Matthew Pejkovic from Matt’s Movie Reviews recently interviewed Stuart Beattie and Rachel Hurd-Wood and was kind enough to let me post the transcripts here. Be sure to check out his site!

Stuart’s Interview »

Rachel’s Interview »

Interview with Stuart Beattie

What I love about the film is that it utilises the behind the scenes talent and experience of our industry, but does so on an Australian story with a mostly Australian cast, and an action movie no less. Why doesn’t our industry, which made Max Max, dabble in action and genre filmmaking more often?

I think it’s the money. You’ve got to remember that Mad Max was shot on a shoestring because the story allowed for that. You have a post apocalyptic world, the desert, a couple of cars, and that’s all you need. A film like this is more inside civilisation, so you need streets, and an invading army, and all of that kind of thing. So it was a story that demanded a certain budget. There was no way to pull it off any other way.

So there’s little encouragement in that sense. No one wants to spend all their time writing scripts that will never get made, so we need an industry where there is money to make these kinds of films, to encourage people who want to write them and want to create them.

What was about this project that made you want to do direct for the first time?

I always wanted to direct, which is why I got into writing was to learn how to direct. It was just getting to a point where I felt like I was ready, that I could handle that job. And also just looking for the right thing.

So the fact that Tomorrow… is a recognised title in this country was just icing on the cake. But I loved the story, I loved the characters, I thought that it would make a great movie, it was offered to me and so I pounced on it.

You’ve written screenplays for many great filmmakers. Did you ever seek their advice over the years?

Oh, God yeah! First thing I did was call every director I knew (laughs). I think I must have called about 40 or 50 different directors, real world class guys who were really kind and returned emails, or phone calls, or whatever it was. Just gave me all of these great little hints that you would never get anywhere else, from no film school, no teacher…you just get it from guys who have been working for 30 years on sets. Just great stuff.

Was there a consistent piece of advice?

A lot of them said wear comfortable shoes (laughs). That was a big one. Some were completely contradictory, like “Don’t let the actors veer off the lines”, or “Make sure the actors go off their lines” (laughs). No rehearsals, must rehearse…so you’ve got to deal with it your own way. It’s always good just to kind of hear from these guy, and get their wisdom. Because it’s sitting there and you’re a fool not to take advantage of it.

Many people hold these characters near to their hearts, so casting was essential. Did you have specific actors in mind, or was it just a thing where you opened the floodgates?

It was opening the floodgates. I didn’t really know any young Australian actors, having lived in Hollywood for the last 20 years. The first thing I did was to just go on the internet and find photos of young Australians, whether they were actors or models, I didn’t know who they are but they were just photos.

I didn’t have any preconceptions in the sense of who was on Home & Away, or anything like that. I was just looking at a very clean slate. Here are the actors, who do I think best fit these roles, and searched until we found them.

The film hits some interesting themes, the most interesting the notion of Just War. Is that something which resonated with you in the novel?

Yeah! It’s that whole thing of what do you do when your homes are taken away from you? When is it ok to kill? When is it not? That’s a big part of the book and to me that’s interesting stuff to talk about. Is it ok to kill? Is it not ok to kill? When do we sanction it? When do we not? There are so many double standards out there in the world, so all that stuff is pretty interesting to me. The value of human life is very interesting to me.

They deal with it as a group, which is great. They discuss, it, and they come up with this thing that they all agree on. They see if they can do this one thing, and then it becomes another thing, and another thing. It just all felt very real to me. It was like that in the books, and I wanted to keep that.

The film and the novel make a notion to Australia’s own history, with our nation as it stands the product of an invasion of sorts. Did you find the situations these characters in to be ironic, or was a sort of poetic justice?

Yeah, well it’s not really mentioned in the book. But I felt it was important to bring it up in the film that this was the second invasion of Australia (laughs). That’s why that scene in the alley, where Ellie spots this mural on the wall, I didn’t want to make the film about that. It’s obviously a whole different film about a whole different subject. But I did want to acknowledge it and say that, yes I’m aware of that, and I wanted to tip off our characters that the shoe is on the other foot now, and maybe they can see their own history in a whole new light now.

Once we’re done killing everyone (laughs), and fighting this war maybe that is something we should look at, because you’re definitely right that it is far and wide an ironic thing.

The novel doesn’t reveal the identity of the invading army, yet in the film it seems it is the Chinese. Why was that decision made and did you fear backlash from community leaders?

Well, they’re not from China. We never say where they’re from. It was a very conscious decision not to say who it is, because the story is not about who’s invading Australia, it’s about these characters and what happens to them when their homes are taken away from them.

So the vaguely Asian thing was what we ended up with. We were very careful it wasn’t just any one nation. And the language they speak is all gobilly-goo, different languages played backwards and everything. We worked very hard to make sure it’s not racists, and it’s not saying…they’re just the antagonistic force, which should provide the drama in the story. Sort of like the shark in Jaws, or the aliens in Independence Day. They’re the things out there that are creating the situation which these characters end up caught up in. It’s about the characters first.

That chase sequence was a corker! How do you prepare an action shoot? Do you storyboard?

Yeah. Especially that sequence…the truck chase sequence was written, then it was storyboarded, then my assistant (Rowan Maher) cut together the storyboards into an actual little movie, that we would put music to, dialogue to, and everything. From that we did a CGI pre-visualisation, so we stored it in the computer and did some real time. So it goes form words, to pictures, to pictures cut together, to moving pictures, and then the film.

So it’s a matter of planning and hiring good people. We had an excellent crew.

What directorial gigs do you have coming up?

Well, I would like to take some of my scripts that have been there for a while and make them, now that I can actually make them as a filmmaker. So I would like to make some of those. I love the filmmaking process. I love directing. So I’m reading screenplays, I’m open to directing other peoples screenplays if it comes along. Or I would love to do sequels to this if people come and it makes enough money that they let us do more of these.

Basically I just want to keep directing. If it’s directing my films, great.

The ending of Tomorrow… leaves open the possibility of a sequel. So is there something you have already outlined in your head with where the film could go?

Yeah, vaguely. You can’t help but wondering, but the second you start really writing down things, or investing your soul, you’re just setting yourself up for disappointment. Because the question of sequels is completely out of my hands, out of the company’s hands, and completely in the hands of the audience, whether they come or not.

If they tell me tomorrow that we can I would get right into it, because we all had such a good time, and I would love to see where all these characters would go. They have gone some pretty interesting directions in the other books.

It would be cool if we did have sequels, because I cannot think of an Australian franchise outside of Mad Max.

It’s been a while (laughs). Mad Max was certainly the last good action franchise we had.

Maybe the only franchise we had…

I don’t know…we had the Crocodile Dundee franchise…but yeah, I think you’re right! (laughs) That sounds scary! Well, I would love to change that.

Interview with Rachel Hurd-Wood

Was the book a part of your life growing up?

It was, but by chance because of I was in Australia doing Peter Pan when I was 12, so I read the books because they were a part of tutoring. But I’m not sure if I would have come across them otherwise. So I was very fortunate to know of them through that.

The last time you shot a film in Australia was in 2003 for Peter Pan. What differences have you noticed in the 7 years since you were last here?

That’s a very academic question for someone who knows nothing about the film industry (laughs). I believe there may have been, but I really couldn’t answer that question with any sort of authority, because it’s not something I have kept track of. As an actor I am just hopeless when it comes to these things.

I never know about budgets in films, or anything other than my bit (laughs). I’ll leave the academics to people who know what they are talking about.

Your role was physically demanding. What preparation did you and the cast undergo before filming?

Well, I had to learn the accent for one. We did dirt bike training. We did personal training sessions together, so we were all fit and stuff, so we could run around and all that. And a lot of character work with Stuart (Beattie, writer/director) and the other cast members. Team bonding stuff, paintballing, climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge, that sort of stuff.

Is acting in an action movie something you enjoyed?

More so than I expected. I’m not built for sport, but I really do enjoy the adrenaline of doing all of that kind of stuff. I love riding on a dirt bike. That was so cool! So I really did enjoy that side of it. Before Tomorrow… I’ve only ever done period things we’re I’m in a corset, playing the victim. So it was quite good to do something more kick arse.

Did it feel nice to hang out with a bunch of actors your age, shooting an action film in Sydney?

That was what made the experience, becoming really good friends with the gang. It was amazing to have such great friends off set as well, because for me personally with what I’ve done and being young as well, it has always been the adults who I worked with, and then you go back to your family.

With this I was out here on my own, and my social group were the people I was working with. So it was fortunate for me that they were my age, and amazingly cool people.

Did it appeal to you that while these characters are at war, they are still teenagers and have to deal with the things that comes with adolescence, such as dating etc?

Absolutely, and I think that is what’s really endearing. You’ve got conversations going on about boys between the girls, and all of that teen stuff. Meanwhile there are guns and trucks and all of that kinda stuff around. I think that is what makes it really enjoyable, and places a really wonderful aspect on the film. They keep the balance really good, I think.

The film hits some interesting themes, the most interesting the notion of Just War. Is that something which resonated with you in the novel?

Absolutely. The dilemma of what would you do in that situation…you’ve got that scene where they are sitting around and discussing “Are you in?” Each character has a bit to say about it, and I think it’s interesting in the different viewpoints. You have Fiona saying that she is worried that she’s gonna pack under pressure. Robin saying she doesn’t know whether this is a just cause…you’ve got a bunch of different viewpoints because they are different characters.

It does question the reader, or the viewer of the film what would they do in that particular situation.

And what would you do?

I think that you could never say unless you are faced with the actual situation, but I would like to think that I would react the same as Corrie, and do everything that I could do to defend myself, my friends, and my country.

One thing which the movie points to is the over reliance today’s society, especially the youth, have with technology. Do you believe we have too much of a reliance on the internet and cell phones?

Absolutely. Everyone is obsessed with their phones, iPhones, BlackBerry…I try not to be. When I’m in London I feel a lot more frantic than when I go to the country. My parents live in the country. My uncle lives in Wales, a quite remote place. So I love leaving my phone in his house and go off for the day and not worry about it.

That’s why I don’t have an iPhone. I don’t want all these things, I don’t need all these things. If I want to take a picture I will get my camera, you know (laughs). Although having said that I do have my ipod.

Finally September 2 is here and Tomorrow: When The War Began premieres in cinemas across Australia.

When are you seeing it? …how excited are you?!

Be sure to let us know your thoughts here, in the comments section below.

Only a few days until Tomorrow: When The War Began opens officially across Australia!

Several reviews have popped recently, mostly from more impartial reviewers, and I thought I’d share a few of them with you.

Tomorrow: When The War Began by Matt’s Movie Reviews

Character and action blend to make a compelling tale of teens at Just War in Tomorrow, When the War Began.

As a group of friends glance at a crystal clear night sky, a succession of fighter jets from an unknown country pierce through the darkness, filling the air with jet fumes.

It is the thing of nightmares, especially in Australia, the “Lucky Country” which is supposedly immune to the notion of invasion. That delusion is shattered in a surreal scene where an Australian fighter plane is hounded by enemy aircraft and blown out of the sky.

Bearing witness to the impossible are a group of teens of varied ethnicity and faith, played by a talented group of young Aussie actors and one Brit in Rachel Hurd-Wood.

A weekend camping trip at a lush, hidden paradise within the deep bushland that surrounds their country farm community makes them oblivious to the carnage outside, as an invading army of Asian origin (China would be the best guess) has taken their and other communities under siege.

Cut off from the world (internet and mobile connection is kaput) and with nowhere to turn, these little Rambo’s decide to fight back Red Dawn style.

If the premise sounds familiar, that is because Tomorrow, When the War Began is based on the popular series of books written by John Marsden. It has long been a literary favourite for teens all over the world, and with such high expectation it is indeed that much more impressive that this film adaptation delivers.

Driving its success is writer/director Stuart Beattie, who has created a career writing screenplays for the likes of Michael Mann (Collateral) and Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl), and his time in Hollywood has been to the Australian film industry’s benefit.

Finally, a filmmaker has been given the funds and the material to create a genre piece with strong mainstream potential, and Beattie does not drop the ball delivering a well written, and well choreographed action movie with enough adolescent drama to keep things light in between the guerrilla warfare.

Ideas are also paramount, with the concept of Just War resonating through the action and emotions of its characters, who are faced with the implication that to kill is to live, and to defend is to declare war.

There are snags in its execution. Caitlin Stasey is not wholly convincing as Ellie, the leader of the teen troop, with stronger turns found in Phoebe Tonkin’s beauty queen Fiona, and Deniz Akdeniz bad boy Homer.

Also shaky is some of the CGI work that looks like it was still in post production.

Yet as an adaptation of a beloved novel and an action thriller driven by moral and philosophical ideas, Tomorrow, When the War Began is a winner despite some minor stumbles.

The possibility of a sequel is teased at its conclusion. If so, tomorrow will be worth waiting for.

Tomorrow When the War Began, may bring unintended consequences by mountain frog

This film, Tomorrow When the War Began, is the first in an intended series of three films, to be followed by a television series, depending on box office receipts.

It was a substantial investment for an Australian feature film, at $20 million, and its production values are generally excellent. DOP Ben Nott has done a superb job of capturing some of the beauty of Australia’s bush and mountains, alternating with that serenity, the fast paced action sequences, with gun fights, car chases, explosions and general mayhem.

Although there are a number of small technical criticisms I noted, this film still rises way above the average fair, and its 143 minutes duration literally flies past, leaving you a little disappointed for want of more.

I have not read the seven book novel series, written by John Marsden, which the film is based on, so I was seeing the film and judging it on its merits, and I know the youth, in particular, who are familiar with the books, will love the film, as will many older folk who do not know Marsden’s work.

The actors generally put in strong performances; however, there are a few awful character clichés which more than jar, which does disrupt one’s involvement momentarily. I have written a more in depth analysis, which does not contain plot or ending spoilers, but does partly describe some scenes for critical purposes, on my film review site. On other criticisms, some logic and laws of physics have been bent, for dramatic purposes which, in my opinion, detract from the effect.

Realism, if respected on every level, always impresses more. The Hollywood multi-angle multi shot of the same effect is cartoonish and helps to degrade a drama, rather than enhance it. This film does commit some sins, but it is head and shoulders above the usual Hollywood fair, in the action genre.

In closing, I recommend you see this film, for it reveals a, potentially, extremely contentious issue, regarding the invaders, which may have historical socio-political repercussions, more than any other Australian film before it, particularly throughout Asia.

This film will be remembered by many for a number of reasons.

It is definitely worth the price of the ticket!

Tomorrow, When the War Began movie review: on track to become an Aussie classic by Cinetology

Author John Marsden’s Australian invasion novel Tomorrow, When the War Began has been gobbled up like corn chips and adored by teens and young adults since it hit the shelves in the early 90’s.

The book generated record sales, six sequels, endless speculation about the nationality of the invaders (Marsden never named names) and now a slick big screen adaptation from Aussie writer/director Stuart Beattie, who has big budget bona fides as the writer of Michael Mann’s terrific one-night-from-hell LA thriller Collateral and a contributing scribe to Hollywood franchises such as the Pirates of the Caribbean series.

This marks Beattie’s first film as a director. There’s no doubt watching how his words have been shaped into showy multiplex movie’s has taught him some tricks of the trade over the years – particularly how to employ polished cinematography and maintain a cracking pace.

The story tracks a group of high school students from the small town of Wirrawee who go on a week-long camping trip to “Hell” – not the place with flames, pitchforks and Stan Zemanek but a beautiful remote location that looks like something straight out of a shampoo commercial.

Dozens of military planes fly over one night and when the young’uns return to town things have sure taken a turn for the worse: the dogs are dead, mum and dad are nowhere to be seen and the town is eerily silent. It’s been invaded by a foreign power, residents herded into a makeshift concentration camp. A couple of impromptu meeting later these (pimple free) pubescent peeps decide – natch – to grab some munitions and ta-ta take the power back.

For the record: yes, we see the invaders, and they’re obviously Asian. But the question of the invading country is skirted in the film, as it was in the book. When the characters discuss flags and nationalities, one chimes in with “what difference does a flag make?” which is nice way of avoiding the ethnicity elephant in the room.

There was never any mystery as to why the books were so successful. The story was written with Marsden’s unprepossessing style and mingled with elements akin to a high school student’s wet dream – the action-spangled p(l)ot of gold at the end of the elusive “learning can be fun” rainbow. Beattie knew there was never an excuse to make a boring movie.

He also would have known that a key challenge was to get the balance right between story and action, and that involves juggling the inevitable slabs of character exposition without prompting the audience to wriggle in their seats and cry out the cinematic equivalent of “are we there yet?”

Beattie does a sterling job maintaining an upbeat rhythm without dumbing the material down into slabs of inconsequential action. There are countless pace pick me ups: gun fights, explosions, background flashes of wartime activity and encounters with strangers, including a cameo from Colin Friels as a frazzled dentist (“you picked a helluva weekend to go camping!”) and some comedic relief from the town stoner (“either I’ve been smoking some really weird shit or it’s not your typical day in Wirrawee”).

The film looks great and the slick cinematography by Ben Nott (who also shot Daybreakers) is unexpectedly stylistic. For the soundtrack Beattie opts for a top 20 pastiche approach over a strong atmospheric score, using a smattering of popular Aussie songs largely as tools for scene transitions rather than audio nuance, which will irritate some viewers.

There was a clean-cut feel to Marsden’s writing, an uncluttered middle of the road style that feeds into the film – particularly in the dialogue – and probably always had to. However, Beattie’s handling is sassier and edgier than readers of the book will probably expect and he brings more than a hint of the risqué: a snippet of unexpected violence to illustrate in no uncertain terms that war is the stuff of nasty pasties; some spliff tokes from the stoner; a healthy amount of cleavage from the two pretty young female leads, etcetera. Just enough to make young viewers feel as if they’ve seem something slightly irreverent when in fact Tomorrow, When the War Began is ultimately inoffensive entertainment, just like the books.

Beattie nails the tone of the source material, even improves on it, notwithstanding moments when the movie spills into the kind of borderline cheesy hands-on-hips-staring–out-yonder-from-a-cliff-face moments that he spends much of the movie dodging, or attempting to. But Tomorrow, When the War Began will work with its target demographic and then some, and it’s set to join the book as a classic of Australian fiction.

There is one sly touch in which the characters beat the audience to the inevitable comparison between page and screen. The exchange takes place between two girls, one of whom is reading My Brilliant Career. What a horrible indictment on contemporary popular culture that such a literary choice almost breaks realism, but presumably Beattie cared too much about his characters to let them consume Twilight.

“Good book?”
“Better than the movie.”
“Books usually are.”

That’s the sort of self-reflexive wink wink touch that comes from a writer, not a director. It serves as a subtle reminder that Stuart Beattie is now qualified as both.

Right o, I don’t want to spoil the experience for you guys, so I’m going to keep this short and sweet.

On June 16, 2009, Screen Australia announced that John Marsden’s “Tomorrow, When The War Began” was to be made into a film. After a short bout of unintentional girlish squealing, similar to what I’m told is commonly seen throughout Twilight films, I managed to calm myself and began thinking about what this means to the thousands of fans. A story that means so much to so many people was about to be reinvented for the big screen. Many concerns were voiced from fans, and admittedly, I had my own.

Ellie (played by Caitlin Stasey) is Tomorrow’s protagonist. For me, Ellie was what had to be right in the film adaptation, above anything else. It’s her story, and if she wasn’t played right, the film would fall apart. After “officially” waiting since 2004 for a Tomorrow film, my concerns were well and truly quashed, when I saw the film a week ago at its world premiere in Sydney.

Caitlin, we want to hug you.

The chemistry between the cast was outstanding, from the very faithful, perfectly written and delivered dialogue, to the subtle glances and natural reactions between each actor.

The locations were beautiful. The opening shots of Wirrawee and the surrounding land, following Ellie’s camcorder introduction, particularly stuck with me.

Each character is introduced early on, faithfully to how they were in the novel, and what surprised me more than anything throughout the film was how funny certain scenes were. Homer’s (Deniz Akdeniz) introduction in the beginning, where he exits a police station wearing a t-shit with “F#@K THE POLICE” printed on the front, particularly comes to mind. As we know, upon returning from Hell (which was breathtakingly beautiful, needless to say), the group finds their homes deserted, and make their way into town to suss things out. This is the turning point for the film, where the group and the audience are violently thrown into the war.

Stuart Beattie has put a lot of emphasis on giving each character a strong personality. The humour present in the novel has been really accentuated, along with the characters’ transitions into living in a war zone. Several scenes were changed, and several scenes were written from scratch, but it all works. Chris (Andy Ryan) and Robyn (Ashleigh Cummings) have been altered in several ways in the film, as mentioned by John Marsden, but this also works. Chris is uniquely loveable in a way that wasn’t really present in the novel, and Robyn has been given a much more obvious point of normal-life to war-life transition, which was incredibly moving.

Being objective is almost impossible for me, having waited for a Tomorrow film for so long, having had my own ideas on how it should be done, and seeing the ideas of many other people. I did however manage to walk into the cinema with a clear mind, hoping for something good but having no expectations… and I left the cinema jumping. I’ve been buzzing since, and will be seeing Tomorrow: When The War Began many more times, when it’s officially released.

Nick

Tomorrow: When The War Began director Stuart Beattie discusses the ethnicity of the invading country with Encore Magazine.

Writer/director Stuart Beattie says he does not anticipate controversy over the ethnic identity of the invaders in his adaptation of the successful novel Tomorrow When the War Began, and he’s ready and willing to create a trilogy.

“I don’t anticipate it, but if people want to talk about it, they can. That’s what it’s for,” Beattie told Encore.

In the book series – which started with the first volume in 1993 – the invading enemy, their country or ethnicity, is never identified. Author John Marsden has deliberately avoided that question, leading to years of speculation, but in a recent participation on the ABC’s Q&A, he announced that the film adaptation would give the invaders “a definite ethnic identity”. Marsden could not escape a heated debate about Australia’s historical fear of invasion and the fictional work’s potential to “create xenophobia” and the politics associated to the topic.

On Q and A, John Marsden is asked whether the invading nation was intended to represent China.

According to Beattie, who also wrote the script for the film, no countries will be specified, but the ethnicity is just “logical”.

“I don’t want to be a hater of any country – and I don’t want the movie to be about that. If I named a country, it wouldn’t be that book; it would be something else entirely. What the book and the movie are about is these eight teenagers and what happens to them when their country is invaded, not who’s doing it or why.

“The ethnicity just makes common sense. If anyone is going to invade Australia, it’s not going to be Europe, and it’s not going to be Africa. It won’t be Antarctica or New Zealand. It’s going to be someone in Asia. It’s the logical thing. It’s common sense enough for an audience to say ‘ok, that’s who it would be’,” he explained.

Beattie is currently putting the finishing touches on the film, which he’s due to deliver by the end of June for its September 2 release.

“We’re almost 90 percent done. We’re on track, on schedule, on budget, so it’s all going fine, but no matter how well you plan, you always cram it in the end, so it’s a frantic last 10 percent,” said Beattie.

Tomorrow is based on the first of seven books, and has generated a great interest from young audiences in Australia and overseas. It has the potential to become Australia’s first blockbuster – and franchise – aimed at that market.

Omnilab Media – through its production arm Ambience Entertainment – is the main investor in the $25m film, and although the future of the brand depends on the box office success of the first film, Beattie says he’d be willing to commit to a potential series.

“Absolutely. It’s been so much fun, and such a great experience… If they let us do 2 and 3, we’d probably do them together because it would be cheaper and the cast wouldn’t be two years older.

“If they did let us do sequels, I’d absolutely jump in,” said Beattie.

Tomorrow is Beattie’s directorial debut, after a successful writing career in Hollywood, including titles such as Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Collateral and G.I.Joe: the Rise of Cobra.

“I started to feel in the last couple of years that I could direct. I’d been looking for an Australian project to make, because I wanted it to be Australian, but the kind of movies that I want to make are very hard to find.

“In Hollywood they buy titles like Pirates or G.I.Joe, but in Australia it’s very hard to find that, and Tomorrow was a rare combination of great story, great characters and a title that is very well-known. The action/adventure genre is very hard do to here because we don’t have a Hollywood studio machine set up here to finance them, so it’s hard to get them made. I don’t think it’s a matter of the attitude of Australian filmmakers, but a matter of opportunity. We were fortunate to get this one made right,” he said.