| CINTERNATIONAL INTERVIEWS |
|
presents Rob Sitch -- The Castle |
|
The Castle (Miramax in association with Village Roadshow Pictures and Working Dog) has been billed as "this year's Full Monty". The main similarities would be that they are both comic, and that they feature characters who are struggling (triumphantly) against all odds; and that the productions themselves triumphed against bigger Hollywood guns at the boxoffice. The dissimilarities are more striking. While The Full Monty involves an aggregation of buddies, brought together by industrial plant closures and job loss, The Castle reveals the infrastructure of a family already tightly united, spearheaded by the dad, Darryl Kerrigan. Even non-members seem to be integral to the Kerrigan family.
The Castle is a sort of fairy tale from Australia about sticking to one's principles and about how a home is one's castle. The Kerrigan's of Cooloroo are ready to do battle to keep their castle, despite leaky roof, despite being built on a toxic landfill, despite adjacent humming high-power lines and being situated in the landing path of the nearby airport. They must battle against a multi-national company, powerfully connected politically as well as financially, which is bent on acquiring several properties in the area. But these properties are the castles of Kerrigan and friends. The Rob Sitch interview indicates why the familial infra-structure in The Castle rings accurately. The Castle is the brainchild of Sitch, along with Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner, and Jane Kennedy, a foursome who prevail on Australian television. For 3 years they did The Late Show, which Sitch describes as a sort of Saturday Night Live. At the height of its popularity, the team decided to try something different. They now have a popular ensemble show of simple conversation, called The Panel. Sitch explains that there are no special effects, no glamorous studio set. It is the simple art of conversation which people find fascinating. Rob Sitch relates that growing up in Australia, the attitude was that a lawyer was a 'big hitter'. In The Castle, a very smalltime, local lawyer begins the Darryl Kerrigan (Michael Caton plays papa Kerrigan) fight against "the whole of Australia for a 'fair go'."
The Castle was written in two weeks, filmed in 11 days, shot in Super 16mm, and cost between three and four hundred thousand dollars U.S. It took Australia by storm, setting box office records, gathering multiple Australian Film Institute nominations. The fact that The Castle does not have a low-budget look would be partly due to Cilauro's camerawork. Cilauro, one of the team of four who wrote The Castle, holds to a theory regarding framing for comedy. The idea promotes relatively stationary shots which encompass a substantial scene, allowing the dialogue-narrative to proceed, and without fancy effects.
A particularly amusing element emerges through the character of
the older son Steve (Anthony Simcoe), who is compulsively seeking
the ultimate deal in the local Trading Post. Sitch comments about
the familiar obsession to find bargains.
The members of the Kerrigan family seem to be perfectly cast: Anne Tenney (veteran Australian television actor) as Sal
Sitch appreciates narration as a technique which can efficiently further a story. Says Sitch, despite the view that narration is somehow a cop-out, he enjoys it, and its efficiency works for him as he has a short attention span. In the young Dale Kerrigan's narration, the line between fantastical idealisation and heartwarming innocence is blurred as Dale tells of the really warm and conversational visits he has with his brother Wayne (played by Wayne Hope) who is in prison. Dale described their voluble conversations, remarking that they could talk all day. What the viewer sees on screen is a set of more or less monosyllabic exchanges, interspersed with lengthy pauses. In general, the disparity between Dale's narration and what the viewer sees on screen is an occasion for amusing irony. But, as Sitch states about one's relation to circumstances, it's all to do with one's attitude.
Copyright 1998
Cinternational
|
|
|
Kerrigan, the
absolutely sweet, trusting wife/mother; Sophie Lee (Australian super
model) as daughter Tracy Kerrigan who has "graduated from college",
i.e., become a hairdresser; Stephen Curry as Dale Kerrigan, the
younger brother who narrates the tale. There is also Tiriel Mora
as Dennis Denuto, local lawyer who initiates, rather unsuccessfully,
representation of Darryl Kerrigan's case on grounds of "the vibe"
of the constitution; and Charles (Bud) Tingwell (one of Australia's
most prolific actors and directors) as constitutional specialist
Lawrence Hammill who does succeed ultimately on behalf of Darryl
Kerrigan at the lofty level of the Supreme Court.