location is in the to Ziggy Golden, make-up and hair performer you cling to the script, the her story is further complicated by her Nugget’s Crossing Family Medical supervisor, and her assistant, Kalotina director, the other performers. Shooting falling pregnant (she fears a repeat of Practice. The local doctor, a Jamaican Amperidis.

54 ON SET AT JINDABYNE LAKE JINDABYNE

ON SET AT JINDABYNE 55 Ziggy gives Jamie a haughty look. She’s Jamie says. ‘Is it any different?’ Dave would normally be used, is used. Simon asked Rod before. His reply has always been around sets long enough to know asks. Then he sees a possibility. In this Wilson will turn on a side lamp and that been—you have to learn not to ask. Time how to behave. room the doctor’s desk is flat against the will be it for the lighting department. and patience is what you need. When window not jutting out from it. Without They can’t help but feel rejected. Like the time is right, he has said, you’ll find Ray lopes up and down the narrow cor- prompting he and Jamie sit on the chairs Ziggy, Kalotina and Tina Gordon (the out. But, with filming soon to start, time ridors, adjusting to the confined space. and play out the scene for Ray. Jamie third member of the hair and make-up is running out. And patience is too. plays Claire. Dave, the doctor. team) who have already had a to-do ‘Everyone settle,’ he says. ‘Hush please.’ with Ray about too much make-up on Rod strolls out from the centre and ‘We could shoot it like this,’ Dave says, the actor’s faces, Simon and Stefan are waves to the group. He has on his uni- Ziggy and Kalotina have doused them- pushing an imaginary needle into asked to do less rather than more. form, green pants and vest, crisp white selves in sandalwood and the smell drifts Jamie’s arm. ‘I could get them both in shirt, and green beret with Parks and down to the camera crew who stand shot,’ he adds. ‘And also the blood com- There’s a story about when Moxy, (Robert Wildlife logo on it. His long wavy hair huddled in Consulting Room One, hug- ing out of her arm.’ Moxham), stand-by-props, first worked is tied back. Part of his grey beard is ging the camera that pokes through the with Ray. They were doing a shoot and twisted into a tight curl. His eyes are doorway into Consulting Room Two, the ‘That’s it,’ Ray says. He wants the blood. Moxy cleaned a window for the camera lively. His smile broad. Suddenly he room where the scene is being shot. to shoot through. When Ray saw what frowns. He lifts his arms into the air. Jamie jumps up and strides into the Moxy had done he went berserk. ‘Never Bob Baines is playing the doctor. He and hallway to brief the crew. Ray walks ever do that again,’ Ray said. ‘Why you all looking so anxious?’ he Laura run through their scene. Bob’s a back into Consulting Room Two to talk asks. ‘Relax.’ He suggests they find a little nervous. The scene goes okay but with Laura and Bob. Matty and Marc Sawpit Creek: Time & Patience spot to sit down in the bush. Bob forgets to swab Laura’s arm before Windon have been watching on, waiting On a hot day in late February, just before he puts the needle in. They sort out the for instructions. filming is due to begin, several Heads of There is a silent collective moan. No needle business. ‘Less’ is Ray’s acting Department, along with Ray, Catherine one has time for storytelling. But when note to Bob. Bob shifts down a gear. ‘We’ll need some lighting adjustment,’ and Bea, roll up to Sawpit Creek to Catherine stands up and heads off down Dave Williamson says. He reaches up have a meeting with Rod Mason, the the path with Rod everyone else rises Laura keeps herself in a state of readi- and flicks open the venetian blind. Aboriginal education officer for Parks and reluctantly follows. ness. Even if she stops to chat to the Sunlight filters in. ‘There,’ he says, with and Wildlife who is acting as the indig- crew, or to Ray or Bob, her level of con- a grin. The room is lit. enous advisor on the shoot. Near the end of the film there is a scene centration never completely dissipates, where the family of the murdered girl, but there is a certain lightness to her Outside two members from the lighting The crew sit on logs outside the Parks Susan O’Conner, have a smoking cer- approach. The sense of play is not for- department, the gaffer assistant, Simon and Wildlife Centre, ready to be direct emony in order to see Susan’s spirit off gotten, merely focused. Walsh, and best boy, Stefan Fidirikkos, and businesslike. Although they have into the next life. Stewart and Claire, are not impressed. Their boss, gaffer all the appropriate Parks and Wildlife the story’s two main characters, come to The next run through is great. Bob Simon Wilson, is required on set all the approvals to film in the mountains, this smoking ceremony along with some beams, he is back in business. time and they are meant to be his back- they need Rod to answer a bundle of of the townspeople. up. Only they are discovering that on a questions. Can they film the smoking But Ray fusses about the camera angle. Ray Lawrence film set their back-up is ceremony? Can they film it at the loca- It is important to Ray, Catherine and ‘What about this room?’ he says, walk- more a back-down. On this film only tion Ray has chosen? What does a smoke Bea that they have approval from the ing behind the camera into Consulting natural light is used. If it’s a night scene, stack, from this area, look like? These indigenous communities to film this Room One. ‘Same surgery, same deal,’ in a house, say, then only that light that questions, Ray, Bea and Catherine have scene, and to film at the various loca-

56 ON SET AT JINDABYNE tions in the park. Many different tribes are the shops, the hunting grounds, and lay claim to the mountains but because lower still, are the houses, the campsites. their communities were moved away This is the triangle, he says, drawing it many years ago and members settled in in the ground. When a soul departs this different parts of the country, identify- world it travels over flat plains, across ing the elders responsible for the land deserts, through valleys and woodlands, and getting permission has been diffi- up to these mountains to leap off the tip cult. of the highest peak into the sky. There it becomes a star. The journey of death is As the crew walk along the path Rod ges- a journey to this mountain. Remember tures to the trees on either side of the that, he says. This is a spiritual place. path. ‘Look around you,’ he says, over When you see a falling star, he says, that and over. ‘Think and wonder.’ is a soul coming back to this country to be reborn. Everyone turns to gaze at the trees with their creamy bark and their grey-green As he talks some of those listening relax, leaves and the tiny birds that are skip- like children hearing a story for the first ping from branch to branch. time. And more people find a spot on the ground. Shoulders lose a little of their In a campsite clearing Rod sits down in stiffness. And because Rod’s stories are the shade of a tree. Some of the crew sometimes funny, there is laughter. He perch on the little logs that mark the talks about the government bus always path, a few sit on the ground with Rod. passing by those indigenous people who He tells the group a story from his child- want a lift. And he jokes about how, since hood. It’s about the Hairy Man. If you he is working for Parks and Wildlife, he go where you shouldn’t go this Hairy is now on that government bus. Man will grab you, he says. The Hairy Man is the policeman of the bush. This The sun gets higher in the sky and takes is a young country, Rod says, you are the shade with it. A caravan noisily makes our children. A lot of people think it is its way out of the camping ground. an old country, but for you, it is young. Around us is the bush, he says. I am one Catherine sits opposite Rod. She has of the bush people. I am a traditional a large hat on and a cool white shirt. man. That is why I can speak to you. When Rod stops talking she brings up the matter of the smoking ceremony He tells the group that indigenous and its place in the Jindabyne story. people have lived and shopped and worshipped in these mountains for For indigenous people their stories thousands of years. The high peaks are are not fiction. They are not lies told like a church, he says, then lower down, to reveal the truth. They are the truth. ROD MASON—INDIGENOUS ADVISOR

ON SET AT JINDABYNE 57 Once Ray went to visit a group of indig- like an apostle from the Bible, or an he says, will be something wonderful we But on the drive back to Jindabyne Bea enous elders in Canberra. He told them elder from the Koran. can do together. starts to worry. Rod said, at one of their the story of the film. When he stopped early meetings, that what whitefellas speaking there was silence. Ray was puz- So the use of the smoking ceremony, in Rod and the Department Heads talk needed to learn was the meaning of the zled. Had he offended them? He didn’t a fictional story, is complex. Rod says it further but the two crucial questions word no. So what if the answer they get know. The next day, when people came is possible to get permission, but if they (about whether they have approval from is a no? What if, at the last minute, she up to him and asked when this tragedy were to get permission the smoking the elders to film the smoking ceremony is asked to come up with a new ending had occurred, he realised what had hap- ceremony could not be performed twice. and to film it at the location Ray has to the film? pened. They’d thought he was talking And the stack of sticks that will be burnt chosen) remain unanswered. Rod says about a real event, not a fictional event. cannot be lit twice. This would be disre- an elder from the coast will advise Island Bend spectful. It is a traditional ceremony, he further. The Snowy River is not what it once Later, during the filming, when Leah says, and because the traditional people was. Tom Barry, a tall stout man, Purcell is explaining to some of the from Targungal (the aboriginal name People rise up and trek back to their sun-weathered and cheerful, now runs indigenous extras what they are doing, for Mount Kosciuszko) were moved cars. Everyone is laughing and chat- the newsagency in Jindabyne, but he she uses the word ‘gammon’ to make off the mountain many years ago, the ting. Ray and Bea trail at the back. They used to run cattle through the Snowies. clear to them what is going on. Gammon ceremony hasn’t been performed here comment on the change of mood. Isn’t He remembers a time when a group of is a word from her own community. It for eighty, maybe ninety years. There’s it funny, they say to each other, how we men, out mustering, had to stop riding means pretend but it is not used in rela- a lot of sensitivity around this ceremony, always go away from meetings with Rod, because their horses were acting up. tion to indigenous stories. The Hairy a lot of memories and emotions bound confused but happy. Rod has a way of What was going on? The men didn’t Man is not the indigenous equivalent of up in it, he says. Then suddenly his eyes making people feel that the questions know. They climbed down from their the wicked witch in fairytales, but more light up. To have this ceremony on film, they’ve been asking don’t need answers. saddles. As soon as their feet hit the

58 ON SET AT JINDABYNE ground they understood what was upset- mood. He ambles between the vans, his ting the horses. The ground itself was shoulders slightly hunched, his pale shaking. At first they thought it was an skin ghostly against the tanned skin earthquake. Then they realised, no, not of the crew. The scene of finding the an earthquake, it was the river causing girl’s body is on his mind. He is full of the tremble, the Snowy River. But this emotions he finds difficult to articulate. was before the damming of the Snowy. He talks to ‘making of’ director, Jesse And this was before running cattle Gibson, about how, when his father died, through the Snowies was banned. Now he couldn’t look at his father’s dead body. the power of the river can be seen not in People kept trying to get him to look but the flow of water, but in the enormous he couldn’t. He wanted to remember boulders it once tumbled downstream. his father as he was when he was alive. And, as he thinks about the forthcom- In the filming of Jindabyne the Snowy ing scene, he can’t help but think about River at Island Bend is the setting for these other memories, his thoughts and where the fishermen find the body of feelings all knotted together. the young girl. Stewart is the first to come upon the body. Down by the river, Peter Annison, the greensperson, throws branches across Up at unit base, on the morning of the a large tree trunk that lies in the water, SMOKE STACK shoot, Gabriel Byrne is in a melancholic then begins placing tussocks on the

ON SET AT JINDABYNE 59 banks, set dressing nature with nature. Stewart’s scream and scramble over the Jamie and Ray pull on their wetsuits yet rocks towards the water. One by one the again and wade into the water. Those men stop and stare and then splash for- crew standing on the bank feel an icy ward. There were options left open in breeze coming right off it. Rain starts the script about how to play this scene. to fall and tempers fray. By the time the Would the men be unfazed by the sight crew are setting up to shoot the scene of a dead body? But with these four where Stewart finds Susan’s body every- actors, playing these four men, and with one is chilled to the bone. Gabriel’s haunting cry, there is only one way to play this scene. The four male actors (Gabriel, John, Stelios and Simon) hide behind a rock The daylight starts to fade. The crew while the murdered girl is positioned set up for the final shots. Dave Nichols in the river. Her body drifts in the cur- stands in the water, holding onto the rent. Bumps against a rocky ledge. Such platform that supports the camera, his a desolate image. face grimacing with pain. The cold is unrelenting. Ray sits on a chair, perched Gabriel is guided downstream to the on a rock, shivering. Catherine, sit- spot where filming will begin. He talks ting next to him, stamps her feet. Tony to Ray about Stewart’s reaction to the Tvrdeich, the line producer, huddles dead girl. ‘What are you looking for?’ into his jacket. The three, numbed with he asks. Ray says, ‘Whatever reaction cold, stare at the monitor. ‘Come on, the you have when you first see her, go with light’s going,’ Ray grumbles. They begin that.’ The camera rolls. shooting.

On the monitor Stewart ambles along On the small screen Stewart ties the the riverbank. He spots something in girl’s foot to a branch to stop it drifting the water. At first his look is quizzical. with the current. Carl, Billy and Rocco And then he realises. He stumbles into watch him, the light from their torches the water, pulling off his hat on the way. skimming across the girl’s back. The The stones on the riverbed are slippery. four men look stunned, as though they It’s difficult to wade across. When he hadn’t realised death could be so grim. reaches the girl, he doesn’t know what to do, and he yells out, a yell so haunted, When the camera stops rolling the actors that it echoes up through the valley, find it hard to shake off their heavy chilling the crew, in a way they hadn’t thoughts. The crew feel the strength expected to be chilled. of their emotion. It may be fiction but it feels real. As the light disappears, a They shoot the next part of the scene final shot of Susan’s body drifting in the where Carl, Billy and Rocco, hear water, leaves many in a sombre mood.

60 ON SET AT JINDABYNE • • • • though cast in permanent shadow. It’s a tranquil place but melancholic, and full The next night, they shoot the scene of loss. where Susan’s murderer, Gregory, throws her body into the water. Chris When one of the indigenous elders dis- Haywood is playing Gregory. Tatea covered that this was the location Ray Reilly is playing Susan. I’m just going to had chosen to film the smoking cere- chuck her in like a dog, Chris says to Ray. mony she nodded her head and said she On the monitor Ray watches Gregory understood why. drag Susan’s body from the back of a truck. Gregory treats the body with Catherine, Margot Wilson (the produc- indifference. In this story of loss and tion designer) and Patrick Timmins love there is also disengagement. (one of the runners on the film) are here Sometimes that’s worse than hate, chill- to meet Rod Mason, and an elder from ier. Ray thinks, I’m not cut out for this. the coast who, as Rod has explained, has I’m too old. spiritual and ceremonial connections to the land. The next morning he tells crew mem- bers the story of how Gregory treated Rod and the elder sit on the ground the body of the girl, saying over and with the visitors and perform a welcom- over, I’m not cut out for this, I’m too old, ing ceremony. In a hollowed out log as if he has to cast away the image of the young eucalypt leaves are burnt and the dead body, and of Island Bend, before group breathe in the cleansing smoke. he can get on with the rest of the film. Catherine, Margot and Patrick have ash rubbed on their forehead, and then they Alpine Way: Cultural Clashes rub soil on the back of their hands. Catherine Jarman turns off the Alpine Way and drives down a gravel road When the ceremony is over Catherine towards the Thredbo River. The thick points to the mountains and asks, can bush on either side is a mass of grey and we film them? Yes, says the elder, you green. At the end of the road there is can film them. Catherine asks again, a parking bay. She gets out of her car just to be sure, and the elder says, yes, and walks down to the water. Clumps you are welcome here. Besides, he says, of yellowing tussock grass grow on the if the spirits don’t want you, your film banks. Black Sallies with their oily green won’t turn out. He is laughing. There is trunks straddle a nearby rise. The river a warm feeling among the group. The is wide and curvaceous, like a woman simple ceremony has affected them all. reclining, but recent bushfires have burnt long stretches of the mountain Later, other indigenous elders will raise ISLAND BEND ranges, so much of the land is grey, as questions about this elder from the

ON SET AT JINDABYNE 61 coast. His right to perform a welcom- they do they get it wrong anyhow . these film people the kind of indigni- the following day, is sunny with a slight ing ceremony will be put in doubt. But A few weeks later Colin McDougall, ties they’ve had to suffer. They feel they breeze. Ray gives a speech. Leah Purcell Catherine and Margot, unaware of the the locations manager, takes a Parks should have been consulted months ago, says a few words. The smell of chops and unfolding controversy, are delighted and Wildlife sacred sites advisor to the and they, not Rod, should have chosen sausages barbecuing drifts through the that they are finally being given permis- Thredbo Diggings location. She tells which male elder advised the film crew. air. There is talk and laughter, but when sion from the traditional owners to film him that a tribal war took place up at But they appreciate that at least now the extras hear that they have to be on in this location. Dead Horse Gap, not far from where they can speak to Catherine. set by six am there is a mass exodus. they are, and that all the riverbanks, Before they leave Margot asks the elder from Dead Horse Gap down to Thredbo They say it’s okay for the filming to go Ray and Catherine drop Bea back at her if she can build a pretend stack and get Diggings, would, in actual fact, be burial ahead at the Thredbo Diggings site. But Jindabyne townhouse. It is week six of him to look at it. He says yes, he will grounds. She says this place has stories there are protocols that need to be fol- an eight-week shoot. They’re feeling the come and look at it. that are secret women’s business, stories lowed. There will be a welcoming cer- strain. But tomorrow they will shoot the she can’t relate to Colin, but she tells emony on the day, and that cannot be ‘smoking scene’. They all have a good Yet, although he and Margot are speak- him that it is necessary to get permission filmed, and, because Thredbo Diggings feeling about it. ing the same language, their interpreta- to film at this site from the female elders is a burial ground, all the indigenous tion of words is different. A week later, of the area. extras and actors will have to leave the That night Bea falls asleep content in when he comes to see the stack, he gives site before sunset. the knowledge that she won’t have to Catherine and Margot, and everyone The following weekend Catherine write a new ending to the film. However, else who is present (Ray, Laura, Bea, meets with two women elders, Deanne So, finally, preparations for the film- her contentment is short-lived. and various department heads) a bawl- Davidson and Margaret Dixon. ing of the smoking ceremony scene ing out. This is a real stack, he says. get underway. Several family groups, Thredbo Diggings We’re not cranky with you, the women who have links to the area, arrive from On the morning of April 18, the day Margot and Catherine both flush with say when Catherine sits down to talk various country locations in NSW to be they are to shoot the ‘smoking scene’, colour and the cultural divide cracks with them, we just want to know why extras in the scene. Jindabyne hotels Bea wakes up early, wraps herself in a wide open. you’ve got a coastal man advising on a and motels are full up. Keith Fish, the sarong and walks out onto the balcony smoking ceremony taking place on our caterer, and his assistant, Penny, organ- overlooking Lake Jindabyne. The air is Rod talks with the elder, explains that it land. It’s not right, they say. ise extra staff, extra food, extra cutlery, unexpectedly warm. The water on the is a pretend stack, and the elder calms extra crockery. The unit team drum lake is a rippled blue sheet. Mist drifts down enough to tell the film crew that Catherine is confused. She was of the up extra tables and chairs. Marlay above it forming shapes that echo the the stack should be taller and wider understanding that the elder had a deep McIntosh, Colin McDougall’s assistant, mountains in the distance. Bea can’t because the smoke needs to rise up over knowledge relating to special ceremo- drives down to the Thredbo Diggings help but smile. The weather for the the mountain. nies. He’s only giving technical advice site and warns campers that a crowd will shoot is perfect. on how to build the smoking stack, she soon descend. Rod and the elder leave the meeting feel- explains. Who starts off the smoking Emma Thompson, Catherine and Ray’s ing disconcerted. The crew are unhappy. ceremony, on the day it is to be filmed, On the night before the shoot a barbecue assistant, picks Bea up in a four-wheel Maybe they should never have embarked is up to the indigenous community to is put on to welcome the indigenous drive. She drives out of Jindabyne and on this journey? Are these attempts to decide. extras. Ray, Catherine and Bea are there. up along the Alpine Way heading for get approval from the indigenous com- It’s a cool night. The elderly women are Thredbo Diggings. At a bend in the munity worth the effort? It’s so hard to The women settle back. They’re not anxious about the weather. Will it rain? road, not far on from Crackenback get an answer to anything and when happy but it’s too difficult to explain to No, Catherine says. The forecast, for Resort, wind begins to rock the car.

62 ON SET AT JINDABYNE The smiles fall from their faces. Wind. there is an almighty thwack, and a gust The one thing that could ruin their day. of wind lifts the marquee up and shifts it a metre. Catherine hurries to those By the time they reach the turn off extras sitting at tables and urges them to to Thredbo Diggings, where the unit go outside. This wind is dangerous. It’s trucks are parked, it is clear that this is clear nothing can be shot until it ceases. no ordinary wind. Crew members hold onto their hats and stagger across the Pamela Young, who is playing Susan’s road. Big gusts shoot up from the valley, mother, and Beatrix Christian, find shel- tossing leaves and twigs and dust into ter sitting on the step of John Howard’s the air. When Bea and Emma step from and Stelios Yiakmis’ caravan. the car the full force of the wind slaps them in the face. Pamela says, it’s a good thing, this wind, because it gives everyone a chance to In front of the unit truck the various sort things out. She says the wind is a Heads of Department have gathered. furious female spirit. Only when the They cluster around Ray, beanies pulled spirit is happy will the wind stop blow- down and chins tucked in. We can block ing. Bea looks puzzled. She’s been told the scene through, Ray is saying. Get it’s an old man wind. Pamela wants to prepared for when this wind drops. He know who said that. ‘Some of the men.’ talks quietly and confidently about the Pamela grins. They would say that, she importance of the day, reminds eve- jokes, because they’re men and full of ryone to be patient and respectful to wind! members of the indigenous community. Catherine asks the assistant directors Whether it is an old man angry wind, or to keep everyone in the loop. Both the a female furious wind, is up for inter- female and male elders, she says. pretation, but the general consensus is that the wind is stopping the filming for Most of the crew drive down the gravel a reason. road to the river. A few walk. Dust whips their arms and legs. Their voices are swal- Bea sits with her coat wrapped tightly lowed by the swish of the trees. Closer to around her. She thinks about what the set a marquee has been erected for the elder said to Catherine a few weeks back. extras. Catherine walks into the marquee If the ancestors don’t want you here, the and begins to chat with Dean Freeman, film won’t turn out. And her old fear the film’s indigenous consultant for the returns. Will she be called upon to come northern end of the park. Suddenly the up with a new ending to the film? poles holding the tent together start to rattle. The canvas blows in and out, as if Biwali, young son of Binowee Bayles behind it a big heart is pumping. Then, (one of the actors in the smoking

ON SET AT JINDABYNE 63 ceremony scenes) is playing football with Leah Purcell. Suddenly the wind picks him up and throws him back on the ground. He is small and light but still, it’s a shock to everyone watching.

This wind is relentless.

At midday everyone is moved down the hill to eat lunch in the shelter of a train station. After lunch Ray has another meeting with the Heads of Department. They are all downcast. Looking up at the mountain Ray can see that the wind has dropped. He makes a decision to shoot the scene where Claire arrives at the smoking ceremony. There is a surge of energy from the crew. It’s only a few simple shots but it’s something to do.

The crew set up their equipment in a parking bay near to the river. Waves of dust blow across the road. Behind them a large branch has snapped off a tree. The branch is almost as thick as the trunk and where it was wrenched apart the wood is jagged.

The camera rolls. Laura parks Claire’s car and gets out. Shot over. They go for another take.

Meanwhile Margot, rugged up in a bright red ski jacket, staggers up from the riverbank to talk to Catherine. The wind is worse than ever. She wants to release the art department from the site down by the water. It’s dangerous. Too many branches look ready to snap. THE SMOKING SCENE Catherine agrees. She talks to Glen

64 ON SET AT JINDABYNE Ruehland, health and safety officer on session in Karl Sodersten’s editing suite, two days’ worth of material. Wasn’t the hill to speak to the women. Suddenly, the film, about what to do. Glen suggests unaware that there are difficulties, just wind yesterday enough? Do the elders there is a lot of noise. the decision be collective. Catherine as worrisome as the wind, yet to come. realise how much all this waiting around chats with Dave Nichols, key grip, and costs? He wants to go over to the men A rumour spreads among the crew that asks if he is worried about his staff. Bud Tingwell (who plays the local priest and hurry them along but Margot holds there could be a walkout by some of the in the story) rings his son, who works in him back. You’ll only make it worse, she male extras. Ray paces up and down Dave holds onto his Akubra and looks the Meteorology Department. His son says. They’ll turn on you and tell you to the small path that runs alongside the up at the trees. Every muscle in his face says there was nothing on his screen to butt out. So Jamie waits. The crew wait. river. We’ll shoot with what we’ve got, is tightly clenched. For the moment it’s explain the wind. As far as the bureau is Shoulders start to sag. he says. Bea looks resigned, as though okay, he says, but there is hesitation in concerned it was calm sunny weather up already freeing up her mind to find a his voice. Laura Linney is stoic. So is in the Snowy Mountains. John Howard and Chris Haywood play new ending. Catherine strides back up Dave Williamson. But Ziggy, her white an improvised game of bowls with river the hill to where the men and women • • • • scarf wrapped around her face so only rocks. More aware of the complexity of are in hot debate. She is worried. Really her eyes are visible, says she is scared. The next morning, just as the sun is ris- the issues being discussed they know not worried. She knows that by trimming Really scared. ing, Ray and Bea drive out of Cracken- to make a big deal about what is going some of their expectations Ray can back Resort. The weather is perfect. on. shoot this scene in a day but less than a Catherine calls a halt to the shooting day is asking a lot. Should she take some and sends everyone off to find a safe In double-quick time the camera crew Betty Lucas and Bud Tingwell sit in easy drastic action? Her financial and ethical place to wait. set up. Everyone is in an exuberant chairs beneath a tree and reminisce. In responsibilities are bumping up against mood. If they work fast they’ll get this their lifetime they’ve seen it all. each other. What to do? Back at Crackenback Resort, Ray and scene shot. The main actors are brought Bea use the time to work on the scene. down to the river. The male extras take Up the hill from Betty and Bud, Deanne Iris White, a young but respected mem- They warm up with a couple of vodkas. up their position to one side of the Davidson and Margaret Dixon, the two ber of the indigenous community, walks Later Catherine shows up. Initially they smoke stack. But there is a hold up with acknowledged elders for the Mount over to Catherine. Don’t worry, Iris says, are calm but as the afternoon heads the female extras. They are still up at the Kosciuszko area, realise that their everything is going to be okay, they towards night the cracks start to show. marquee area. The women are voicing wishes are not being understood. It’s need to have this discussion. And then, The three can hardly believe that all their displeasure about the procedure an issue of spiritual importance. They suddenly, everything is okay. their careful planning for filming the for the welcoming ceremony. This whole can’t explain everything to Catherine, smoking ceremony may be blown away issue has finally come to a head and it’s it’s not something that can be easily The men march back down to the by the wind. It is financially impossible a matter that needs to be discussed by spoken about, but they can insist that river. And the women follow. And the to reschedule. These are two of the most the elders of the several different indig- their wishes be respected. Deanne tells welcoming ceremony begins. As previ- expensive days in the entire shoot. Plus enous groups represented on set. Catherine that the only solution is to get ously agreed, this cannot be filmed . it has been a logistical nightmare. If the the indigenous women and indigenous wind is like this tomorrow they are in Rod Mason goes to talk to the men. men together. Dry leaves are burnt and the smell of serious trouble. Catherine Jarman goes to talk with the eucalypt, heady and sweet, fills the air, women. The talking goes on for a long Catherine walks down to the set. She and the chanting of the people chases By the time night arrives, they are time. The crew wait. tells Jamie and Ray what is going on. away all the built up tension and anxiety, calm again. They’ll find a way through. They all talk to Rod. Rod talks to the chases away the bad moods and the wor- Instinct tells them to keep the schedule Jamie Crooks gets anxious. He can’t indigenous men standing near the stack. ried thoughts. Sunlight streams down for tomorrow as is. They head off for a believe it. They have one day to shoot Then, the indigenous men tramp up the through the smoke, and everything

ON SET AT JINDABYNE 65 CATHERINE JARMAN, RAY LAWRENCE & CREW

66 ON SET AT JINDABYNE wavers, so that even the mountains seem as soon as they found her. Susan’s father, that?’ Ray asks. No one knows. ‘Did you to be swaying. And then a female voice played by Kevin Smith, shames Stewart tell him?’ Ray asks Bea. ‘No,’ Bea says, cries out and the ceremony is over. by throwing dust in his face. They block a look of surprise on her face because through this part of the scene. doesn’t Ray know that she would never The crew move quickly now but there tell an actor what to do. is no sense of rush. No panic. Ray talks Stelios Yiakmis is adamant that his char- to the elders who are playing extras in acter, Rocco, should apologise too. He The sound and camera crew are the scene. He laughs and jokes as he has said to Ray and Bea, several times, miffed. We weren’t told, they keep explains what they need to do. Leah is that Rocco doesn’t want Stewart apolo- on saying, feeling like they’ve missed with him, translating to the extras when gising for him. But Ray and Bea have said something. And out of the confusion instructions are not understood, her no, it’s only Stewart who apologises. So it is discovered that Stelios had made eyes and face shining. The cameras roll. after the block through, Stelios decides, the decision on his own. A child cries. Rosellas flit through the or maybe Rocco decides, that no matter trees. what, Rocco is going to apologise. Ray shakes his head, but moves on to the next shot. There’s no time to worry They shoot the scenes of shaming, cam- The cameras roll. Stewart has dust about it. Besides, it’s just the type of eras pointed on the men’s side of the thrown in his eyes. Rocco crosses over to thing Stelios would do, one of his pecu- sorry camp. In this part of the scene Susan’s father and says, I’m sorry. liarities, and it’s the peculiarities that Stewart Kane goes to the father of Susan make us human, and isn’t that what this O’Conner to apologise for not bringing The cameras stop rolling. Ray looks film is about? Susan’s body down from the mountain around confused. ‘Who told him to do

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