What Do The Critics Say?
"Australia doesn’t produce many romantic comedies. That number shrinks to virtually nil when the lead characters are blokes going through emotional stuff. As such, "I Love You Too" is something of a rarity. Yes, bromance has arrived Down Under. But despite featuring a dwarf and Megan Gale, it cruises beyond novelty factor by being imbued with an endearing, warm heart in the right place. Oh, and the ratio of laughs to tears is highly conducive to satisfying a wide audience. While the Melbourne locations do their part well, as does the highly likable ensemble cast, Dinklage is I Love You Too’s trump card. Getting such a unique and respected performer pays off in spades."
Ben McEachen PERTH NOW
"The best scenes are between Cowell and Peter Dinklage, who gives his on-screen character depth and dignity. It’s a compelling portrayal with a touch of pathos.Direction by Daina Reid keeps the pacing tight, providing some well-managed scenes with just a hint of television production lurking in the background. Melbourne, especially the luminous Hyatt Hotel, comes up well in the lenses of cinematographer Ellery Ryan who gives a lustre to the visuals denying the film’s roots in television."
John Bale THE BLURB
"Like its lead, is a bit rough around the edges, but all the more endearing for being so. This is a truly Australian rom-com, treating mating and mateship with equal measures of reverence and ridicule. Peter Helliar is a big old romantic. I Love You Too is the quintessential Aussie rom-com. Peter Dinklage in particular, far from being the anticipated butt of a series of height gags revels in a complex role as the somewhat tragic Charlie. I Love You Too, like its lead, is a bit rough around the edges but all the more endearing for being so. You'll never regret taking a chance on I Love You Too."
Giles Hardie SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
"Fresh, funny and uncontrived, the homegrown I Love You Too is the antidote to all the mindless, make-a-buck comedies from Hollywood. On the surface, it looks like a rom-com, but it's actually considerably more. With a warm, witty script from former Rove funnyman Peter Helliar, this comedy impresses on every level. The performances are great. Dinklage's spiky delivery is tremendously entertaining, while Cowell makes a likeable lead. Strahovski is lovely as Alice. This film has undeniable commercial leanings, and may prove to be a local box office successes story: and it deserves to be."
Annette Basile FILMINK
"In I Love You Too director Daina Reid unpacks a suitcase of conventional plot devices, and like most crowd pleasing romantic comedies strikes an appealing blend of tested and tried formula mixed with some endearing characters and a few flashes of originality. It’s a sweet and unembellished rom-com with heart and brains."
Luke Buckmaster CRIKEY! MOVIE REVIEWS
"The strength of the film lies with Peter Dinklage, whom you may remember as the slightly unexpected love interest in "Death At A Funeral". He's just wonderful here and the scene he has with Megan Gale, the object of his affection, is lovely. She makes an impressive debut. Screenwriter Peter Helliar can't give up that mate's love thing, even though he sends it up, he believes in it, you know he does. He's actually really good as Blake. First-time feature director Daina Reid comes from an impressive career in television and does a fine job here."
Margaret Pomeranz ABC AT THE MOVIES
The Inside Story on I Love You Too
For writer and comedian Peter Helliar, seeing "I Love You Too come to life on the big screen has been a dream come true; an experience so magical that he compares it to falling in love. "It’s the most exciting thing for me," Helliar says. "I got into stand-up so hopefully I could get a gig writing for television and through writing for television hopefully make some contacts so hopefully I could maybe write a movie. Now I’ve made a movie and the best way that I can describe is that it’s like I’ve fallen in love. I’ve found what I really wanted to do in my life. It’s incredible!" Well known in Australia for his high-profile roles on radio and television, including the long-running national talk show Rove, Helliar developed the idea for the film seven years before the first frames were shot. "I was going to the movies one day and I got half way to the cinema and thought 'Jeez I don’t think I’ve locked my car'. I was walking briskly back to my car and thinking what would be the worst thing I could lose if my car was broken into. I think the worst thing you could lose was something personal and the most personal thing I could think of was a love letter. That was the seed of it and it grew from there." Helliar broached the subject with producer Laura Waters, with whom he had stayed in touch since she produced the pilot episode for Rove 1999. "Liam, my oldest son, was in a pram and we walked around the block near Laura’s house to keep him happy. It was in late 2002. Laura knew I had six ideas for movies and she told me I had to choose one and start working on it. It’s been a long journey and it’s been a lot of fun. Laura’s been really patient because there have been times when I haven’t been able to work on the script, but it’s been gung-ho for the past two years." But while Waters encouraged him to write a script, she wondered how he'd find time. "For years we went through Pete being on breakfast radio, on Rove, on SkitHOUSE, on Before the Game; I would just constantly think 'well he’ll never find time to write a screenplay'. We would meet regularly at a café and just talk about the story. Finally he wrote a treatment and I thought it would be ages until a script came out, but then there was a script." Waters hadn’t counted on Helliar’s passion for the project. "I’d get up at quarter past four, get into the office at five, be on air at six, off air at nine and then go into meetings until about 11am," Helliar recalls. "After that there might be a Rove meeting or a meeting at Princess Pictures or I’d shoot a 'Strauchanie' sketch for Before the Game. If I didn’t have anything to do, I’d go straight home from radio, have a quick nap and then get up and write for a few hours." Late afternoons were devoted to his family, wife Bridget and young sons Liam, Aidan and Oscar. Once a draft was complete, producers Waters and Yael Bergman and director Daina Reid helped to hone the script with robust discussion and rewrites. "There were many times when we wanted to make it and someone would go 'let’s just make it a little bit better.' I think it was really important that we kept doing those drafts. It was really hard work but every time it became a better script. I laughed out loud reading it even from the first draft. Every draft has been fun to read," Waters remarked. Helliar fought hard to retain scenes he felt were important. "It’s funny when someone challenges you on something you wrote. It’s annoying for a minute or so to have to justify it, but then you realise that it’s actually great. You have to think about it and you have to believe in it. It’s good to fight for it and say things out loud. Sometimes as a result of those conversations it became clearer, not just to other people, but clearer in my own head."
"The thing that I always loved about "I Love You Too" was that it always had this basic message which was 'tell the people you love that you love them.' It’s really about being able to be an open and vulnerable person and the power of loving each other, Waters states. The next challenge was casting. "Casting took forever!" says Reid. "There are lots and lots of little roles and all those different roles add to the texture of the movie, the grand tapestry, so they’ve all got to be perfect." Fundamental to the success of the film was the actor chosen to play its leading man, Jim. "It’s a simple story but Jim is really quite a complex character," Reid said. "As I was choosing audition scenes, every single scene brought out something different in him. There are many different layers to him. Jim is a boy-man who needs to step up so we needed a sense of innocence, but also he’s a bloke, so we needed masculinity and naivety." Brendan Cowell ("Beneath Hill 60") won the role from a field of fifty five contenders. "Brendan was one of the first people we auditioned but we really weren’t clear then about exactly what we were looking for so I wanted to see more people," Waters recalled. "Brendan added dimensions to the character that were so exciting and we didn’t necessarily know that someone would bring. His choices were brilliant in every scene and sometimes they were just tiny details; what he would do with his eyes, what he would do with his body, just the way he would deliver a particular line were just heartbreaking and funny and inciteful." Helliar had written the role of Charlie, a short-statured photographer who takes Jim under his wing, for acclaimed Morristown, New Jersey born American actor Peter Dinklage ("Death At A Funeral & "Lassie"). Everyone was thrilled when he accepted. "Peter Dinklage is incredible," 2008 AFI Award winner Waters (TV'S "Summer Heights High") says. "He’s so charismatic and so talented and very funny. We always had high hopes but he’s exceeded those. He’s amazing." And don't be fooled by that English accent, because Yvonne Strahovski is in fact an Australian actress who is based in based in Los Angeles. A graduate of the University of Western Sydney's, Theatre Nepean, where she gained a Bachelor of Arts in Performance, Strahovski (who was born in Maroubra, Sydney) who is best known for her work on the NBC comedy-drama series "Chuck", was cast as Jim’s English girlfriend, Alice, following a recommendation by casting director Nick Hamon ("Thunderstruck"). "Initially we were looking at English actors but I’m glad we were able to cast an Australian actress," Reid ("City Homicide") says. "Yvonne has got an amazing ear for accents. She put a test down in LA and she was just gorgeous. She nailed it." Strahovski also speaks fluent Polish. Strength and warmth on-screen won "McLeod's Daughters" star Bridie Carter (135 episodes) the role of Jim’s sister, Marie. "We had to find that lovely mix of a gentle, vulnerable woman who has toughened up to look after her little brother. Bridie’s got such an amazing charm and she’s so compelling to watch.We can give her a little tough edge, but nothing gets rid of her warmth," Reid says. He also cast Travis McMahon ("Kokoda") in the role of Marie’s partner, Owen. Australian model Megan Gale (who played Dr Orbit's Secretary in "Stealth") was cast as the character, Francesca. The original character in the script was a Spanish model called Natasha. Reid says the 'penny dropped' when the team realized they had a supermodel on the doorstep. "Megan came in and spoke Italian and did the accent and she was fantastic. So the character became Italian supermodel Francesca Moretti."
Waters believes that Helliar’s performance as Jim’s best mate Blake has been the biggest revelation. Helliar, though an experienced performer and comedian, was largely untried as an actor. "I always look back and go, 'oh that was risky', but at the time I don’t really think about it. I’ve always had enormous faith in Pete as a comedian and as a writer, but from day one of seeing the rushes it’s just surprised me what a charismatic performer he is." Helliar didn’t always feel the same confidence. "Early in the year I was getting worried about how I was going to go: Am I going to stuff up my own movie? What am I going to do with my hands? What’s my worried face going to look like? What’s my concerned face going to look like? How am I going to get those emotions across?" Several sessions with acting coach Greg Stone initially, and then Greg Saunders convinced him not to fear. "They really just said to me do not worry about any of that stuff. In each scene you have an agenda, work out what that is, focus on that and go 100 per cent for that. Everything else will take care of itself. That stripped down acting and took the mystique away." The filmmaking bug has well and truly bitten Helliar, who has a further six movie scripts underway. And while he realised during production just how ambitious his first film was, it hasn’t deterred his enthusiasm. "I said to our producers, 'Weren’t you supposed to tell me that first films are supposed to be done in a warehouse with two actors? You know Saw or Reservoir Dogs'. They said, 'Yeah, we apologise!' But you know it’s been through the support of Laura and Yael and Daina and Village, who backed the script so massively, that we’ve been able to make a movie that’s got a bit of ambition to it," Helliar says. So what did the cast think? Brendan Cowell ("The Monkey's Mask") says what most appealed to him about making "I Love You Too?" was, "Riding a postie bike was a highlight and, working with Peter Dinklage too. Most of the stuff I do is pretty dark and troubled like Noise and Love My Way and Hamlet. I do a lot of pretty intense characters, so I really loved doing something a little lighter and brighter and sweeter." When asked what drew him to the project, 2004 Satellite Award winner Peter Dinklage replied: "The script is what always draws me to projects. Comedy is very tricky and I’ve done a number of them, and some of them work and some of them don’t. With romantic comedy there’s almost a formula that you sort of have to follow but you have to be original within that formula. They’re just tricky to pull off the right way. You have to have fully drawn characters combined with awkward situations, and Peter Helliar really has pulled that off." When asked if he had been to Australia before, he responds: "I haven’t been to Australia before, this is the first time and it’s really beautiful." Yvonne Strahovski revealed she had a head-start when it came to that British accent. "I did three years of drama school and we did all the different accents. I’ve got a thing for accents anyway. I love doing them. Accents really allow you to delve a bit more into a character because you really transform, it’s not you anymore" Bridie Carter gave a 'down to earth' assessment of the film. "This is a romantic comedy with heart and depth; it doesn’t brush over the reality of life, it’s not saying step out of reality and come into this plastic world." And whats on the agenda for Peter Helliar? "Wearing my writer’s hat, I have a novel coming out and am writing for an upcoming drama series based on the book, "The Slap". Later this year, I will play Austen in Sam Shepherd’s play "True West" at STC to be directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman." STC is the premier theatre company in Australia.
What's It All About?
 Jim, a thirty-something guy and Blake, are best mates who love to party with the babes. Blake believes happiness can be found in big nights out and cheap one night stands, despite the fact that Jim always scores and he gets: well nothing. Blake's world is shattered when Jim, who lives in a bungalow behind his sister’s house, has a one night stand that lasts three and a half years with a gorgeous blonde named Alice. Jim is in love with his smart and very together English girlfriend, but he doesn’t have the heart, the guts, the balls to say the three words she longs to hear: I love you. Alice has finally had enough. Being 'into her' doesn't quite stack up. It leads to a break-up. Charlie is a thirty-something widower, who happens to be a dwarf. Despite his short-stature, he is wise, funny, attractive, generous, unbelievably talented with words and the owner of a car Jim has broken into after getting drunk. Despite this, they soon become friends. A desperate Jim believes Charlie's skill with words will help get Alice back. But will they?
The Verdict
"If you're wondering as to whether you may have seen the best bits from "I Love You Too" in the trailer: you can rest easy. That's because as funny as the trailer is, those scenes are not the funniest moments in this delightful film penned by Peter 'Strauchanie' Helliar. For many 'aussie' cinemagoers, "I Love You Too" will make a welcome change from the rom/coms Hollywood usually dishes up. Like "The Marriage of Figaro", Helliar doesn't go for the bleeding obvious or the ridiculous. The characters are earthy and endearing. The storyline reflects what many will have (in part or whole), encountered in real life: a deafening silence after confessing "I Love You". I sure some will relate to the angst it can create in what has been, up to that moment, a happy relationship. While the dilema Alice suddenly faces in "I Love You Too" may seem funny on-screen, it's hard not to feel her pain. Fortunately help comes in the shape of a thirty-something widower, who happens to be a dwarf. The filmmakers should feel blessed that the part Helliar wrote for Peter Dinklage was attractive enough to secure his participation. Securing Dinklage for the role of Charlie was a huge coup, for while he may be short in stature, Dinklage is certainly big on talent. And it shows. His on-screen presence at times, almost obliterates the performances of the other cast members. It's a joy to watch him at work and it's a joy to watch another highly entertaining and quite funny Australian film. "I Love You Too" deserves to be supported, so get into your local multiplex and keep the box-office ticking over. Recommended. SOLID 3 1/2 STARS."
The Production Team
Director
Writer
Producers
Original Music
Cinematography
Film Editor
Casting
Production Design
Art Direction
Set Decoration
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Daina Reid
Peter Helliar
Yael Bergman & Laura Waters
David Hirschfelder
Ellery Ryan
Ken Sallows
Nick Hamon
Jennifer A Davis
Tim Lyall
Lisa Thompson
Who Is Playing Who?
Brendan Cowell
Yvonne Strahovski
Peter Dinklage
Peter Helliar
Megan Gale
Bridie Carter
Travis McMahon
Steve Bisley
Paula Armfield
Hamish Blake
Grant Cartwright
Shannon Meilak
Thor Bloomfield
Frederique Fouche
Stephany Avila
Gavin Harris
Guy Newton
Jason Geary
Rik Brown
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Jim
Alice
Charlie
Blake
Francesca
Marie
Owen
Jim's Boss
Charlie's Mum
Hotel Receptionist
Stylist
Office Worker
Marry Me Guy
Agent
Tania
Football Mate #1
Fottball Mate #2
Mechanic #1
Mechanic #2
Run Time 107 minutes
Rated M [AUST]
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