Filming in India: Save Your Legs Part 2 (Behind the Scenes Q&A with Damon Gameau)

It’s always interesting to hear what goes on behind the scenes of seemingly effortless acting performances. NIDA graduate Damon Gameau was in Perth recently to launch his latest film Save Your Legs. I was lucky enough to hear him give us a peek inside the movie magic.

© The Ponder Room

You may have recently seen Damon in Howzat-The Packer Wars, well he’s donned the cricket whites again for Save Your Legs, this time channelling Dennis Lillee, complete with white headband.

You may also remember him in Balibo, Thunderstruck, Underbelly, Spirited, Love My Way or various theatre productions … that’s Damon, not Dennis.

Save Your Legs was written by another great Australian actor Brendan Cowell. It’s the true life inspired story which sees Edward Brown, Teddy (Stephen Curry) set out on a quest to have his local cricket team represent Australia in a tour of India. For more information about the film read the earlier (Save Your Legs Part 1) post.

Arriving at the Luna theatre in the midst of a 40 degree day, certainly added weight to the scenes of India, and led to the inevitable questions about filming there…

Filming in India

According to Damon the team spent five weeks in Indian and for the first week Damon, Stephen Curry and Brendan Cowell were all sick. Damon was limited to three weeks of bananas on toast, and lost five kilos in three days, which had him pondering whether his experience could be marketed as an ‘LA weight loss program’.


Thanks to Madman

 
Having not slept for two nights, he needed to be given a shot before being lifted onto a boat for a scene.

What we saw was his character, resplendent in a peach suit, jumping onto shore looking ready to party.

Clearly considerable time was spent in their very own ponder room. Evidently this extended to between overs, which I’m sure many club cricketers can relate to after one too many dodgy late night kebabs.

‘During the first match there were three port-a-loos near the set. The director would say ready, they’d roll and then it was straight back onto the throne.’

The locals
Apart from the inevitable runs, the cast also spend considerable down time making other runs against the locals.

‘We played lots of backyard cricket with local kids … they all wanted to play because they were playing against Australia.’


Stephen Curry Thanks to Madman

 
Another eye opener for the cast was working with the local Indian film crew. The crew had just done Slum Dog Millionaire and were surprised at how open the Australian actors were.

Sachin Tendulkar
Talking about locals, the film pays tribute to the great Sachin Tendulkar. Damon explained that when they watched the film in India with 1,200 people, every time Tendulkar came on screen the crowd cheered.

There’s a great quote from Tendulkar in the film about rejoicing in how things are, but again I won’t spoil it for you.

Mateship
A challenge in any long running team task is living in each other’s pockets. Echoing the mateship theme of the movie, Damon said the film lifted the actors friendships ‘to a whole new level’, adding a very wise observation that, ‘it’s amazing how quickly man degenerates away from his woman.’ Perhaps some of the wisdom of India rubbed off on them too.



Thanks to Madman


Baggy Green or Oscar
Lastly when asked whether he would prefer a Baggy Green cricket cap or an Oscar, he opted for a Masters Golf jacket. This left me pondering whether we’d be seeing him in another road trip movie soon … this time travelling to the home of golf, Saint Andrews Scotland … hopefully he’ll know to avoid the haggis.

It was a true delight meeting Damon and hearing the inside story. I hope you get to see the movie … if you go in the first weekend it helps with the films stats.

Congratulations to Brendan Cowell on a great story well told by terrific actors.

On a side note…If you haven’t seen Thunderstruck check out the DVD it’s another great Aussie movie (set in WA) with a cast that boasts several Australian actors who have gone on to great things … Damon, Stephen Curry, Sam Worthington and Callan Mulvey.

Save Your Legs is in cinemas Feb 28th. See Save Your Legs Part 1 post for more details.

Watch the trailer save your legs trailer