|
Your new movie Badass Bunyip
- in a few words, what is
it about?
It’s a Christmas movie about two
bogans, Shazza and Dazza, who accidentally choose a sacred Aboriginal site
for their Christmas lunch … and then all hell breaks loose!
We have things that people have
probably never seen before, from Mimi spirits to the spirit of a Kadaicha
man and the ghost of a long dead convict.
The Bunyip is the icing on the cake though.
Now for all of us uninitiated, what even is a Bunyip,
actually, and what inspired you to make a movie about the creature?
A Bunyip is a mythological
creature in Australia. Although
there have been newspaper reports of sightings going way back a couple of
hundred years, it seems that the descriptions have always varied and so
have the stories.
Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper
once wrote –“In 1845 persistent stories and sightings began to emerge
of a huge amphibious creature that dwelled in swamps and creeks and killed
anyone who got too close to the water. But despite never being found, many
still believe evidence points to the Bunyip being real.”
My inspiration for making the film
was that I wanted to make a feature movie that was uniquely Australian.
Other countries have their monsters and the Bunyip is ours.
With Badass Bunyip
being a creature feature, is that a genre you're especially fond of, and
your genre favourites?
I fell in love with the
monster genre with the films that Ray Harryhausen worked on.
I was mesmerised by his stop-start animations and the monsters he
created. After that, I got
into any and every monster film that I could find.
My all-time favourite would be Killer Klowns from Outer
Space.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have the budget to create all the things
they did, from the use of puppets, animatronics and costumes.
We didn't even have the budget for a 1950’s type kaiju film with
actors in suits and miniature cities for them to kick down.
(Other) sources of inspiration
when writing Badass Bunyip? Other sources of
inspiration were the schlocky films of Troma and Ozploitation films.
In particular were the two Barry McKenzie films and Stork.
I went for a bit of the black humour that you see in the Troma, and
the “ocker yobbo” feel of Barry McKenzie and Stork.
Do talk about Badass Bunyip's
brand of humour for a bit!
It’s the type of humour
that makes you laugh, when you just know that you shouldn’t.
Some of it can be very childish but it is always mixed in with
concepts that are deep. I
really differ from other schlock filmmakers due to this.
It might be strange to mix two
approaches that seem to be polar opposites but I’ve always kept the
child within me alive, while continuing to mature and explore the world.
I see the potty style humour as being rebellion, which is the start
of all journeys. Most people
would probably ditch that as they progress, but I can’t say that one
section of the road is more important than another, so I’ve kept it all.
What can you tell us about
the bloody bits in Badass Bunyip, and how were they achieved?
We went for very simple
effects. You would be
surprised at how many big budget movies will still use basic ideas, such
as a sword going through someone actually going between their arm and
body. We’ve also used lots
of fake blood, gory props and digital FX.
This movie isn’t relying on the SFX though. There is no way of
competing with Hollywood on that. I’ve
gone more with my strengths by telling a uniquely Australian story and
giving some insights into our culture.
From
what I know, you started shooting Badass Bunyip
quite some time
ago, but then a certain pandemic got in the way - now in what way has all
of this affected your movie? The pandemic delayed the
reshooting of the main parts by a year.
When we got back to it though, I found myself in a good frame of
mind and rescripted nearly everything that was to be reshot.
You could say that having the downtime and coming back has
improved the film immensely.
Other challenges when
producing Badass Bunyip?
One challenge was that we
really wanted more kills in it and couldn’t get enough extras to kill.
That had nothing to do with the pandemic though.
The biggest though was the little patch of native bushland that we
shot the film in. Despite it
being surrounded by skyscrapers, a busy road, a shopping strip and a
sports stadium, there really is something in there and I grew to loathe
going back each day. Once you are in it, you get eaten
alive by various insects. If
you take a couple of steps out of it, then you are fine again.
I have bites that keep coming up every few months, and this is over
2 years after I first got them. It’s
probably fine to walk through the place quickly but you just can’t spend
hours there without it becoming a problem.
Do talk
about Badass Bunyip's director Gerardo Chierchia for a bit, and
what's your collaboration like?
Gerardo is amazing.
The two of us have both been improving since the first time we
worked together around September 2018.
I usually discuss my ideas with Gerardo and get him the script.
After that, I make suggestions, but he doesn’t have to go with
them because it’s now his turn. After
everything is edited, then we discuss the film again and make any
necessary changes.
On set, Gerardo is quiet and just
gets on with everything. He
usually has pages of notes and knows exactly what he is doing.
If the crew are all his, then most instructions are in Italian
anyway, so the actors just do their thing when he says “action!”
You also play one of the
leads in Badass Bunyip
- so do talk about your character, whad did
you draw upon to bring him to life, and did you write him with yourself in
mind from the get-go? I wrote the character with
me in mind as playing him, but he is nothing like me.
I’ve met many bogans in my life so I was scripting around them.
On the first day of shooting, I was wondering if the look I had on
my face as Dazza was going too far, then I passed a bogan in the street
and realised that he had that exact same look.
I watched the guy for a few minutes and became comfortable that I
did have my bogan character down perfect.
What can you tell us about the
rest of your cast, and why exactly these people? Many of the cast members
are people that I’ve worked with before.
It’s been a long haul in sorting the wheat from the chaff.
The actors I work with regularly feel like my family. When I’ve made films with new actors and none of the regulars, I
sometimes get very sad afterward as though something is missing.
That doesn’t mean that I don’t like working with new actors, but
I have grown very fond of those who have worked on shoot after shoot with
me. A few
words about the shoot as such, and the on-set atmosphere?
The atmosphere was
collaborative. Before and
after shooting any scene, I let everyone who wants to have their say.
It’s nothing like any other set that I’ve been on.
Usually the director is the boss and there is a hierarchy and you
feel a bit like you have entered a gulag.
I’ve found that letting people give their opinions and ideas
usually leads to a better shoot. I
adopted this approach after going on so many other people’s shoots and
deciding that I didn’t like their approach.
The downside though is that there
were occasions in the past where the odd person didn’t understand and
tried to take over a shoot, or just wouldn’t accept the director’s or
producers’ final word. I
always have to be careful with this sort of egalitarian approach to let
people know about it ahead of time and remind them that I am actually the
boss for it to work. I also
have to choose only people that play well with others. If these shoots get bigger though,
I will have to become the commandant and turn it into the usual type of
shoot because you can’t let everyone have their say if you have more
than ten on set. You just
wouldn’t get through the first scene.
The
$64-question of course, when and where will Badass Bunyip
be
released?
|
|
 |
 |
Feeling lucky?
Want to
search
any of my partnershops yourself
for more, better results?
(commissions earned) |
The links below
will take you
just there!!!
|
|
 |
|
I’m putting it out for
free on YouTube. I will
approach cinemas and TV stations and offer it to them for free too.
It will be out in July, so it’s not too far off. Any future projects you'd like to share?
I have two more features
coming out. The first one is Toxic Alien Zombie Babes From Outer Space which is almost finished.
It was done during the lockdown with people and crews from all over
the world. This one is SFX-heavy and will be mind-blowing. It’s
also at around 3 hours long so far, and there is a tiny bit left to shoot.
The second feature is David
Black’s Dark Ditties. It’s
an anthology of 9 of the short films that I’ve worked on with Gerardo.
We shot all the intros for it just before lockdown.
The hosting style is similar to The
Twilight Zone.
We’re only waiting on one effect to be finished for the last
movie, Time Goddess, and then it will be ready to go.
Our SFX guy is almost finished but is currently unwell after having
an operation.
Your/your movie's
website, social media, whatever else?
Most of my films are on
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChNUuG84Sakk7AVSpJ4yTOg
- this is the channel where Badass Bunyip
will premiere
Anything else you're dying to mention and I have merely
forgotten to ask?
Not really, Mike.
We’ve covered a bit here. I
appreciate you taking the time to chat to me.
Thanks
for the interview!
|
amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.de
eThaiCD.com
