听 Gloomy rocker Nick Cave scripted The Proposition, a "savagely entertaining" Aussie western starring Guy Pearce and Danny Huston as brothers on a collision course in the barren outback. The critics loved the boldness of director John Hillcoat, but perhaps his genre-bending approach meant the film didn't get quite as much attention from the paying public. It's now ripe for rediscovery on DVD.
Going Deep Down Under
Cameras venture out to the dustbowl in a half-hour Making Of featurette that explores the ideas behind this unconventional film. Hillcoat reveals that it began with a camping trip in the outback and a nebulous idea about doing "an Australian take on the epic western." But the process of conquering Australia, he says, was "much more extreme than the American West." Ray Winstone suggests this is because people venturing to America were "trying to escape something" while those who wound up Down Under were forced to go there. It's an intriguing look at the subtext of the story, but it was up to Nick Cave to really flesh it out. As he explains it, he was called on to compose the music before anything else had been put on paper and the script grew organically from that.
In a batch of interviews running at an hour-and-a-half, Cave talks more about the story in terms of rhythm and pace. It's about "periods of intense violence, " he says, "followed by periods of sadness and longing. And to me that is something that's reflected in the Australian outback. " We also hear from the leading players along with supporting actors like John Hurt, Tom Budge, and Emily Watson. The latter explains that she was drawn to the project because the script was such "a rock 'n' roll read, " but there is praise too for Hillcoat who, Winstone reveals, gave the actors freedom to try out their own ideas.
The Heat Of The Moment
Pearce and Huston give added insight into the actor's craft in a separate menu of UK exclusive interviews. For instance, Pearce reveals that he did copious research into the period, but found it was "too much information" when he finally arrived on set. Ultimately he just relied on his gut instinct. Meanwhile Huston talks about "chiselling and sculpting to find a part of yourself that relates to the character, " especially when that character happens to commit a lot of heinous deeds. He calls Arthur "justified" in his actions, which reflects just how far he crawled into that mindset.
Not surprisingly Hillcoat and Cave offer an inward-looking, meditative commentary for the film. As well as the script, Cave delves deeper into the business of writing the music and also the poetry that he recites for some of the scenes. It is "the landscape speaking" he says, but if you think that sounds too pretentious, Hillcoat offers plenty of practical insights as well. He recalls a day of trying to get a speared cow to fall on its knees for a moment of quiet pathos, but the animal refused co-operate. The scene was cut from the script, he says, "so, we substituted it to a speared aboriginal tracker, which worked better. " He adds that, moviemaking isn't just art, "it's all about problem-solving".
Altogether the extras offer a thoughtful, well-rounded view of the themes and intentions behind the film as well as the making of it. There are only limited contributions on the nitty-gritty of production design and cinematography (in the cast and crew interviews section), but this DVD is still an attractive proposition for discerning film fans.
EXTRA FEATURES
The Proposition is released on DVD on Monday 17th July.
