Drive and Authenticity: Making 'Van Diemen's Land'

2 July 2009

Interview with Maggie Miles

Reviews

A dramatised telling of the story of Alexander Pearce, Van Diemen’s Land is a period movie with a difference, examining the psychological terrors that lay at the heart of the story with an anthropologist’s unflinching gaze.

FTI talks to producer of Van Diemen’s Land, Maggie Miles, who is guest at the film’s screening at Revelation Film Festival and speaker at the Revelation Screen Conference.

Tell us about how you got Van Diemen’s Land made, from first coming on board as the Producer to completion?
Van Diemen’s Land hurtled along right from the outset because there was such a strong drive behind it. In 2007 I undertook a one-year post grad in producing at the Victorian College of the Arts, School of Film & Television (VCA), during that time I produced several short films. One of them, directed by 3rd year graduate Jonathan auf der Heide won five awards including best film, best director and best producer. This short titled Hell’s Gates also won Best Student Film at the Melbourne International Film Festival 2008 with Jonathan winning Best Emerging Filmmaker.

Hell’s Gates was a personal quest for Jonathan; he wanted to tell the story of Alexander Pearce, Australia’s most notorious convict. The film is based on true events, Pearce and his work party escaped a Penal Colony on Sarah Island in Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) in search of freedom but their journey was so utterly intolerable it became a slow descent into hell. Jonathan was born and raised in Tasmania and he was fascinated by the story, also, by the questions, why isn’t this story better known? Why has it never made it to the screen? Is it that Australian’s don’t want to see the truth about this country’s past? The short film Hell’s Gates was a dramatic interpretation of a short segment of Alexander Pearce’s story and Van Diemen’s Land unravels the full tale. After graduating from the VCA Jonathan worked in close collaboration with Oscar Redding who had played Pearce in Hell’s Gates and the pair co-wrote Van Diemen’s Land with Oscar again playing Pearce. I saw the incredible drive of these guys, they just wanted to shoot the film and they wanted to shoot it the following year. I had such a strong feeling that if the film was going to happen, it would be because I would play my part in making it so. We also had the support of Madman Entertainment very early on they responded to the drive behind the project and loved the script. Having the confidence of Madman was really exciting.

How was the funding process within this?

Jonathan, Oscar and I worked to secure private investment. We introduced the film to people we knew were excited by our sheer bloody determination, people who wanted to support us and be a part of the journey. Once we neared the final stages of completing the film, had secured invitations from Festivals and were signing with Bavaria Film International as our international sales agent we applied to Screen Australia for some funds to undertake the final stages of completion and we were successful in that application.

What attracted you to this project?

Van Diemen’s Land was an opportunity to test myself, to see if I could do it. I’d worked on various features before but never in this capacity and the trust my collaborators had in me gave me the opportunity to produce my first feature and I’m delighted the result. Also the entire cast and crew were amazing, this is easy to say but it’s not just a good-news story, it’s absolutely true. I was inspired to throw my dedication into the film in part because the team involved, Jonathan, Oscar, Ellery Ryan our cinematographer, our actors Arthur Angel, Greg Stone, Mark Winter, Thomas Wright, Torquil Neilson, Paul Ashcroft, John F Howard and Adrian Mulraney along with the entire crew wanted to work on THIS film. It wasn’t just another job, each person had something to prove, each person wanted to give the best they could and this amazing dedication was a special ingredient in a shoot that I’m incredibly proud of.

This project was based in history (1822), became a very visceral film and fits into a tradition of Australian films with (haunting, dominating) landscapes as characters. As a Producer for this project, what was your key priority for the story?

Indeed the presence of the landscape as a constant character and powerful presence was a high priority. Jonathan worked very closely with Ellery and with our tireless production designer Leanne Caruana on the selection of locations and on the best way to utilise those locations. A key story priority was of course the drama, capturing the interactions of these characters trapped in the landscape. It was also paramount, for a lot of reasons, that we shot in Tasmania. We looked all over Victoria for a lake suitable for our establishing location but because of the drought most places were massively down from optimum levels. Tasmania provided authenticity, wide sweeping landscapes, important water shots and overall a wild, untamed feel.

There are no female characters within this film but the references in dialogue to women stand out and are significant. I found these 3 or 4 references perfectly worked with the male story world and the visceral style of the film. How did they come about?

Writers Jonathan and Oscar wrote the dialogue and the female references. I could glibly joke that they’re constantly talking about women so this came easy to them but that would not tell the full picture. Both writers have researched the story in great depth and spent hours and hours pouring over the dialogue. If the script rings true to people I think it’s because it’s so well written and both writers got inside the heads of the characters. Oscar also went to Ireland to learn Gaelic for the role and this had an influence on the dialogue.

How did your previous film making experience (or studies) inform what you brought to this project?

I did the post grad in producing at the VCA as a transition to long-form drama and to introduce myself to the film-making scene in Melbourne. Previously I was based in Darwin for 12 years and for the better part of that I co-ran a company called Burrundi Pictures. I was senior producer at Burrundi for years and managed a diverse range of work. One of the largest projects we were involved with was a feature called Yolngu Boy, directed by Stephen Johnson. Yolngu Boy was shot in Arnhem Land and in Darwin and was a huge challenge. I cast Yolngu Boy and Burrundi was a co-producing entity so through this process I was able to get a birds-eye view of the entire development/ production of the film under the management of producer Patricia Edgar and line-producer Elisa Agenzio. I learnt a lot from Yolngu Boy and from Patricia. I guess I’ve been lucky enough to work with talented producers because I was taught by Ros Walker, Sue Maslin and Jane Ballantyne at the VCA and immediately prior to Van Diemen’s Land I worked on Sarah Watt’s My Year Without Sex in the production office with producer Bridget Ikin and line-producer Barbara Gibbs. Bridget was also very generous with me and it was such an education to watch her work.

Do you have any advice for emerging Producers?

Find people you want to work with, stories you want to tell and get out there and do it. Besides the year I spent at the VCA I’ve learnt most of my skills ‘on-the-job’ and this fantastic ride is finishing with my first feature being released theatrically by Madman Entertainment on 27 September 2009 – I reckon that’s pretty exciting.

VAN DIEMEN’S LAND
7:00pm Saturday 4 July & 4:15pm Sunday 5 July. Astor Cinemas, Mt Lawley
The brutal penal colony of Macquarie Harbour located in Tasmania was simply known as Hell’s Gates by those convicts unlucky enough to be sentenced to rot there. In the inhumane conditions thousands of miles from home there was no need for fences, the hostile landscape proved to be a boundary more insurmountable than any cage.

WRITING AUSTRALIAN HISTORY ON FILM
10:30am – 1:00pm Sunday 5 July. Edith Cowan University
An exploration of how Australian history can be used as a source for film. The creative team behind Van Diemen’s Land, director and scriptwriter Jonathan Auf Der Heide, scriptwriter Oscar Redding and producer Maggie Miles, are joined in discussion with Michael James Rowland, director and scriptwriter, The Last Confession of Alexander Pierce and Lucky Miles.