Just as a follow up to the bit I sent previously about: The
proposition...a film by J. Hillcoat, written by N. Cave
Montois
------ Forwarded Message
> From: JEdesign <
design@alphalink.com.au>
> Reply-To: <
good_son@yahoogroups.com>
> Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 20:46:28 +1000
> To: <
good_son@yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: [good_son] NC interview
>
> Australian Broadcasting Corporation
>
> TV PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT
>
> LOCATION: http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2005/s1476507.htm
>
> Broadcast: 06/10/2005
>
> Here's a Proposition: Nick Cave as a
screenwriter
> Reporter:
>
>
> MAXINE McKEW: In a career spanning decades,
expatriate singer/songwriter
> Nick Cave has never lost his connection with
Australia. Several years ago, the
> brooding artist turned his attention to a different
kind of manuscript, a film
> screenplay set in the Australian outback in the
1880s. By his own admission,
> Nick Cave's script for The Proposition may never
have seen the light of day,
> such is the fickle nature of film industry financing
at the moment. But his
> work was not in vain. The movie opens in cinemas
across Australia today, and
> is already being hailed as the great Australian
western. Mick Bunworth caught
> up with Nick Cave in Melbourne.
>
> MICK BUNWORTH: From howling wild man of alternative
rock in the 1980s to
> soulful dark crooner of the 90s, Nick Cave has
always been an artist with
> plenty to say. But the latest work from Australia's
prolific prodigal son is
> not an album or another novel but his first
screenplay - a western set in
> Australia's unforgiving outback and shot at Winton
in western Queensland. The
> Proposition stars Guy Pearce as Charlie Burns, a
bushranger who is forced to
> make a deal with Ray Winston's police enforcer
Captain Stanley.
>
> FILM - CHARLIE BURNS: You want me to kill me
brother?
>
> FILM - CAPTAIN STANLEY: I want you to kill your
brother.
>
> NICK CAVE: It's reconnected me to Australia. I know
that sounds kind of
> glib, but it actually has. It feels like - even
though this was never the
> intention from my point - it was just to write this
script and do it fast. It
> feels like it's an important film. It just, it
sounds weird for me to be
> saying that, but I feel completely objective about
it. I don't feel it's
> really my film, it's John's film.
>
> MICK BUNWORTH: John is The Proposition's director,
John Hillcoat, who's
> made video clips for Nick Cave and cast the singer
in his 1988 prison drama
> Ghosts of the Civil Dead. Has this been a far more
rewarding experience?
>
> NICK CAVE: Yeah. It's actually been a memorable
experience in the sense
> that I can't remember Ghosts of the Civil Dead
pretty much at all anyway. It's
> - I was much more, obviously much more involved in
The Proposition and my
> relationship with Johnny has become one of great
trust over the years. With
> Ghosts no-one - I certainly didn't know what I was
doing. The acting thing was
> just sort of, there was a big gap in the script and
you sort of go on and
> scream some abuse at somebody.
>
> MICK BUNWORTH: But watching performers of the
calibre of Academy Award
> nominee John Hurt deliver his lines of dialogue gave
Nick Cave a whole new
> appreciation of the actor's craft.
>
> NICK CAVE: Once I'd written the script it was just
this pile of words,
> it didn't really have much - I didn't really kind of
even understand it. It
> was written fast, I think. The actors just brought
so much to this pile of
> words and to me really made sense of it. And the
next kind of big thing was
> when I actually watched the film and I can talk
about the film very
> objectively because I just feel I'm actually a very
small part of this and I
> was able to actually sit and relax and watch
something that I was involved in
> and be able to feel the impact of it.
>
> MICK BUNWORTH: The film has moments of trademark
Nick Cave violence, but
> also great tenderness, particularly between Captain
Stanley and his wife
> Martha, played by Emily Watson. Nick Cave says he
could not have written The
> Proposition in his 20s or 30s when his personal life
was much more erratic.
> Did you ever indulge in the notion that you needed
to lead a nihilistic
> lifestyle in order to be a good writer?
>
> NICK CAVE: No, I didn't. For much of the time I had
no control over the
> nihilistic lifestyle I was living. It wasn't a
choice. I didn't wake up one
> day and think, "Today I'm going to lead a nihilistic
lifestyle." I was
> involved in certain things that influenced my life
to be that kind of way.
>
> MICK BUNWORTH: Do you think that people misinterpret
that or misread
> that about you, that perhaps the wild years, the
years when it's been well
> documented you were using drugs and leading a
certain type of life inspired
> the art?
>
> NICK CAVE: It certainly influenced it, obviously it
influenced it. One
> of the things it influenced about it is it didn't
really develop in the rate
> that it could have, I think. And I didn't get as
much done that I can now.
>
> MICK BUNWORTH: But while his work rate has lifted,
even Nick Cave must
> deal with some of that work being rejected. Take,
for instance, his script for
> Gladiator II which he sent to Hollywood director
Ridley Scott.
>
> NICK CAVE: Well, Russell Crowe rang me up 'cause
he'd read The
> Proposition and really liked it and asked me if I
wanted to write Gladiator II
> and I said I'd give it a shot. I talked to Ridley
Scott about it and the
> upshot really of that is between me, Russell, Ridley
and the wastepaper
> basket.
>
> MICK BUNWORTH: Undeterred, Nick Cave has already
written his next script
> set in the British seaside community of Brighton and
Hove where he lives. As
> for The Proposition, which opens nationally today,
he hopes Australians go to
> see the film with just a little sympathy for their
pioneering forebears.
>
> FILM - HIGH-RANKING OFFICER: What a vile specimen of
humanity, what a
> little piece of filth. Not really the one we're
looking for though, is it,
> captain?
>
> FILM - CAPTAIN STANLEY: In the end, justice will be
done.
>
> FILM - HIGH-RANKING OFFICER: Mmm, justice. Save your
little wisdoms for
> the mob, Stanley.
>
> NICK CAVE: What we were trying to put forward with
The Proposition was a
> society of people that were in a place where they
probably had no right to be
> and watching them being slowly dismantled by the
environment, really.
>
> CAPTAIN STANLEY: I will civilise this
land.
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been
removed]
>
>
>
>
>
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