The creator and cast of new Kiwi flick Second-Hand Wedding discuss the film and its feelgood factor
KEY POINTS:
Second-Hand Wedding is a New Zealand film free of many things: swearing, sex, violence, irony, boogey men, old codgers on motorbikes - though it does rival World's Fastest Indian for the amount of time it spends in garages.
That's because Jill Rose spends much of her time hunting for bargains in garage sales. Her hubby Brian is restoring a Model T Ford in his and Stew, the mechanic boyfriend of their only daughter Cheryl, works in one.
But soon something is rattling the otherwise happy family's rollerdoor. There's conflict, heartache, tears, much haggling over bits of tat and a nuptials in jeporady.
Oh and a cameo by a classic Kiwi crooner.
All of which makes Second-Hand Wedding - the first feature by Paul Murphy, son of director Geoff - a little film with a big heart - one which may well capture a big local audience with its sweet nature, gentle humour and recognisable characters. So what was the thinking behind our next potential homegrown hit? We asked the story's originator, Nick Ward, and the film's leads...
NICK WARD
"Where do you get your ideas?" The question every writer dreads. Not because we get asked it so often but simply because there is no definite answer to it. There is no magical watering hole that only writers have the map to - a place where we can draw fully fledged ideas dripping with characters and plot.
However when it comes to the idea for Second-Hand Wedding the answer is actually very easy. It came from my Mum. You could I guess argue that everything I produce does - in one way or another - come from my Mum, after all she produced me!
It was in a very distant past when I sat down with Lisa Chatfield.
Lisa had produced Scarfies and I had written the movie Stickmen, so we were swapping war stories. Neither of us had created movies we were entirely comfortable taking our parents along to. While both were extremely successful - murdering your flatmate or shagging around pool tables were hardly things Ma and Pa were going to dig. Yes, they were very proud of us, naturally, but we were their children so that was a given.
Lisa said it first:- "Why can't we make movies our parents can see?"
That was what got me started. In a country where we seem to specialise in dark, sobering filmic fare is there really any room for a film that gives you a warm feeling inside? I thought so, and with Lisa's encouragement, I set to it.
So a movie my mother would enjoy?
That's where I started. No violence. No swearing. No gratuitous sex. With none of my usual tricks to fall back on, I decided to write a film not just for Mum but about Mum. My mother is one of the funniest people I know so it came as no surprise that this script really wrote itself. It flew off the page. I mined my family members and our friends, creating a world that was both worryingly familiar and pure fiction at the same stroke.
It was written so quickly and during a time in my life when everything wasn't all that rosy. The script was like a bright light in the darkness for me. Yes, this was it this was the kind of movie I wanted to write from this moment on. A fun movie that brings on tears as well as laughter. A movie about real Kiwis involved in real Kiwi lives. A place where no one pulls a gun on someone or people commit suicide as par for the course.
I was over the moon. I loved it and, what's more, Mum was going to love it. Then something terrible happened.
No one else liked it.
Lisa was busy having a baby so I tried to get other producers interested in my happy little family film. It was rejected by everyone. No one wanted anything to do with it. I got notes from producers along the lines of - "maybe if there was some real family issues, like incest?" or "could one of the characters get cancer?" and so on. The worst one happened when I was sitting in a room surrounded by people and they said, "This script isn't about anything. The stakes aren't high enough." I felt like standing up and shouting, "It's about family! What's wrong with you dead soulless freaks!" But I didn't. I just packed up my script and put it in a drawer - to gather dust.
For the next few years I got on with the business of being a jobbing writer. Adapting books and writing horror movies from other people's ideas. Dabbling in a bit of TV writing. It felt a lot like playing with someone else's toys. It was hard, occasionally rewarding, work but there was no real ownership. After all, they weren't my ideas.
Finally there arrived a knight in shining armour.
Paul Murphy came to me, looking to see if I had any scripts and I handed him Second-Hand Wedding (then called 'Garage Sale') with a cheery "this is the kind of movie I would love to write". And guess what? It was the kind of movie he wanted to direct. But because no one wanted to fund it, Paul found a way to call in every favour he could, he dragged producer Kerry Robins out of retirement (his last movie was Utu), brought producer Nigel Stanford and the wonderful world of rubber money and their viper cameras on board. What's more because I was so busy Linda Niccol took the script and worked it up to second draft doing a job so true and seamless it was hard to see where I finished and she started. Linda also lives across the road from my mum, so she only had to look out the window for further inspiration. The ball started rolling and wouldn't stop. Actors, crew and support flooded in people loved the idea of telling this story. It seemed a lot of people wanted to make a movie for their mum.
This was a movie about family and everyone involved in it is now part of the Rose family.
So with no money and running on the smell of an oily rag, Second-Hand Wedding was completed and shown to the New Zealand Film Commission. Which turned around and gave us the money to finish the post on this film at Peter Jackson's Park Road Post - so now everyone in can come to our little Second-Hand Wedding. A film for every Kiwi and their Mum.
LOWDOWN
What: Second-Hand Wedding, local family drama-comedy set on the Kapiti Coast
Where and when: In cinemas from Thursday May 1
The cast of Second-Hand Wedding on their extraordinarily ordinary roles
Geraldine Brophy who plays Jill, mother of the bride and garage sale fanatic
On her character: The challenge of playing a recognisable fellow citizen is highlighting the commonalities between us all. Playing this is harder than creating a character with eccentricities. You are relying on the banal to engage an audience's attention, make them care about someone they may never have otherwise noticed. She did have a real person upon whom she was based [writer Nick Ward's mother] and to meet the real Jill and talk with her was wonderful and informative.
On the film: Second-Hand Wedding isn't trying to change the world or scream our unique character. It sets out to join us together with many other people, in a common experience.
On her best second-hand purchase: A silver candelabra.
Holly Shanahan who plays Cheryl, daughter and bride-to-be.
On her character: Cheryl is the most Kiwi character I've played. I have to admit, at first I was a little scared as Cheryl just seemed so normal. I wouldn't say I'm not normal, but I'm certainly more "unconventional", so I wondered where the hell I'd get this character from. My sister actually helped a lot, she's planning her wedding at the moment and it all needs to be perfect for her perfect day. So it was really handy to think of her.
On the film: The concept isn't a gimmick to make it a "New Zealand film", it's just a story based on a real New Zealand family with no frills. I liked that about the film, the script wasn't trying to be anything but a story."
On her best second-hand purchase:A big, framed picture of a Lamborghini on a grassy knoll in front of what looks like Rangitoto Island. The sky is bright pink. It is the trashiest most 80s thing
I have ever seen and brilliant becauseof it.
Patrick Wilson who plays Brian, Dad, garage tinkerer and resident tea-brewer
On his character: If you're playing an ordinary, decent type then you have to pare it right to the basics and just let those qualities come through for the viewer, with no underlining. For me, it's finding the flaws that helps me make these characters, hopefully, real and unique.
On the film: The film is about the love of family which sometimes gets taken for granted because they are always there, and how we sometimes get so caught up in the minutiae of life. It's not until some major crisis happens that we suddenly realise what's really important to us.
On his best second-hand purchase: A 'Glenn Miller USAF Tour' sweatshirt, stolen from me by an ex-girlfriend - note the 'ex'.
Ryan O'Kane who plays Stew, mechanic and fiance
On his character: Stew was a pleasure to play. Paul [Murphy, director ] allowed us room to bring a little of ourselves into the role. I come from Dunedin, and grew up with guys like Stew. I am good friends with a couple of guys who have the same values and ideals Stew adheres to.
On the film: It is like Australia's The Castle. The characters in this film are people who we all know. It is also a film about love. It culminates in a wedding - a New Zealand wedding most New Zealanders can identify with on some level.
On his best second-hand purchase: A pair of old cowboy boots which are just quite simply awesome.
