My Mother Frank ABOUT THE STORY Sometimes, the best stories are your own ones that are close to your heart and spawned from seemingly very every-day experiences. And so it was for writer- director Mark Lamprell, portraying the relationship between an Irish Catholic matriarch and her son. "I grew up in this very eccentric Irish Catholic household and only later realized that not everyone grew up in a house like this with a very eclectic range of characters, so I began to construct a story around the characters I knew," says Lamprell. "I basically gathered all these characters and put them in a situation familiar to me. The story very much had its own momentum and almost played itself out." The film combines comedy, tragedy, romance, religion and family conflict in an unconventional dual story structure, which explores the parallel journeys of discovery of a middle-aged woman and her teenage son, David. "It was both their stories and he helps her grow up and finds his freedom and vice-versa,' says Lamprell. 'This film shows two people of very different ages coming of age. A lot of people wanted me to make it more standard with one story rather than two stories interwoven and I doubt I could have had this film made ten years ago. Whenever something's unusual, people panic, but this makes the story very much worth telling. The film is David's experience of his mother, Frank's experiences, and David's coming-of-age story." "We really engaged with the material and Mark's a really fine writer with a story that's close to his heart which he wrote over ten years," says producer Phaedon Vass. "It was sourced from a lot of personal experiences dealing with a lot of subjects potentially universal in their appeal and I think it beautifully observes the mother-son relationship in a wonderfully comedic and dramatic way while being both very accessible and original." Indeed, the producers believe the unusual structure should help it appeal to a broad audience. "I think the film is a really good yarn and good stories find audiences," says producer John Winter. "FRANK should find a large audience since it has the luxury of having two generations driving the story with a middle-aged woman finding a new life and her son's story of embarking on his. The film is original in its flavor and structure and Australian films perform best when they have unique stories and unique ways of telling them. FRANK knowingly breaks the rules in many ways." "I like films about relationships and human dynamics. FRANK has a lot to say about families which is especially relevant in today's world of changing family structures," adds editor Nick Beauman. Matthew Newton, who plays Frank's son David, jokes that "this is a film for mothers and grandmothers, as well as boyfriends and girlfriends on different nights." "The film is David's story," remarks Sinead Cusack, who plays Frank. "It's a boy's story and a boy's view about growing up and being able to see his mother in different ways at different times." "While it is definitely Frank's journey, the film is called MY MOTHER FRANK and it is told through her relationship with my character - her son," agrees Newton. "It's very interesting that you see this woman who in my view is defined by her relationship with her 19 year-old son and her dead husband. These people may fight but they really love each other. Change or die, that's the message." 'This film is a journey into self knowledge for Frank, who has probably been socialized by marriage, family and the society she married into, although I think Frank was always a very feisty, multi-dimensional and interesting woman," adds Cusack. "At the start of the film, Frank is a pathetic, slothful mess," laughs Cusack, adding Frank is "feisty, dry, sharp and tough. And she's very self- involved, but there are moments when she sees how rough things have been on the kids." As Frank attempts change, self-development and rebuilding her life, she encounters obstacles to change, both emotional and physical. The crusty Professor Mortlock, who initially scorns and thwarts Frank, played by Sam Neill, ends up being her ally. "I'm certainly the antagonist in this film - if there's a bad guy, it's me," says Neill. "I'm here to serve the story and I'm not afraid to be seen in a poor light since his function in the script is to get in the way between Frank and her aspirations. I don't think he's really a bad guy, he just goes about things the wrong way." Frank's daughter Margaret, played by Sacha Horler, is also a symbol against change, according to Cusack, who says, "Margaret is the person you would expect her to be: emotionally practical, but controlling and bossy like her mother, while David is the dreamy side of Frank, which ultimately prevails and engrosses the film." "1 represent the conservative family-focussed life Frank is moving away from as she steps toward individuality and exploring of who she is," says Horler. Lamprell says Margaret is "like a fantastic monster who is like a distilled version of everything Frank used to be before she started changing." As Frank changes, she strains her relationships with friends and family. "People are threatened by change," says Cusack on the question of Frank having to leave some people behind emotionally. "I'd be proud of that change and later of Frank's attempts to deal with her illness in a positive way. Indeed, it's almost as if the illness will define her in a new way and make her fight to get what she wants. The people around her eventually see that." Other characters represent bits of Frank that she must either leave behind or reassess. Most memorable are the nuns, who represent Frank's Catholic upbringing and an ongoing struggle with her faith. "Frank's very Catholic, which I know a lot about, and I suspect being brought up in that extremely structured Irish Catholic faith forces you into a mould," says the Irish-based Cusack. "Like everything in this film, the nuns are just one degree from reality, so every character is slightly larger than life and the nuns are a distillation of all those nuns we've known in our youth including the ones that helped us and the frightfully bossy ones." "I'd like to think the nuns offer Frank solace, but sometimes Sebastian does the opposite as she is a well-meaning woman who always manages to say the wrong thing at the wrong time," says Melissa Jaffer, who plays Sister Sebastian. "She's like lots of nuns who taught me in that she's always teaching a lesson and means well, but she has no idea how aggressive she is and she crashes in and says what she thinks, relentlessly telling the truth motivated by a genuine deep love for Frank" "We find Frank at the beginning of the film somewhat embittered and wallpapered down by her faith and that's probably her big difficulty," says Lamprell. "Her journey is making sense of her life and not just letting her unhappiness be her 'cross to bear,' so she realizes she must empower herself." "It's about Frank not fixating on the silly rigid parts of ideology," continues Lamprell, adding Frank's changes even affect the nuns. "At the end, the nuns are even partying with her and are praying to get her through the exam and showing the supportive and loving side of their religion." Jean, the nuns and her daughter and everyone else who initially told Frank to do something with her life turn against her when she changes and decides to take control of her life because they are all put into a spin by this revolutionary change, which they would never have had the courage to make," adds Lamprell. "But like a true hero she helps change the people around her as well." BRINGING THE STORY TO LIFE During its ten years of development, director-writer Mark Lamprell originally had the film with another producer who didn't get it produced. But, he says, "I'm glad it didn't get made then because it is now a much richer piece." Having heard about each other at a cocktail party, the producers and Lamprell met and then spent more than three years polishing the script. The film was financed by government financier the Australian Film Finance Corporation and a joint venture between Showtime Australia and Britain's Channel 4 in late 1997. Global sales agent Beyond came on board in May 1998, and Beyond also later took Australian distribution rights. Filming began in early 1999. "The script was very well developed since Mark started writing it ten years ago so it's very close to his heart and he knows his characters well," says producer Susan Vass. "It feels as though Mark has been directing forever. He's calm, generous, comfortable and at ease with the role and you'd have no idea it was his first film. The film's message is not to waste time with your life and it's about enjoying the ride and not really knowing what's around the corner and I believe people will relate to a lot of the experiences throughout the film - it's both hilarious and moving." "I thought the script had a wonderfully engaging presence," adds producer John Winter, who had been waiting to collaborate with the Vasses on the right project. "In Australia, we often work with first time directors and there have been many break out hits to come from such directors. Having said that, producers normally need to keep their eyes open and their wits about them, but Mark had an intellectual maturity that instilled confidence. Actually, Mark says he's been directing the movie for ten years; he knows the story and his vision for it intimately." "Filming in Sydney was one of the biggest challenges because it is becoming more difficult owing to the number of bigger budget films shooting here," Winter says. "It makes it all the more critical to never lose sight of the importance of Australians telling Australians and the world our own stories." 'With productions in our budget range, we don't have a lot of resources to throw at problems and we worked hard to achieve a big screen look," agrees producer Phaedon Vass. Winter found the film's central location of Frank's house, when he attended a drinks party held by former tenants in the crumbling and sprawling mansion in the ritzy inner-city waterside Sydney suburb of Elizabeth Bay which was the German consulate until 1939. The house is integral to the film's stylized look, which has been described as "influenced by magic realism." The house, like almost all elements of the film's design and story, revolves around both Frank's emotional journey and the world of her family and friends. So much so that Lamprell even had all the main cast dye their hair red to portray the "notion of tribes and people who belong to the same clan." "The design serves as a backdrop in a script of this woman's journey which is like getting inside her head full of eccentricity as she struggles with her search for her own individualism," says production designer Michael Philips. "I wanted the story to be attentive to detail, but slightly above time and space with a mythical tone and feel to it. I wanted the look to be slightly to the left of the 20th century; it's a story about archetypes resonating through time and culture," says Lamprell, adding the house embodies someone almost overwhelmed and defined by her past, her surroundings and the baggage of upbringing and marriage. "I wanted a quite beautiful but dilapidated grand old mansion among high rises as a perfect metaphor for people who haven't moved on with their lives while everything else has grown up around them." "Things are somewhat stylish, a little faulty and restrained rather like Frank herself,," adds Philips. ''The rambling and decaying, yet beautiful, art deco house has the quirkiness and refinement of old money, which is not so conscious of displaying itself and we are trying to capture that decaying grandeur." According to Philips, 'We start off with house that's lit in pearls of light implying that the outside is struggling to get in, but as the film progresses and Frank emotionally develops, "her home breathe and the house gets lighter. The changes are also captured in the film's soundscape, most obviously in the differences between Frank's various worlds." "The university is the ultimate place of mixing the old and new and is literally full of people from all over the world to accentuate the feeling of Frank discovering a new world," says Lamprell. "For the university scenes, we tried to use the old atmosphere of Sydney University and juxtapose it with bright, solid colors," adds Philips, who believes these scenes are among the most interesting in signifying Frank's process of change by combining old surroundings and youthful and diverse occupants. "It's the end of the 20th century and we're creating a world where anything can happen, so the university is sort of like the United Nations in that its racially mixed and very colorful and its not like any university you've seen before," explains costume designer Edie Kurzer. Cinematographer Brian Breheny used a mixture of hand held cameras, "to build energy into some scenes and where characters are moving very quickly" and in situations where Frank is at the center, and steadycam, often at university where Frank initially floats through crowds like an outsider. "Mark had a very clear idea of the different worlds of the film," says Breheny. "For Frank's world we used a Iow contrast Kodak stock with pastel tone, while with most of the others we used high speed stocks with greater color contrast, which is richer. We've played with the ratings of the stock to get more contrast and a lot of my job was making Sinead's characters work in terms of lighting and we simplified the frame to make her play out the action." CASTING AND CAST PERSPECTIVES 'This film leapt out at me; the eccentricity, it was different and funny yet sad at the same time," says producer Susan Vass. "It was a great rollercoaster driven by Mark who I think is such a huge talent." "Afler looking at hundreds of actresses, Sinead Cusack walked through the door and I knew I had found my Frank," says Lamprell. "At the start of the film, Frank is a great person but one still enveloped by a pall of grief for her dead husband. That was the trick - finding someone who could be a pain in the ass, difficult and selfish, but still likeable, not alienate the audience and be able to take them on a journey." "I would have gone anywhere to do this," adds Irish- based actress Sinead Cusack, who plays Frank. "The quality of the script and character are really left field and quirky. I just knew I wanted to do it. The quality of the script was so good and so original." "Mark created a very relaxed yet disciplined atmosphere and to be able to pull that off and deal differently with each member of cast appropriate to their needs means he's been able to cleverly construct his vision from the start," continues Cusack. "What drew me to Frank is the fact that's she's rich and rare. There are lots of Irish who've had to come out from under the blanket of religion and formality and family. From the first time I read the script through to today, Frank has been familiar to me." "Sinead was so right for the role. She a great actress and she knows about Irish Catholicism," agrees Susan Vass. "The waste-not, want-not mentality, the hoarding, right down to the exploding food cans: Sinead knew exactly how it should be played." "Sinead literally filled the London casting room with her great energy, warmth and intelligence," says producer Phaedon Vass. "We were absolutely thrilled to cast Sam Neill as Professor Mortlock, who brought a great authority and sense of mischief to the role." "I found the story rather touching and it had a personal resonance for me," says Neill. "Mark is a much more assured director than I would have imagined. A great deal of my work has been with first timers and there's an energy and enthusiasm that can get a bit thin on the ground after a director has done 20-odd films." "Mark's created a great world," agrees Matthew Newton who plays Frank's son David. "I thought it was so firey and it made me cry at the end. It's appealing but not sentimental. Working with someone like Sinead was brilliant and inspiring," adds Newton. "You just hope by association something rubs off. I was very excited and I had a huge young guy crush on her, which I told her to break the ice. I had huge nerves, especially since I had known Sinead's name for years yet in the film I have to be so rude to her." "I thought it was a fantastic script and I'd heard about Mark Lamprell and asked if l could be considered for Margaret because Margaret is someone I knew but hadn't yet played," says Horler. "It's fun playing the role of the one person everyone wants to give a good slap to."