Interview with “Force of Nature: The Dry 2” Writer/Director Robert Connolly and Author Jane Harper

Full transcript of Interview with “Force of Nature: The Dry 2” Writer/Director Robert Connolly and Author Jane Harper.

0:04KT: Jane and Robert, thank you so much and welcome to the For Your Reference. Lovely to chat to you.

0:09KT: I had a lovely double feature leading up to The Force of Nature, and I'm very excited to the both of you today, because of the nature of How the film is and all of the landscape and that sort of thing. and that's what I'd like to start off with today, you know. I guess to the both of you, Jane, in regards to writing such a gorgeous sort of landscape and Robert being able to translate that into film, now that we're doing it the second did it make it easier?

0:36KT: Even though we're in a different sort of setting, did you guys have together?

0:40Jane: Well, I think for me, I mean, the landscape is such an important part of the books and it really drives the action and the characters and, it was so beautiful to see the way Robert brought it

0:50Jane: to life

0:50Jane: in The Dry and then again, a Force of Nature.

0:53Jane: And I'm really, I think that's a credit to the fact he was willing to go so far out to capture these, these

0:59Jane: locations, you know,

1:00Jane: where they, where they needed to be. Yeah, to

1:02Robert: put the actors in the real places that Jane had written was something I love doing and I think audiences I think we watch so, so many, VFX heavy films that have filmed in studios.

1:17Robert: But I love as a filmmaker, the kind of joy of watching a film that transports me to some. place I've maybe never been. So, you know, reading Jane's wonderful book and after taking people to the Mallee and the Wimmera in The Dry, this time into the subtropical rainforests in the heart of winter in regional Victoria.

1:37Robert: Awesome. Tricky and tough to film in though.

1:40KT: But you get the money shots like you get the

1:43KT: that

1:45KT: I think it adds to the Contemplation that we have Especially in Force of Nature as well and you know even picking up on what you were saying Robert It's so tactile to be able to watch a film that really lives inside of the sort of thing

2:00KT: I understand that, Jane, you were on the set for The Dry.

2:03KT: Were you on the set in some cases for Force of Nature as well?

2:06Jane: Yes, I was actually in The Dry. You me, um,

2:10Jane: acting as a,

2:11KT: as

2:13Jane: a, as a grieving townsperson at

2:15Jane: the funeral

2:16Jane: in The Dry, which was. which was so much fun. I got to go up there and see them in action. It's the first time I'd ever been on a film set.

2:22Jane: I mean, how fantastic to be part of it. And, and I think get a sense of how many people it takes to come together and really make something work like that. so for Force of Nature, like Rob said, it was so remote and it was such a tight cast. Yeah. unfortunately my, my acting career seems to have I didn't get a chance to actually be on screen in this, but I did get to go on set and I, while they were all kind of battling leeches on other days, I, in the lodge and see, some great scenes there.

2:51Jane: So it was once again, really, I think, you know, really wonderful to see them in action and then get to see it, played out on

2:59KT: Yeah, and you know, like professional wailers are a thing, especially in my culture as well, that's what I'm aspiring to be, just go out into the town and start crying.

3:08KT: Um, Robert, in regards to, I guess, the team that you and Eric have, I also saw he had like producer credits as well as second unit director as well. Yeah. What was it like bringing the team back and coming to a different dimension, like a different side of Aaron's

3:25Robert: Oh, look, it's all on Eric, really.

3:29Robert: He, you know, he's one of my close friends, we have an office together, we've been working together for many, many years, over ten years. And there's no there's no you don't have a lead actor who wants to play the role again. He's a producing partner with all of us on the film as well. Yeah. And I think that central dynamic and relationship is fundamental to the success of these films.

3:50Robert: He's just an iconic actor. Yeah. He has great leadership culturally and creatively, but also he's just decent, a decent person. This was tough.

3:59Robert: You know, we were taking actors into very difficult situations and he led from the Um, I. You know, I can't wait to work with him again. And, of course, all the other cast, I think bringing such an amazing ensemble together was the next step.

4:12Robert: You know, Australian audiences love watching films with, you know, iconic Australian actors we haven't seen for ages like Deborra-Lee Furness. Wow. Yeah. But, emerging talent, you know, like Sisi and Lucy.

4:24KT: Wow. I had the opportunity to speak to, um, Sisi and Lucy as well as Robin and they both commended you on your ability to safe a set that, or a director that they as well, that they could play in and be able to work in a way that was true to their performances, so I really commend you for that as well.

4:42Robert: Oh, I'm glad they said that because it was pretty tough. I thought, I thought it'd take them a while to forgive me for what I put them through, but you know, they, they were up for it. They never complained. They, yeah, they lent mad

4:54Robert: adventure it was

4:56KT: Yeah. And I think, you know, in, in the 2020s, audiences do care how the sausage is made.

5:02KT: So it's just so nice to hear that it was made in a lot of love

5:05KT: as well. Right.

5:06KT: Force of Nature is very similar to The Dry in the device of parallels that we explore of different stories, which again, helps to enrich Aaron, as our sort of. Co protagonist in this film. what was it like seeing, I guess the cause we saw you at the premiere.

5:25KT: You looked really glitzy, very glam.

5:30KT: Um, how was it from your point of view, Jane? seeing it come to screen and also the challenge for you to bring it to

5:34KT: screen. Robert,

5:35Jane: I think, I mean, I love seeing it come to screen. I think, you know, I knew the book was in great hands with Robert. I loved The Dry and, it was so, it was so wonderful to see the way readers had embraced movie as well I knew I've known for a long time is this film was going to be as good.

5:49Jane: I knew from, you know, visit to the production office from the script stage. from going out on sets. I mean, so I've relaxed and fully confident in this for, you know, over a year now. It's, you know, and now it's just, it's just exciting to see it out there and see people get a chance to see it and enjoy it and, you know, when someone done such a wonderful job like Robert and his team have done, all you really want to do is, you know, see it, see it out there for,

6:14KT: as well.

6:16KT: Yeah, absolutely.

6:17Robert: Yes, for me, it's my passionate love of going to the cinema, you know, I have since

6:22Robert: I was a little kid. And I think there's a real challenge for filmmakers now because watch such very strong work on a small screen. Absolutely. How do you make works of cinema that you have to sit in the movies?

6:33Robert: We have to shoot them bigger. We have to go into are crazy like this. We have to have incredible massive epic works like Jane's as the foundation of these stories. So for me, it's I'm delighted. That it is now in, you know, coming up Feb 8 in cinemas across Australia, hundreds

6:50Robert: of cinemas.

6:51Robert: Love the promo, very nice. Yeah, I've got to slip that in. And, but, but I do think for me, you know, we are looking at a time where people are going back to the movies again. And so I'm kind of delighted. We had the various strikes last year that kind of delayed some of the marketing of the film. So we waited and we waited with The Dry as And, The, you know, watch this space, but, you know, I think it is, it's a movie, you know, it, speaks to my great love of seeing Australian stories on

7:19Robert: our screens.

7:21KT: Also lovely to meet the both of you.

7:22KT: I'd like to wrap up with our final We finished off our reviews with a recommendation. So what would you pair with Force of Nature as a double feature?

7:30KT: Obviously, you can say The Dry, but if you have any other recommendations

7:34KT: for a double

7:35Jane: Has to be The Dry, doesn't it? I think you could see them back to back. I mean, I've got an idea.

7:42KT: Oh, I'm following you. Where are you going?

7:43Robert: No, no, that it would be interesting to watch them as a pair, but watch Force of Nature first and The Dry as the So, so if you watch Force of Nature. If people haven't seen The Dry, some of your listeners haven't, watch Force of Nature, and then, because it is a standalone film, and then watch The Dry as a film that then fleshes out how the character was That could be a curious flip.

8:08Jane: That's a good idea as well, because it can be viewed as standalones as well, you don't necessarily The Dry to enjoy this movie, so yeah, that

8:14KT: would be a

8:14Jane: cool idea.

8:15KT: That's that creative nature that we love. But Jane and Robert, thank you so much for your time. Yeah. Lovely to share. I really appreciate it.