The Waiting City Q&A
Last Friday night, I was lucky enough to host a question and answer session with Australian stars Joel Edgerton (Animal Kingdom) and Radha Mitchell (Finding Neverland) at the Brisbane premiere of their new movie – The Waiting City.
I have to confess that it’s pretty cool to get such an opportunity. I didn’t really know what to expect but I have to say that they were both really nice people.
We had about 20 minutes to have a drink before the Q&A and we spoke about everything from Dr. Patel (they hadn’t heard of him before so I thought it an opportune time to enlighten them) to an interesting experience Radha had on the set of recent movie (which is a bit too crude to mention in this blog).
I had a quick chat to Joel about Animal Kingdom and whether he knew it would be such a success. He always thought they were making a good movie but yes, not even he could believe how good it was when he saw it for the first time. Must be a great feeling as an actor.
You can view a picture of the three of us outside the cinema by clicking here.
The Q&A was great. It went for almost an hour and the audience (around 200 people) had some interesting questions to ask. It’s not my favourite film of the year but it will get people thinking and generate discussion. The stars then snuck off for an evening of relaxation (I snuck in one more chat with Joel about Acolytes) and then jetted off the next morning. Joel was heading back to the States and Radha was off to visit some friends at Maroochydore (a favourite holiday destination of mine).
What the whole process had me thinking about was the importance of these events for the promotion of small Australian films (well, just about every Australian film is classified as “small” these days).
The Waiting City was shot in late 2008 and premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2009. One of the reasons it has taken so long to reach our own shores was that both Joel and Radha were busy shooting other films. They were waiting until they both had some free time so they could tour Australia and promote the film prior to its release. The first week in July 2010 was the best time they could slot in.
Some films market themselves (aka Twilight). Others need all the help they can get. Brisbane was the last stop on their Australian tour. They had visited a number of capital cities where they had Q&A sessions and numerous radio interviews. Here in Brisbane, they had a chat with Kelly Higgins-Devine on 612ABC a few hours before coming to the premiere. It must be tiring for the stars getting the same questions over and over again but they know the importance of it. A poster in a handful of cinemas won’t get the job done. They have to get out and sell the film.
If it’s good, then you’d like to hope that all the interviews and Q&A sessions will help spread the word. That’s the plan anyway. It doesn’t always work that way. I recently attended a screening of an Australian film where the director was going to be in attendance to answer questions afterwards. Just 10 people showed up for the screening and 5 left as the credits started to roll. I too snuck away. I wasn’t a big fan of the film and I had another one to catch. I did feel sorry for the director though – putting your heart and soul into a movie that no one seems to care about.
Such is the reality of Australian cinema. I’ll continue to support it however and do my best to drum up interest. I’d rather pay to see a mediocre Australian film than a mediocre American one. It’s crucial that our industry remains healthy and with the more films we make, the more chance there is for actors, directors, writers, cinematographers, editors, etc to find their feet and show what they’re made of.
Australian International Movie Convention
In other quick news, the Australian International Movie Convention is coming up soon on the Gold Coast. It kicks off on August 15 and runs for approximately a week. All the major distributors are there trying to sell their upcoming films to cinema owners. I went along briefly for the first time last year (for the premiere of Charlie & Boots) and it was fun to see how the system works.
It promises to be a big convention this year with Tomorrow When The War Began having its Queensland premiere with a big red carpet bash on August 15. Many stars will be there and I’ve organised an interview with director Stuart Beattie (who wrote the script for the Pirates Of The Caribbean movies).
Three days later, Will Ferrell and Mark Whalberg will be there to promote their new film called The Other Guys. I’m not sure who else will be popping by but it should be a pretty big convention this year with these two stars in attendance.
That’s it from me for another week. Inception is out next Thursday (July 22) and the early critic reviews from the States are fantastic. It’s my most anticipated film of the year and the media preview for folks such as myself is on July 21. I can’t wait to tell you all about it!