Welcome back, we’re having a chat with right to die campaigner Dr. Nicole Farmer.
Tell us about this machine you’ve developed.
You’re looking for a volunteer, aren’t you?
It’s not that simple.
Where do I find you when I get to Darwin?
You’re driving?
Are you really gonna do this?
I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.
Hi everyone, I’m here with Jeremy Sims, Michael Caton and Mark Coles Smith
of Last Cab to Darwin. Hi guys, thanks for joining us.
Good to be here.
Michael, can you tell me what attracted you to this particular part and at what stage
of the process you became involved with Last Cab?
Probably five years, when I was first approached, it was about five years ago.
We did a reading at the Dungog Film Festival which got a really great reaction.
And then, if you just think about it, at my age, to be at the center of a film like this, is a rare opportunity.
So, of course, I grabbed it with both hands, yeah.
What are you going to Darwin for?
None of your business.
Gentlemen, what do you want?
Well, I want to play football. And he wants to kill himself.
I became familiar with it when I was helping a couple of other young brothers in Melbourne to audition for it
And that’s when I suddenly realised it was one of Simmsy’s projects
and Kirsty McGregor was behind casting and everything. So they knew me.
We worked together on Beneath Hill 60, my second film.
So basically, Simmsy was giving me an opportunity to give him an opportunity, to be a good director
for a second time.
I was like, we’ll see how we go.
That’s so generous of you.
I know, I know. I gave him that first chance, and it was sort of okay, it was alright.
But no, doing this film was awesome and working with Simmsy the second time changed my whole
relationship with him, as an actor to a director.
He did a really, really great audition process with me and to be honest he wasn’t my first
choice for the role. I had someone in mind who I thought would be fantastic for it. And
And Mark actually insisted on coming in and we worked with Kirsty McGregor who we both knew,
and I said, "That was pretty good. Come back and do it again." We did about four sessions in the end.
And he was great. I cast him, and I said to him, “Look, we’re going away.
We're not gonna see you for three or four months while we do pre and all that stuff.
This is a great role. These are the things I think you can bring to it; more than you've given us so far.
And I was so thrilled when he turned up - we all were - in William Creek, because we were shooting
in Broken Hill without Mark, we’d set up our whole world, and we went
"Gee I wonder what it’s gonna be like when Tilly turns up.” Everyone was just blown away on the first day.
We all just went, "Wow." He had the patois, as Michael calls it; the local lingo in Oodnadatta.
He'd come and done some work with the kids there earlier.
He’d arrived the week before, so he’d sort of become part of that township.
I think from that moment, the crew and all of us felt like, “You know, we’ve got
a chance here to make a really good film.” It felt like it really gave us a kick.
Well tell me about that. You’re living the movie in a sense, while making it. The conditions
The conditions can be tough, if you’re really committing to that journey.
Were there any particular days on set where you’re like, “This is tough going.”
We’re really pleased we didn’t do it two months earlier, which is when we thought we were going to shoot.
It was 38 degrees every day. Once we got out there, actually some mornings it was pretty cold.
The weather was kind to us. The flies were awful.
Just trying to keep them off the camera let alone us.
When a film is centered around a topic like this; like euthanasia, like the right to die
it's obviously a hot button issue and people have very passionate feelings about it.
I can imagine as the movie rolls out and as you've screened it,
you’re going to come up against people who have strong feelings against it
and also very strong feelings for it, and who’ve been heartened by the movie.
Can you talk a little bit about the kind of experiences you’ve had with audience members who’ve
connected with your film either positively or negatively?
It’s been so surprisingly positive. I really expected, as you said, at every screening
to have a bunch of people stand up and say, “That’s not how euthanasia should work, blah, blah, blah."
But people are very respectful of the position put in the film, that it doesn’t actually argue
strongly for one particular stance. It just raises a whole bunch of…
It’s sort of, can be taken either way.
You and I have to be a hundred percent sure that this is what you want.
Rex, how hard has it been to convince your loved ones that the decision you’re about
to make is the right one?
There’s no one else, just me.
We’re very pleased people aren’t picketing the film yet. But we’ll see what happens.
With Jesus Christ Superstar, they cut all
the controls for the dodecahedron before opening night.
That’s right they did, they did. And we’re not getting the Last Temptation of Christ
crowd either yet, so we’ll see how we go.
Hey there’s still time.
We haven’t offended any scientologists either, so it's doing well.
Next film.
Guys congrats on the film and thanks so much for your time today.
Pleasure. Thank you.
I’m a cab driver doll, so I’m gonna drive my cab until I can’t drive it anymore.
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