FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Is this a documentary or mockumentary?
Um, it's both. The lead actors in the film (Paul, Simon, Ben and Wally) are using their real names. When they were younger, they actually did try to make a feature film called 'Living Off The Land'. And it was really, really bad. All the old footage referenced in this film is from that shoot. But they never reunited to remake the film - that is all made up.

Was Gotye really in the original film?
Yes, although back then we called him Wally.

When we started writing the screenplay, Wally had released his first album under the name Gotye. In the script, he was written as an obscure, avant-garde artist.

As we made the film, actual Wally couldn't help but outdo his fictitious self - releasing a second album, a third album, embarking on a national and international tour, and winning the ARIA for Best Male Artist in 2007. It was great for actual Wally, but really annoying for us, because we had to keep rewriting fictitious Wally to keep up with reality.

How did you shoot the film?
Because of the documentary-look of the film, we didn't need to spend a lot of money on the best equipment. Or rather, the film needed a documentary-look, because we couldn't afford to spend a lot of money on the best equipment. Most of the film is shot guerrilla-style with a small handycam, which allowed us to film in a lot of public places (e.g. Melbourne Airport, the Eiffel Tower, etc.) without drawing attention to ourselves.

How did Richard Franklin become involved?
In 2006, we met Richard Franklin and his writing partner Peter Fitzpatrick through a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend. Both of them graciously agreed to appear in the film as themselves.

We were unbelievably nervous about shooting their scenes, but as it turned out, Richard was equally nervous about performing in front of the camera. He had a very dry sense of humour that confounded us at first, and infected us by the end. Both Richard and Peter were a lot of fun to work with, and very supportive.

Before his passing, Richard had seen a rough cut of his scenes, but not the entire film. The film is dedicated to his memory.

 

Screening at the 2010 Dungog Film Festival on
Saturday, May 29. For more details, visit the DFF website.