extended shot of the trio at dusk, rising up on the crane towards the sunset over the Mundi Mundi Plain. A 25mm lens makes the three figures look as if they are taking their first steps towards falling off the edge of the world.
All filming during the ‘magic hour’ at sunset by its very nature involves a race against the fading light, and we accelerate towards Menindee Lake to maximise the time available. However prepared one is, those last few minutes before dark are always over too quickly. In this scene the three principals and Bob, who is by now travelling with them, run into a lake they have found, to their astonishment, in the middle of nowhere. There will be a flash of Terence’s wet emerging torso, so while the water-filled condoms he usually wears make an acceptably busty contour in clothing, for this shot we require the real breasts of a Scandinavian backpacker body double — one of six women who auditioned their bosoms for Stephan in the production office.
We finish just as the light goes and drive back to Broken Hill to our next engagement. Stephan, Guntis Sics the sound recordist and I have a date with a local pianist in his loungeroom to record a version of ‘I Don’t Care If The Sun Don’t Shine’ that can be played through most of the following day’s bar scene.
It is the first of two successive days beset with difficulties in Broken Hill bars. At Mario’s — where we shoot the sequence in which our hero(in)es have a confrontation with a tough outback woman Shirl whom Bernadette goes on to beat in a drinking contest — extras keep looking at the camera, sabotaging otherwise good takes, and the smoke keeps dispersing through an open door nobody can locate. June Marie Bennett, who plays Shirl, was the star of the Broken Hill stage production of Hello Dolly and, while she does not much like her outfit of singlet and bra, her particular difficulty is remembering her lines, which Terence writes on a piece of paper, pointing to each one with his fingernail as she delivers it. Stephan and the first assistant director Stuart Freeman are well on their way to a showdown. As a former assistant director, Stephan is rigorously exacting and more splenetic than most if he considers the job is not being done to his satisfaction. In turn, Stuart has worked on more films than the rest of the crew combined and does not relish displays of impatience bordering on public admonitions from an exasperated young director, however talented. They are not getting the best out of each other, and by now are finding it difficult to communicate. Although the customary procedure under these circumstances is to dismiss the less essential person, I will not fire Stuart Freeman. While he works at a slower pace than Stephan would like — and Stephan is invariably ahead of most crew members — he is a seasoned professional whose experience will, I feel, help to navigate us through the difficult days ahead. But the problem needs to be worked through, and I sympathise with both of them. I talk to Stuart after we have finished shooting for the evening, and tell him the areas in which we need to see a change of approach. I am confident we can make it work. We have to .
The following day a hot northerly wind blows up a whirlwind of mineral dust around the All Nations Hotel, and everybody is edgy. The ‘girls’ are inside a trailer being fitted with ridiculous cheerleader outfits of crystal organza and polyester, which will keep falling down as the day goes on. They are to perform a brief routine on the bar-top to Peaches ’n’ Herb’s ‘Shake Your Groove Thing’, interrupted by the arrival of Bob’s Filipino wife Cynthia who, after a few drinks, tends to show up in the pub wearing a catsuit with a zip strategically positionedto permit the firing of ping-pong balls out of her vagina. Julia Cortez, the actress who plays Cynthia so outstandingly, has brought her own costume, a garment so awesome Lizzy and Tim would have had
All filming during the ‘magic hour’ at sunset by its very nature involves a race against the fading light, and we accelerate towards Menindee Lake to maximise the time available. However prepared one is, those last few minutes before dark are always over too quickly. In this scene the three principals and Bob, who is by now travelling with them, run into a lake they have found, to their astonishment, in the middle of nowhere. There will be a flash of Terence’s wet emerging torso, so while the water-filled condoms he usually wears make an acceptably busty contour in clothing, for this shot we require the real breasts of a Scandinavian backpacker body double — one of six women who auditioned their bosoms for Stephan in the production office.
We finish just as the light goes and drive back to Broken Hill to our next engagement. Stephan, Guntis Sics the sound recordist and I have a date with a local pianist in his loungeroom to record a version of ‘I Don’t Care If The Sun Don’t Shine’ that can be played through most of the following day’s bar scene.
It is the first of two successive days beset with difficulties in Broken Hill bars. At Mario’s — where we shoot the sequence in which our hero(in)es have a confrontation with a tough outback woman Shirl whom Bernadette goes on to beat in a drinking contest — extras keep looking at the camera, sabotaging otherwise good takes, and the smoke keeps dispersing through an open door nobody can locate. June Marie Bennett, who plays Shirl, was the star of the Broken Hill stage production of Hello Dolly and, while she does not much like her outfit of singlet and bra, her particular difficulty is remembering her lines, which Terence writes on a piece of paper, pointing to each one with his fingernail as she delivers it. Stephan and the first assistant director Stuart Freeman are well on their way to a showdown. As a former assistant director, Stephan is rigorously exacting and more splenetic than most if he considers the job is not being done to his satisfaction. In turn, Stuart has worked on more films than the rest of the crew combined and does not relish displays of impatience bordering on public admonitions from an exasperated young director, however talented. They are not getting the best out of each other, and by now are finding it difficult to communicate. Although the customary procedure under these circumstances is to dismiss the less essential person, I will not fire Stuart Freeman. While he works at a slower pace than Stephan would like — and Stephan is invariably ahead of most crew members — he is a seasoned professional whose experience will, I feel, help to navigate us through the difficult days ahead. But the problem needs to be worked through, and I sympathise with both of them. I talk to Stuart after we have finished shooting for the evening, and tell him the areas in which we need to see a change of approach. I am confident we can make it work. We have to .
The following day a hot northerly wind blows up a whirlwind of mineral dust around the All Nations Hotel, and everybody is edgy. The ‘girls’ are inside a trailer being fitted with ridiculous cheerleader outfits of crystal organza and polyester, which will keep falling down as the day goes on. They are to perform a brief routine on the bar-top to Peaches ’n’ Herb’s ‘Shake Your Groove Thing’, interrupted by the arrival of Bob’s Filipino wife Cynthia who, after a few drinks, tends to show up in the pub wearing a catsuit with a zip strategically positionedto permit the firing of ping-pong balls out of her vagina. Julia Cortez, the actress who plays Cynthia so outstandingly, has brought her own costume, a garment so awesome Lizzy and Tim would have had
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