10 March 2005
MEDIA RELEASE
SOMERSAULT LEAPS INTO THE UK
Cate
Shortland's feature debut SOMERSAULT opened last weekend
in the UK, scoring the second highest screen average of any new
film on British screens that week.
The film's producer, Anthony Anderson, said he is very pleased
with the result. "The UK is a tough market to crack, with
so many new films arriving each week. It outperformed new Hollywood
films such as Kinsey opening at the same time. The UK distributor,
Metrodome, have handled this film with great care, ensuring it
stands out"
It is No 8 of all films screening in London's West End, just
behind Million Dollar Baby. In it's first 3 days in Britain, Somersault
has taken £42,802 (AUD$104,000) at the box office.
As well as a strong presence of posters on the London underground,
the film received mainly strong reviews, especially from Time
Out - Film of the Week; Sunday Times "evocative
and honest"; Daily Express "acutely observed
and well acted, [it] gets under the skin and haunts the memory";
Mail on Sunday "Shortland's film is great"; Daily
Star "Abbie Cornish is clearly headed for stardom";
the FT "Shortland gives us an Australia we have
never seen before"; and the Evening Standard "well-written,
well-played and full of atmosphere … a highly promising first
film and we are certain to hear more of both Shortland and Cornish".
The Sunday Observer said "The performances are
uniformly good … and the film is presumably intended as an
antidote to the false bonhomie of life in Neighbours's Ramsey
Street."
Director Cate Shortland attended a gala opening of the film at
The Barbican Centre in London.
Somersault, which won 13 AFI awards, has also been invited to
screen later this month at New York's prestigious New Directors,
New Films festival, prior to its US release in September. The
film won the Angel Award at the Edinburgh Film Festival, and has
recently collected trophies at Miami International Film Festival
and the Ljubljana International Film Festival in Slovenia.
For further information :
Anthony Anderson, Red Carpet Productions
info@redcarpetfilms.com.au
SYDNEY
MORNING HERALD REVIEW 10th September 2004
Director Cate Shortland has been shepherding Somersault
through the international film festival circuit since May. The
haunting Australian drama premiered at Cannes, then screened in
Sydney, Melbourne and Edinburgh. Next up are Toronto, Vancouver
and Tokyo.
Such recognition shows the Bondi filmmaker's first feature, which
stars rising actress Abbie Cornish as a 16-year-old learning some
tough lessons about love in a snowfields service town, has struck
a chord.
The vulnerable heroine's confusion between sex and intimacy has
moved audiences.
Viewers have often been just as impressed by the film's evocative
wintry feel and the intense performances of Cornish and Sam Worthington
(Gettin' Square).
For a country that regularly features outback landscapes in its
films, Somersault is rare in that it is mostly set in Jindabyne.
For a country that has produced a series of often parochial comedies
recently, it's a risky and heartfelt drama.
"It's been amazing because I've met such good people,"
Shortland says of the film's festival life.
"Edinburgh was really good because I got to see some films
and met people from all over the world. And went to some good
parties."
The writer-director says she has become less anxious as the film
is seen by more people.
"When I went to Cannes, I still was really attached to the
film," she says. "It really felt like a part of me.
Whereas now I can watch it and appreciate the audience a bit more;
I'm not just freaking out about the film."
Shortland says that wherever Somersault has screened the audience
has responded to the two central characters, Heidi (Cornish) and
Joe (Worthington), and asked questions about their lives after
the film.
"They were really intrigued about that relationship and
those two people," she says. "Also, people have really
responded to the whole look of the film - that it was shot in
the Snowy Mountains. They didn't know that Australia had [that
type of] country."
The real test will come when Somersault hits Australian cinemas
on Thursday. Shortland hopes the buzz has not created the expectation
that it will save the struggling domestic film industry.
"We just wanted to make a beautiful film that affected people,"
she says. "You just want people to see something different
and think about it and for it to have an effect on them."
It has taken Shortland eight years to get Somersault to the screen
between making shorts and episodes of The Secret Life of Us, Bad
Cop, Bad Cop and MDA for television.
The script was often tucked way in a drawer for extended periods
before it burst back to life thanks to the intensive Aurora script
development workshop. The program provided mentoring from screenwriters
Rob Festinger (In the Bedroom) and Alison Tilson (Japanese Story)
and later writer-directors Jane Campion (The Piano) and Chris
Noonan (Babe).
Somersault's subject matter is close to Shortland's heart.
"To be completely honest with another person - to let them
see your vulnerabilities, to let them see what you're scared of,
to let them see your dreams - is really hard," she says.
"Because people now just go to pubs and drink and then go
home and have sex, they don't really know each other.
"I'm not making a value judgement on that, because that
can be great and it's a part of growing up. But it can also be
really damaging."
Shortland wanted to shoot the sex scenes in the film so that
viewers empathised with Heidi rather than have them become 9 1/2
Weeks-style titillation.
"When Heidi is on the screen you want the audience to be
incredibly intimate with her and feel everything she's feeling,"
she says.
"It's almost like the film, when she's on the screen, is
from her perspective. That's why the sex scenes are quite raw."
Shortland says Worthington tried harder than anybody to land
the role of Joe, then worked with a voice coach and a choreographer
to nail the character of a rich landowner's son.
The actor says he was useless in the first audition, but went
for a drink with Shortland and fell in love with her ideas for
the film.
"I trusted Cate knew what she was doing and I trusted Abbie
was strong enough to hold this movie," he says. "And
she's a beautiful girl. It's not that hard to fall in love with
her."
When he saw Somersault for the first time, Worthington thought
it was both a poetic piece of storytelling and a rich visual experience.
As for Cornish?
"I didn't get to see a lot of Abbie's stuff until it was
first put together," he says. "There's a performance
there that just blows you away."
