Before showing The King is Dead at Cinema Paradiso, director Rolf de Heer (Ten Canoes, The Tracker) was asked to explain the movies genre. He declined saying he’d prefer people watched it first . Afterwards however he happily talked about how it came to be, the production time, locations, budget and his creative process, which has been acknowledged as very different to others.
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The King Is Dead sat on the shelf for three years and it wasn’t until Rolf knew he was moving house that he acknowledged it had to be written before the move.
In terms of production time, Rolf started thinking about The King at end of 2010. The money was raised in March 2011 and they shot for seven weeks in Adelaide using just two locations.
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Surprisingly these locations were his own home, plus those of his neighbours George and Sam on either side. That way he didn’t have to look for three houses in a row. This, he explained, made for “a very compact, efficient shoot”. It also allowed for the low budget … $1.5 million.
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In terms of budget Rolf said he prefers the relaxed atmosphere of low budget movies, saying there’s a “waste of money on big budget films, they are less forgiving on the movie crew, and it’s harder to move a large crew around.”
He was quick to point out that his creative approach includes only cards, pencils and a rubber.
“I place the cards around the wall and it evolves on the wall. Then you can find connections that you didn’t know were there … you can see where the phrase used by a little girl can be slotted in to get maximum impact.”
He starts by asking a lot of questions and suggests that writers “just keep asking what happens next and what if?”
“A lot of the writing is based around the pranks, but it didn’t go the way I thought it would, it evolved.” …….
He drew from past experiences such as watching a group of Maoris entering a neighbour’s house with baseball bats. Worried, he thought he should call the police until he heard laughter coming from the house, and realised they were just mates.
He also drew on middle class Australia’s fascination with other classes, and how they are really from the same coin. For example in The King the couple are often seen drink red wine while their neighbours indulge in beer and other substances.
When asked about script changes Rolf explained that “this was the first film since Bad Boy where there was a script in place when it was financed. Other films were just an idea or outline at that stage.” He added that when people make suggestions they “need to understand that a script is well structured, if you change one thing you bring down the house of cards.”
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When it came time to add the music to the film he said it was hard to work out where it would go, as the cut worked well without it. In the end they opted for live Swing musicians not electronic, and as a result the music makes the movie not as dark or sinister.
The King Is Dead is an Australian comedy with some very dark overtones and great twists, well worth a look.
The King Is Dead in cinemas July 12th Pinnacle Films.
Rated: MA 15+
Cast: Dan Wyllie, Bojana Novakovic, Gary Waddell, Luke Ford
He drew from past experiences such as watching a group of Maoris entering a neighbour’s house with baseball bats. Worried, he thought he should call the police until he heard laughter coming from the house, and realised they were just mates.
