Footy Legends
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A STUDY GUIDE BY KATY MARRINER http://www.metromagazine.com.au http://www.theeducationshop.com.au http://www.nfsa.gov.au his study guide to accompany on his high school mates – who are Footy Legends (Khoa Do, 2006), even more lost than he is, drifting Ta Suitcase Films production, has aimlessly in the suburbs, wasting their been written for secondary students. lives – to lend a hand and they agree. It provides information and sugges- The only thing they have ever been tions for learning activities in English, good at is playing footy. The competi- Literature, Media, SOSE, Vietnamese tion could change their lives. and curriculum projects exploring the concepts of family and friendship. As the season unfolds and Yagoona qualify for the finals, Luc struggles to Footy Legends is rated PG and is look after Anne. Anne’s ill-health and ninety minutes in duration. Alison’s decision that she will not be able to vouch for Luc as a suitable Synopsis guardian, force Luc to confront the Footy Legends reality that his sister may be placed in Luc Vu (Anh Do) is a Vietnamese- foster care. isn’t a film about Australian living in Yagoona, a western suburb of Sydney. When the factory he Then the impossible happens, Luc is footy. It’s a film works at closes, Luc is made redun- offered the chance to play with Double about family, dant. Unable to find a new job and Bay. It’s his ticket out of Yagoona and burdened by the expectations of his is sure to satisfy the Department of about friendship, elderly Vietnam War veteran grandad Community Services. All Luc has to about finding (Dao Minh Sinh), Luc does the best he do is walk away from the Yagoona can to look after his eleven-year-old Schooners and play for an opposing a place for yourself sister Anne (Lisa Saggers), who is his team. in the world. It’s responsibility since their mother died. Loyalty proves stronger than a lucra- about realising When social worker Alison Berry tive contract and Luc decides that he’s (Claudia Karvan) warns him that Anne not going to lose anything anymore. broken dreams will be put into a foster home unless Yagoona take to the field and face their and ambitions. he gets a job and proves that he is a fear, a team composed of five of the responsible guardian, Luc becomes greatest rugby league players in the It’s about finding convinced that the only way he will es- history of the game – Bradley Clyde, a way home. tablish some sort of security for himself Cliff Lyons, Gary Larson, Rod Wishart and his family is by winning the Holden and Brett Kenny. It takes guts to claim SCREEN EDUCATION Cup, a rugby league competition with glory but unlike all of the times before, – Khoa Do a first prize of a new Holden ute and a this time the boys from Yagoona don’t contract to appear in advertisements just have promise, they have what it modeling clothes for Lowes. Luc calls takes to win. 2 Background Khoa Do and his brother Anh came Director’s Statement to Australia in the early 1980s as boat people, children of Vietnamese When I was twelve, our family moved to Yagoona, a suburb in Sydney’s west refugees. The family moved about that sits on the Hume Highway. Most people travel past Yagoona when they’re Sydney’s west, following the cheapest on their way somewhere, but not many actually stop here. I guess there’s not rents, until settling in Yagoona when much to do. Yagoona’s only claim to fame was that in the 1970s, the first-ever Khoa and Anh were adolescents. The McDonald’s in Australia was built here (then in the late 1990s, it was one of the brothers both got part-scholarships first McDonald’s to close down). to an exclusive North Shore Catholic school; both got into law and both So with not much to do, we played footy. I joined the Yagoona Twin Willows changed their minds, deciding to pur- rugby league team (we were named after our local pub), and we were the sue careers in the arts. worst team in the competition. We had players who were big, players who were small, players from different ethnic backgrounds, but we had no play- The subject matter of Footy Legends ers with any talent. Every game, we would lose by forty points. But it never is close to the Do brothers’ hearts, stopped us from playing. We were out in the park, day and night, kicking that echoing traces of their own Yagoona football around until all the synthetic came off. We loved our footy. It was upbringing and their dream of play- something we looked forward to, something that brought us together, and ing pro-rugby league. Comedic and most importantly, it was fun. compassionate, the film reflects Khoa’s belief that ‘If you embrace what is And that’s where the idea for Footy Legends came from. Four years ago, whilst unique or special about yourself, you I was making The Finished People, my brother Anh and I were having dinner can do anything.’ one night when we thought – wouldn’t it be great to make a film with footy in it? As we started talking, we realised that while Australia is a sports-mad Khoa Do country, we don’t have many films with sports in [them]. That night, we came director and co-writer up with the concept for the film, and realised that through sports, anything was possible – even for a bunch of lads from Yagoona. There have been so Khoa Do became a volunteer with many real-life stories of the most unlikely teams triumphing, and we knew that Open Family Australia and began if we’d made such a story, set entirely in our world, then it could be something working with at-risk youths in Sydney’s really refreshing and unique in Australian cinema. western suburbs in 1998. He was named Young Vietnamese Australian So we embarked on a journey to make Footy Legends come to life. After com- of the Year in 2001 and Bankstown pleting the first draft, I approached Megan McMurchy to come on board as Young Citizen of the Year in 2002. His producer of the film. I’d met Megan while she was the series producer of SBS’ debut feature The Finished People award-winning Hybrid Life series, for which I wrote the Jane Manning-directed (2003), a gritty, low-budget exploration drama, Delivery Day. From the beginning, I’d always thought that Megan of life on the margins in Cabramatta, would be a great producer to work with. Needless to say, from the first mo- was awarded the Yalumba Independ- ment she read the script, Megan’s commitment to the film has been 100 per ent Spirit Award for a debut feature cent. Over the next two years, the script was written by myself, Anh and Anh’s and Khoa’s role as a director saw him wife, Suzanne. Working with Anh and Suzie was a wonderful process, where nominated for other awards. Khoa Do we knew each other’s strengths and complemented one another – Anh and was named Young Australian of the Suzie were strong in finding authentic moments, editing dialogue and com- Year in 2005 in recognition of his will edy, and I was more experienced in structure and drama. During that time the to inform Australians about issues that script changed, but at its core the main theme of Footy Legends has stayed affect our communities. His leader- the same – that if you believe in yourself, then anything is possible. The world SCREEN EDUCATION ship and compassion were seen as changed during this time, and inadvertently, I think our script changed with it. inspirational. Khoa has just completed another feature film,Missing Water Watching the film now takes me back many years, to days on the football (2009), a story about Vietnamese boat field, days out in the last light of dusk, chasing dreams that seemed so far people partly based on his family’s away. One of my hopes with Footy Legends was to make a film where every experience. kid, from Yagoona to Penrith to Kalgoorlie, will believe that his dreams are possible. 3 – Khoa Do Anh Do co-writer, co-producer and lead actor Anh Do is a writer, actor and stand- up comedian. His television credits are many and varied and his feature film credits includeLittle Fish (Rowan Woods, 2005) and Solo (Morgan O’Neill, 2006). Anh was co-producer of his brother’s debut feature The Finished People. Anh has earned many awards for his achievements as a live . analyse the construction of a Key quotations stand-up comedian. In 1999 he was non-print text and comment on the named Sydney Comedian of the Year ways it represents an interpretation . Compile a list of key quotations in addition to winning the National of ideas and experiences; from Footy Legends. Make sure Green Faces Comedy Competition that the list is revealing of the film’s and the NSW Triple J Raw Comedy . respond to a text both personally plot, themes and characters. Competition. Anh is the only comedian and in detached and critical ways; ever to have won all three awards. He . Use key quotations from Footy appears regularly on popular televi- . use their own written and spoken Legends to generate a discussion sion shows such as Thank God You’re texts to explore concepts and of the film and to complete the Here, Rove Live and The Footy Show.