Aussie director James Wan scares up a record-breaking weekend in the US with Insidious 2

Rose Byrne returns for horror sequel Insidious: Chapter 2 Source: Supplied

 

Vicky Roach, The Daily Telegraph, reports

Insidious: Chapter 2 topped the US box office over the weekend, earning Australian director James Wan a place in the history books.

Opening on Friday the 13th, the horror sequel took an impressive $US41 million, scaring the pants off its nearest competitor (The Family, with Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer, with an estimated tally of $US15 million).

Wan's The Conjuring also upset industry expectations when it took $US41.9 million in its July opening weekend.

This makes the Saw co-creator only the second director ever to have two films opening with more than $US40 million in the same year, according to the respected US site Box Office Mojo.

The Wachowski brothers managed a similar feat in 2003 with The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, but there were two of them.

Starring Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson, Insidious 2 tripled its 2010 predecessor's $US13.3 million opening.

The horror sequel, which reportedly had a budget of $US5 million, releases in Australia on November 7.

Wan is currently in Atlanta filming Fast and Furious 7, the next instalment in the hugely successful high-octane action franchise staring Vin Diesel and Jason Statham.

He and Saw co-creator Leigh Whannell attended RMIT together in Melbourne.

The long-time collaborators (Whannell wrote the screenplay for Insidious 2) initially tried to make their breakthrough 2004 film in Australia.

"We really gave it a shot - we spent a year to two years trying to get financing for Saw in Australia and we just couldn't get it off the ground,'' he recalled in an interview with News Corp Australia in July.

The low-budget horror film went on to spawn a hugely successful franchise that has more than $US873 million at the box office worldwide.

Malaysian-born Wan admits to having a healthy respect for the supernatural.

"I was raised with a pretty strict Christian upbringing but coming from an Asian background as well I grew up with a lot of ghost stories and superstition. So from a very young age I was subjected to this world and very much fascinated by it."

Whannell recently collaborated with Angus Samson on Australian crime thriller The Mule, starring Hugo Weaving,

Wan told News Corp Australia that he, too, was keen to return to Australia to work.

"I would love to take a project back to Melbourne. All my family is in Perth so they have been wanting me to shoot something in Western Australia.

"I have been talking to Vin Diesel quite a bit recently and we were talking about Coober Pedy where he shot Pitch Black."

Films are fun for Rose Byrne

Rose Byrne enjoys a comedic turn or two. Picture: Chris Pavlich Source: National Features

The Daily Telegraph reports

Rose Byrne is set to flex her comedic chops once again, with the stunning Aussie set to star opposite Saturday Night Live alumnus Jason Sudeikis in the upcoming rom-com Tumbletown.

Byrne will play a young widow who falls for a New York writer, played by Sudeikis, who comes to her hometown in rural Maine to investigate the death of her husband, a folk singer. The production will begin filming in October in Vancouver.

The roles follows standout comedic turns in Bridesmaids and I Give It A Year, with Byrne telling Confidential recently that "it's not how I pictured my career going in the beginning." "I'm enjoying it though," she said of her "funny lady" status.

Cowell gives ex a dressing down

 Rose Byrne arrives at the Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in her jumpsuit. Source: AP

The Daily Telegraph reports

Brendan Cowell has made a veiled attack on ex-girlfriend, Hollywood star Rose Byrne.

The actor and director looks to have given a backhanded swipe to Byrne in a magazine interview.

Byrne's love of a jumpsuit is no secret, with the Aussie actress often sporting them on the red carpet.

"I'm not into the jumpsuit," Cowell told InStyle when asked what he liked to see on a woman.

Byrne famously divided fashionistas with a white jumpsuit at the 2012 SAG Awards. "I don't think it supports the female form," Cowell said.

"I don't know what the statement is behind it but I'm not reading it. I've had chats with a few of my mates about it and there's a common confusion."

Cowell and Byrne were together for several years before splitting in 2010.

Of love more generally, Cowell said: "I'm really romantic, I always have been. Love is a rare feeling and if you're lucky enough to have it, then you should do as much as you can with it."

Rose Byrne looking good after long flight from LA

Actress Rose Byrne arrives in Sydney on flight QF12 from LA. Picture: John Grainger Source: The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph reports

What a difference 12 hours makes.

Aussie actress of the moment Rose Byrne walked the red carpet in Sydney's George St last night looking somewhat more glam than when she arrived at Sydney Airport earlier in the day, (although Confidential thinks she looked pretty darn good both times).

"I don't think I looked too bad considering I just got off a long flight from the US," Byrne chuckled to Confidential on last night's red carpet.

The Aussie stunner was in town to help premiere her new flick I Give It A Year, which also co-stars fellow Aussie Simon Baker as well as US funny lady Anna Faris. But it was left to Byrne to fly the flag last night just 48 hours after toasting all things Australian at the G'Day USA awards in Los Angeles.

I Give It A Year is the latest in a string of comedies for the Bridesmaids star who will also soon be seen in the much-anticipated Will Ferrell comedy Interns, which is about two men in their 40s trying to make it as interns at a successful internet company run by managers in their 20s.

"It's not how I pictured my career going in the beginning," Byrne said last night of her new status in Hollywood as a go-to lady of comedy.

"I'm enjoying it though, but it's not easy. It's a lot harder than it looks."

Naturally, Confidential inquired about Byrne's new boyfriend, Boardwalk Empire star Bobby Cannavale, whom Byrne has reportedly been dating for several months.

"I think I might have to pass on that one," a sheepish Byrne said when asked if she gave her new relationship "more than a year".

Rose Byrne signs autographs for fans at the premiere of 'I Give It A Year' at Event Cinemas, George Street. Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images Source: Getty Images

Byrne off singles circuit

Actress Rose Byrne in Hollywood. Picture: Dan Steinberg, AP Source: AP

The Daily Telegraph reports

After years on the singles circuit (and publicly denying any romantic interests) Aussie actress-extraordinaire Rose Byrne is in a relationship with one of Hollywood's hottest actors.

The Damages beauty has gone public with Boardwalk Empire star Bobby Cannavale who plays blood-thirsty psycho killer Gyp Rosetti in the cable gangster series.

The unlikely duo arrived together to a screening of Brad Pitt's new crime movie Killing Them Softly - directed by Aussie Andrew Dominik - in New York recently and later snuggled up in a booth at the after-party. It's understood she and Cannavale have been quietly dating for several months.

Prior to their courtship, Cannavale, 42, was married to actress and screenwriter Jenny Lumet before they split in 2003. The have a son, Jake, 17. After their divorce, he dated actresses Annabella Sciorra, Alison Pill and Sutton Foster while Byrne most-famously dated Aussie actor and director Brendan Cowell before their high profile break-up in early 2010.

She had previously dated writer/director Gregor Jordan (who directed her in Two Hands) but has been largely single since her split from Cowell.

Danielle Spencer to make debut as a single woman at Melbourne Cup's Birdcage

Danielle Spencer. Picture: Rohan Kelly. Source: The Daily Telegraph

Amy Harris and Joel Christie, The Daily Telegraph, report

Newly-separated Danielle Spencer is set to make her debut as a singleton in Melbourne next week, with the singer and mum-of-two understood to be eyeing an appearance at the Melbourne Cup's famed Birdcage during the Spring Carnival.

It will come almost a month after her appearance at Royal Randwick's Super Saturday - two days prior to news of her marriage breakdown going public. At the time onlookers said Spencer looked "uneasy" and kept to herself on the day.

Her appearance as a newly-single woman will no-doubt be a major media drawcard in Melbourne.

The petite blonde will join a stellar cast of celebrities at the Cup, which is shaping up to become to the biggest Spring Carnival in years.

Among the social elite confirmed to attend are actresses Nicole Kidman, Kim Cattrall, Rose Byrne, Ashley Madekwe, Sophie Monk and Carmen Electra.

Racing enthusiasts Prince Charles and Camilla will also present the Melbourne Cup to the winner on the day.

Charles will also celebrate his 64th birthday while travelling Down Under.

The festivities look set to be Spencer's first major appearance since news of her split from Russell Crowe which made international headlines and instantly shone the spotlight on her former Dancing With The Stars partner Damian Whitewood who, in turn, denied any involvement.

Spencer is yet to comment on her separation from Crowe and neither she nor the Gladiator star have been linked to a third party, with Spencer seen only with a female pal in the wake of the break-up. Crowe's only response has been made via his Twitter page, with the actor thanking a fan for her message of support.

Most powerful players in Australian film

Joel Edgerton, Actor Photo: Anthony Johnson AWJ

The Sydney Morning Herald reports

Winning awards, financing movies or scoring magazine covers is no longer enough to be a major player in the Australian film industry. Rob Lowing crunched the numbers to discover who the real heavy-hitters are.


1 SAM WORTHINGTON (actor, 3796 points)

Avatar is just the gift that keeps giving. Sam doesn't set the photo agencies alight and his Clash of the Titans was undermined by a ballyhooed sequel Wrath of the Titans and a Raspberry Award nomination for worst ripoff. But solid dramas The Debt and Man on a Ledge helped. And no one seethes as cinematically as our Sam …
Year ahead: steady

2 CHRIS HEMSWORTH (actor, 2540 points)

The 29-year-old went stratospheric because of his roles in 2012's top-grossing film (so far), The Avengers, and also Thor and Snow White and the Huntsman.
Year ahead: up (thanks to sequels to the above).

3 GEOFFREY RUSH (actor, 1540 points)

Rush's combination of box-office gold (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides; The King's Speech) is boosted by a willingness to return home for local gems (Bran Nue Dae; Eye of the Storm).
Year ahead: steady

4 MIA WASIKOWSKA (actor, 1145 points)

The 23-year-old has barely been seen home recently, moving steadily from blockbusters such as Alice in Wonderland to smaller dramas such as Jane Eyre, Albert Nobbs and The Kids are All Right. She's back for the lead in Tracks.
Year ahead: up

5 STUART BEATTIE (writer, director, 1086 points)

The internationally renowned scriptwriter (the man behind the characters in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) made his directorial debut with the AFI Award-winning Tomorrow, When the War Began. Pity about that Razzie for Beattie's G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra script.
Year ahead: up

6 LIAM HEMSWORTH (actor, 823 points)

Chris's little brother scored his own lucrative franchise (The Hunger Games), was anointed into the action-man club (The Expendables 2) and rated ''hotter'' than his brother (photo-agency-wise) thanks to his high-profile romance with Miley Cyrus.
Year ahead: up

7 GUY PEARCE (actor, 621 points)

Film critics like him more than the photographers but Pearce's consummate acting skills shone in Hollywood sci-fi (Prometheus) and Oscar winners (The Hurt Locker,The King's Speech). But he was happy to come home for juicy supporting roles (Animal Kingdom). His latest, Lawless, has already racked up $48 million overseas.
Year ahead: steady

8 ROSE BYRNE (actor, 517 points)

Byrne has barely been home since her Two Hands break-out success and she doesn't rate with most local photo agencies. But she had a monster hit with Hollywood's Bridesmaids and her trashy pop star stole Get Him to the Greek.
Year ahead: steady

9 EMILE SHERMAN (producer, 468 points)

Wins at the Oscars and the BAFTAs (and that worldwide box-office) made the The King's Speech producer our biggest behind-scenes player. He also produced Oranges and Sunshine and his coming projects include the adaptation of Robyn Davidson's desert memoir, Tracks.
Year ahead: up

10 CATE BLANCHETT (actor, 412 points)

No local movies for Cate (but sterling theatre contributions). Her Robin Hood box-office and ''warm'' photo rating keeps her a point above co-star Russell Crowe.
Year ahead: steady

11 RUSSELL CROWE (actor, 411 points)

Just two outings in the past three years (The Next Three Days, Robin Hood) mean Crowe missed the top 10. A lead role (singing?!) in the coming Les Miserables could change that.
Year ahead: up

12 HUGH JACKMAN (actor, 314 points)

Maybe Australia (the movie, not the country) soured photographers' favourite Hugh on coming home. He's spent recent years hosting the Oscars (and rappelling in to help Oprah) and on US fodder such as Real Steel. Next up: Les Miserables and that Wolverine sequel.
Year ahead: steady

13 NICOLE KIDMAN (actor, 284 points)

What the god of movies giveth, he taketh away: Kidman earned big box-office for the woeful Adam Sandler comedy Just Go With It but copped a Razzie nomination. Rabbit Hole's Oscar nomination soothed the pain of another Razzie nom (worst screen couple, alongside Nicolas Cage in Trespass) and iffy box-office for Nine.
Year ahead: steady

14 ABBIE CORNISH (actor, 283 points)

Bright Star earned her raves, that relationship with Ryan Phillippe got her into the mags. Reviled Sucker Punch and Madonna's tepidly received W.E. couldn't dim the lustre of Limitless's worldwide take.
Year ahead: steady

15 JAMES WAN (director-producer) 258 points)

Wan and long-time collaborator Leigh Whannell's Saw movies were (dis)credited with starting the recent glut of torture-porn flicks. Wan clawed back some creative respect with Insidious. The world waits to judge Wan's next, The Conjuring.
Year ahead: down

16 LEIGH WHANNELL (actor-writer 256 points)

Yes, it's true. Thanks to the combination of co-executive producing the Saw franchise, and scripting and acting in housebound horror hit Insidious (starring Rose Byrne), the 35-year-old vaults past better-known peers.
Year ahead: down

17 TERESA PALMER (actor, 239 points)

Solid global box-office for I am Number Four was backed up by a great turn in local flick Wish You Were Here. Now to prove she's not just another pretty blonde …
Year ahead: steady

18 GEORGE MILLER (writer-director, 186 points)

The Happy Feet Two maestro also produced via his renowned company Kennedy Miller Mitchell and both it (and he) stays firmly based in Sydney. If that Mad Max sequel, with The Dark Knight Rises star Tom Hardy, finally unreels …
Year ahead: up

19 NAOMI WATTS (actor, 161 points)

The only name to earn an unequivocal ''hot'' from the photo agencies (especially for pics with husband Liev Schreiber and kids), Watts enjoyed steady returns (and great leading men) with J. Edgar and Fair Game.
Year ahead: up

20 JOEL EDGERTON (actor, 139 points)

The hard-working drama star has had a dream run, with local hits Animal Kingdom and Wish You Were Here, and Hollywood outings Warrior and The Thing. His The Odd Life of Timothy Green just opened to $50 million in the US. Next up: Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby adaptation.
Year ahead: up

THE ONES THAT GOT AWAY …

Baz Luhrmann has been quiet, preparing to unleash The Great Gatsby - so expect him to figure in this list again soon. Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver and Hanna star Eric Bana got pipped at the post, as did up-and-comer Bojana Novakovic (Devil and Burning Man) and Rango voice-star Isla Fisher. And after a few bad years (box-office and press-wise), Mel Gibson scored less than also-rans such as Sanctum's Richard Roxburgh.

HOW WE RATED THEM

We collated our master list of films made and/or released January 2010 to October 2012 from the Screen Australia, Box Office Mojo, Urban Cinefile and IMDb databases, cross-referencing releases with Empire and FilmInk magazines.

For the films' producer(s), director, writer, and five top-billed actors (and we began with a list of 422 names), we awarded two points each per $1 million earned at the Australian box office; one point for each $1 million earned elsewhere in the world (global box office was the telling factor); plus points were also given for major award wins (including Oscars, BAFTAs, AACTAs), major festival appearance and/or prizes (including the Sydney, Cannes, Berlin, Sundance, Venice and Toronto festivals), and magazine covers (sampled 2011-2012 from Who, New Weekly, Empire, FilmInk and so on). Voice animation work also counted.

We asked Sydney photo agencies, including Jamie Fawcett's PhotoNews, to rate our top 40 (hello, Naomi Watts). We awarded bonus points to internationally known ''names'' who returned home (good on you, Guy Pearce) and deducted points for Golden Raspberry Award mentions (sorry, Nicole).

My life changed as Glenn's close friend

Australian actress Rose Byrne. Source: HWT Image Library

Tiffany Bakker, The Sunday Telegraph, reports

When Rose Byrne first met six-time Academy Award-nominee Glenn Close, her co-star in the acclaimed TV series Damages, she was, to put it mildly, scared.

"Glenn is such an icon, so it was hard, initially, to separate that in my mind," Byrne says with a smile.

"I was pretty scared and nervous but that's what my character was feeling as well, so it worked well."

(Later, when I speak to Close, she gleefully sprouts: "I still kind of try to freak Rose out. I try to scare her.") Five years on, though, the women are mates, with Byrne a regular visitor to Close's upstate New York home.

"We get along well and that's not always the case when you do a job, that you become friends as well as colleagues," Byrne says.

Indeed, there's a genuine affection between the pair. Byrne calls Close "Glenny", Close returns the favour, anointing Byrne "Rosie".

When we meet at the luxurious Plaza Hotel on a suffocatingly hot New York day, Byrne is feeling wistful. Damages, where she stars as ambitious lawyer Ellen Parsons, has just wrapped up its fifth and final season.

"It's always bittersweet, you know," Byrne says of the series' end.

"It changed my life completely - professionally and personally."

She's certainly right. Since coming to notice internationally in Damages, Byrne's star has risen exponentially outside of her home country.

She has been nominated for multiple Emmys and a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Ellen, while on the big screen she's starred in the blockbuster X-Men: First Class, the indie hit Adam and the horror flick Insidious.

But it was her unexpected star turns in the comedies Get Him To The Greek and last year's smash Bridesmaids that showcased her impressive comedic talents.

Coming up, she's starring in The Place Beyond The Pines opposite heart-throb Ryan Gosling and the romantic comedy I Give It A Year.

"I think people got used to me in these doomed end-of-the-world roles," says Byrne, who returns home to Sydney this week to be bridesmaid for her best friend.

"I always seem so serious onscreen. It's been nice to have been able to show a different side."

Close adds: "Rosie is just supremely talented.

"She's funny, she's smart, she's beautiful, and she can play anything."

Byrne, who's just turned 33, says: "I've gotten more confidence as I've gotten older. You know you're a hard worker and you can do the best job you can." But in the next breath, she says she still worries about where the next role is coming from.

"I feel like that doesn't really ever leave you. It's just being a freelancer. You're always like, well, OK, that's it. "There are no more jobs. I think it just comes with the territory," she says.

"There's always people coming up behind you. You can count on one hand the number of actresses regularly working over the age of 45."

Byrne says the pressure on women in Hollywood is immense. She says she's not against plastic surgery but hasn't felt the need to go down that path.

"You can understand why women do do it, though," Byrne says.

"There is such a pressure in this industry to look a certain way. It's unfortunate."

Byrne, who is single (she split with Australian actor/writer Brendan Cowell in 2010 after a seven-year relationship), says she intends to stay in New York, the city that's been her home for the past five years.

"I've really enjoyed living in the city because it feels like there's a little more diversity in terms of the people in my life. I've got friends from all walks of life," she says.

"Los Angeles is beautiful, but I suppose, being an actor you just feel that industry presence a little bit more, whereas in New York, I can feel a little bit less involved in 'Hollywood'."

Byrne says she still misses Australia (she grew up in Balmain) but not like she did.

"I miss my friends and family, and I miss just being able to have lunch with my mother, or coffee with my best friend," she says.

"I miss the people more than anything else. I used to be really homesick for more material things like coffee or food, or streets or smells but there comes a point where you just can't be homesick anymore."

For now, though, she's staring at a blank diary and she's excited.

"I've been working non-stop for the past few years, and I'm looking forward

to taking a bit of a break," Byrne says. "Just see what happens next."

She will miss Damages, the show that has helped define her career.

"It's been a big part of my life and I've loved it," Byrne says. "I'm waiting for the post-traumatic stress disorder to set in. I'm sure it will."

Damages airs on Foxtel's new Soho channel from August 23

Rose Byrne set to return to Australia to be bridesmaid for her best friend

Actress Rose Byrne arrives at the 84th Annual Academy Awards in California in February. Picture: Jason Merritt/Getty Images. Source: Getty Images

The Herald Sun reports

In a case of life imitating art, Aussie actor Rose Byrne is returning home to be bridesmaid for her best friend.

The Bridesmaids star said being in the US had made it difficult to fulfil her duty in a fortnight.

"I'm not helping at all," Byrne said on the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon show.

"I'm just like, 'That sounds good', and, 'Anything I can do?' "

The 32-year-old actor said she'd been to plenty of weddings recently, even turning up to one in Sydney on the wrong day.

"I stood there at the church waiting around and then 20 minutes went by, half an hour, no one was there," Byrne said.

"Then I realised I was there on the wrong day - I went a day early to the wedding!"

The brunette beauty recently finished filming the fifth and final season of legal thriller Damages with Hollywood heavyweights Glenn Close and Ryan Phillippe.

Tropfest conquers the Big Apple

Hugh Jackman and Rose Byrne congratulate Josh Leake, winner of Tropfest New York 2012. Photo: Getty Images

The Sydney Morning Herald reports

It all began in a Sydney cafe - now Tropfest has conquered the Big Apple.

In front of a capacity crowd of more than 10,000 people, Tropfest - the world's largest short film festival - has successfully debuted in New York.

The event was held at the city's famed Bryant Park and hosted by Australian actor Hugh Jackman on Saturday, and ended with Josh Leake being named the winner of the inaugural US Tropfest competition.

Leake from Portland, Oregon, claimed the top prize and $US20,000 ($A19,963) for his film about can collectors called Emptys, which was made for a mere $US1300.

He was presented the winner's trophy by Jackman and beat out seven other hopefuls in the competition.

An all-star panel of judges including Aussie actress Rose Byrne, Jennifer Westfeldt, Judah Friedlander, producer Ted Hope and Film Society of Lincoln Center's Scott Foundas deliberated for 15 minutes before rendering their verdict, which Jackman announced shortly before 11pm local time.

The event showcased eight Best of Tropfest films, culled from 20 years of entries from the festival's past in its native Australia. It also featured amazing musical performances by Alexi Murdoch, Doveman and Milagres, as well as DJ sets by DJ Concerned and Yah Supreme who kicked off the evening.

Tropfest was founded by Australian actor and director John Polson 20 years ago. It began with a single $100 short film and an audience of 200 people. Now the festival is attended annually by a live audience of over 150,000 film lovers and hundreds of thousands more watching via its national, live TV broadcast and other platforms.

Tropfest's global expansion has continued with the launch into the US with Tropfest Las Vegas and Tropfest New York. It has also recently started in New Zealand and Arabia, while the launch into other countries such as China and South East Asia are in the planning stages.

All the Way with The Night We Called It a Day (Interview with Peter Clifton)

I had the opportunity to interview film writer, producer and director Peter Clifton (see next post below titled “Missing Easybeats film is ready to roll after 40 years”) several years ago about his involvement in the making of The Night We Called It a Day, the 2003 Aussie movie starring Dennis Hopper, Melanie Griffith, Portia de Rossi, Joel Edgerton and Rose Byrne. 

Here is the report of our encounter…

Picture: imdb.com

All the Way with The Night We Called It a Day

Report by Luke Brighty

Peter Clifton, writer and producer of The Night We Called It a Day, started his project with three words scribbled on a piece of paper ‘Never Say Sorry!’ Everybody at the time was talking about the apology issue, i.e. whether Americans should apologize to the Japanese or whether Australians should apologize to the Aboriginals. That idea fascinated Peter who remembered the story of Frank Sinatra’s tour down under and his refusal to say sorry following a faux pas.

Taking his own experiences as a rock ‘n roll filmmaker in the seventies, Peter developed the character of a rock ‘n roll promoter – a “risky business” kind-of-guy for whom the public would be rooting as he goes out on a limb to land the job as Frank’s promoter after hearing about Sinatra’s plans to tour Australia. “I thought that would create an Australian-American metaphor which always works extremely well in films,” says Clifton. “It’s also got a happy ending as Frank brought his girlfriend Barbara Marx along and proposed to her on the trip.”
 

On being asked how much of the promoter character is based on personal experience, Peter’s eyes light up. “All of it is. I superimposed myself onto the Sinatra thing and recaptured much of the stuff that was going on at the time. I was actually in London in 1974 so I did a lot of research to get all the facts. I went to the main libraries, interviewed all the original protagonists and spoke to all the original participants. Being a journalist and documentary maker I was naturally drawn to the story and true events.”

 

Michael Thomas, the scriptwriter who co-wrote the film, is a dramatist, a humorist and a dialogue expert so he’d keep reminding Peter that the story they were writing wasn’t true. “I’d answer that the story was based upon the truth. So I’d always try to stick with the facts while he’d take us into different dramatic areas. Most of the time he was right, a few times I was. I had the characters and situations by then. It was up to him to make them play.”

 

Peter also created a female character called Audrey, a girl who has been in love with the hero all her life and suddenly ends up working with him. He based her on Audrey Hepburn and got Rose Byrne, an Audrey look-alike, to play her. Joel Edgerton, the promoter, eventually falls in love with her and they pull off the tour together.

 

Peter Clifton not only co-wrote The Night We Called It a Day, he also produced it. He had already made big movies in the pop music world but knew he had to tread carefully with this one. “I knew the most dangerous moment in filmmaking is just before the shoot starts,” he says. “That’s when the money can fall over. So I had to be extremely careful in that area. Dennis Hopper and Melanie Griffith wouldn’t get on an airplane until their fee was paid. They were at the airport with their agents on one line and we were on the phone with the bank on the other. You start with the thought “I’ve got to be mad to do this!” Then you come up with bullet-proof ideas. After that it’s a question of holding onto them by their tails.”

 

A number of scenes didn’t make it into the movie. “You always have fights with the director and financial people about making cuts in a movie,” says Clifton. “They always want a running time of 100 minutes whereas I like to make longer movies. One dropped scene was based on a real happening in a London nightclub. Someone accidentally spilled a flaming Sambucca on a girl’s dress. The flames were leaping up so I leaned across, grabbed her dress and tore it off. She was left standing there in her panties!”

 

“I used that scene to enable Joel Edgerton to meet the character played by Portia de Rossi but it was taken out to save on time and budget which is a shame as it captured the essence of Joel’s character. In the beginning of the movie, as he is driving across the Harbour Bridge, Joel is supposed to stop at the toll and flip the collector double or nothing. I wanted the zing of the coin going up and to see him wink at the toll collector. It was to be a magical moment where he is gambling and you explore his character. I had quite a few of those moments lined up but they convinced me it was holding up the telling of the main story.”

 

“Although I’d learned a long time ago not to screen a movie that hadn’t been completed, we took an unfinished cut to the Cannes film festival. In that version Frank Sinatra didn’t appear for the first twenty minutes and because Joel Edgerton’s character wasn’t lovable enough, you didn’t care about the opening sequences. I remember it being a really hot day. There was a buzz about the movie. We had the best billboard on the whole strip. The screening was packed out with more people than there were seats and then, of course, the air-conditioning had to break down. By the end of the movie there were only thirty or forty people left. It was hopeless. I went back to the chateau where I was staying and rewrote the film. Then I gathered all the financiers and said ‘Look guys. You’ve got to decide whether you’re making a film about a mountain climber or about a mountain. If you’re making a film about the mountain then you’ve got to open the movie with Sinatra.’ Eventually we began with Dennis Hopper doing Sinatra and flashed back to the promoter trying to get him. The audience was captivated from the start.”

 

Luckily, Michael Thomas had flown to Cannes as well so Peter wasn’t alone in his campaign for rewrites.

 

To begin with Peter had called the script Never Say Sorry, a title he now admits didn’t reflect the story well enough. In the meantime, Michael came up with The Night We Called It a Day which everybody thought was a great name. It’s a 1946 Frank Sinatra song that Michael found while going through a Sinatra selection. Peter thinks the American title All the Way more appropriate as the movie is after all about a love story. 

 

The movie didn’t do well in Australia. It was not only screened shortly after being completed which didn’t allow much time for promotion, it also missed the gradual build-up that quality movies usually enjoy. When the film hit 142 Australian cinemas simultaneously in a mass release it was up against The Italian Job, American Pie 2 and other movies with big advertising budgets. The same commercials were airing on Australian television and there was no plan B if the movie happened to hit a brick wall.

Peter remembers voicing his concern when things were taking a turn for the worse. “I said the box office is terrible. What’s plan B?” The reply was, “There isn’t one!” I answered, “But we’ve just spent $11 million and a part of our lives making a movie. We’ve got to have a second plan. They admitted they didn’t have one.” Peter suggested covering the city in posters to build up momentum, but the idea was nixed. 

 

Unhappily, the poster promoting The Night We Called It a Day made no mention of Frank Sinatra. If you weren’t familiar with the movie or the story then the picture of Joel Edgerton holding a cardboard cut-out of Dennis Hopper didn’t mean a thing. To make matters worse, designers had slapped a cancelled sign across the cut-out which confused moviegoers. A lot of people queuing at cinemas would look at the poster, see the cancelled sign and opt for another movie instead.

 

When talking about Dennis Hopper it is obvious that Peter has great admiration for the iconic star. “He is the coolest bloke I’ve ever met,” he says. “We got on so well. We had mutual friends, mutual experiences and just seemed to bond from the moment we met. He did such a good job playing the difficult part of Sinatra.

Melanie Griffith is also an extremely talented woman. She’d want her directions to be made very clearly and also required some changes in the dialogue as there were lines she wasn’t comfortable with. Because Michael wasn’t there for the shoot the director would turn to me for the line changes. Melanie would come up with a quote like “I’ve got a mind for business and a body for sin.” I’d say, “But Melanie, that’s a quote from Working Girl!” She’d reply, “Oh well, nobody will ever remember that.” I’d laugh and say, “’It’s the most memorable line in the movie. You were nominated for an Academy Award. We can’t steal that line!’ So I’d have to go off and think up a new line for her to say.”

Asked about the feedback from the Sinatra side, Peter says that it has been quite positive.

“Nancy Sinatra thought it was sweet and I knew Tina Sinatra from playing tennis with her when I lived in Los Angeles. I told her about it and she thought it was a great idea. Being from the music side of the movie business I knew that we’d have to clear the songs and I realized we’d never get permission from the Sinatra Estate. That’s when I heard about Tom Burlinson and his ability to sing like a young Frank Sinatra. I was relieved to be able to bypass the problem. But because everyone was in such a rush to get the movie out, the album came out two to three weeks after the movie’s release which again didn’t allow for any build-up. The songs were expensive: 10, 15, 20 thousand dollars for some of the big ones. Had Sinatra been singing himself, it could have cost us up to 100 thousand a song. Because we used Elvis Presley’s ‘Tutti Frutti’ in the background as a song played on the radio rather than in the foreground we were allowed to include it and saved a lot of money in the process. I think the soundtrack turned out great. Every song on the album tells a story and was chosen for a reason. Had I the time I would have created a sequence where Rose Byrne cries because she is missing Joel Edgerton. She looks out the window from the apartment in Blues Point Tower and just watches the boats go by. I would have used this wonderful theme on the album called ‘Rod and Audrey’ to complement the scene.”

Peter doesn’t have to say more. Imagination takes flight and we’re suddenly on Sydney’s romantic waterfront, back in 1974.