".. it’s Hugo Weaving who steals the show with a stunningly brave turn." Erin Free FILMINK "it's Weaving who almost steals the film with his sensational portrait of Lionel." Russell Edwards VARIETY MAGAZINE "Hugo Weaving delivers a revelatory performance." Frank Hatherley SCREEN INTERNATIONAL "Hugo Weaving delivers perhaps his best performance yet as Lionel Dawson, the gay, junkie ex-footballer" "... an unconventional father figure for the film's central character." Vicky Roach SYDNEY MORNING HERALD "Little Fish is a gritty urban drama which weaves together the story of drugs, violence and desperation." "The haunting musical score and the gritty cinematography accentuate the sadness and melancholia of the film." Carmine Pascuzzi MEDIASEARCH

"Hugo Weaving poetically balances the immense weight of four characters in one." Marta Jary ROLLING "Hugo Weaving’s finest work to date." Chris Murray TRIPLE M "Hugo Weaving equals Blanchett in every respect." Michael Adams EMPIRE MAGAZINE "a lot of people are getting excited about Little Fish and stamping it with a "great white hope of the Australian Film Industry" tag." "I will put in my two cents worth and say that this film is not the saviour of our decimated industry - not a chance." Bruce Redman 612ABC BRISBANE "The film's tension very slowly builds to a dramatic conclusion, but the payoff is disappointing. Which seems to be the message of the film: if you want to be happy, don't expect too much." Stephen Webb INSIGHTS

The Inside Story

“a slow-paced film which builds to a tense climax, this features excellent performances with Weaving a standout." Chris Murray OK! MAGAZINE

"Little Fish" is the best film since "Titanic"!! How's that for a statement? Well if you believe that, try this one. "Little Fish" is the best Australian film since "Lantana". Would you believe that? If you did, then I for one must apologize because I think most cinemagoers are far too clever to be sucked in by claims such as these, particularly when they are about Australian films. I don't know about you but I for one am sick and tired of being fed a whole lot of bullshit when it comes to local film. Don't you for one minute believe that the name of the latest offering from the Australian film industry, "Little Fish", should even be mentioned in the same breathe as "Lantana" which grossed some $A12.287 million at the box-office. Now that was a classy film but even it wasn't in the same league as our most popular local production "Crocodile Dundee" which took a whopping $A47.707 million at the box-office. Could that be cinemagoers prefer comedy over drama no matter how good the quality is of say two products given that both are of an equal standard? Let me remind you just how good "Crocodile Dundee" did here at the box-office. It is ranked 4th on the all-time Australian list to Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The Ring" [#3]; "Shrek 2" [#2] and the top grossing film screened in Australia; "Titanic" [#1] with $A57.643 million. Now if that doesn't impress you, let me go a step further and just mention a few really big films our "Crocodile Dundee" beat at the box-office; LOR I & II, "Finding Nemo", "Shrek", "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", "Babe", all the "Star Wars" films, "Indepenence Day", all the "Harry Potter" films, "Pretty Woman", "Forrest Gump", "Gladiator", "Jurrasic Park" and the list goes on. And just to make matters worse, the films I've named are all in the top 35 all-time top grossing aussie box-office list and guess which film comes in at #35? Go to the front of the class all those 'clever dicks' who knew the answer was, "Crocodile Dundee II". What makes an even more compelling [or damning] arguement for our home grown films of late is that Dundee screened way back in 1986 and Dundee 2 in 1988. And why would that be even more bad news for our films in recent times? Because it cost around half the price to see a movie in 1986 compared to what we now pay to see a movie. When you throw in a film about a pig called "Babe" [#11/ $A36,776 million], then "Lantana" did a mighty job to do as well as it did. Now we have a new player on the market, "Little Fish". I would suggest there is a lot hanging on this film, especially with Cate Blanchett playing the lead character. "Little Fish" is a film about a former drug addict, who wants to borrow money from the very institutuions she was convicted of ripping off through credit card fraud, and spend it buying a video shop which she plans to expand by having as part of the business an 'Internet Cafe', and who finally ends up stealing her employers money to invest in a drug deal planned by her drug dealing amputee brother Ray and her lying scumbag ex-boyfriend Jonny who claims he's going straight as a Stock Broker [and yes she's shagging him]. Gee, even I could have told Tracy Heart the banks would have to be out of their cottin pickin minds to lend her money for any venture proposition involving an internet cafe`. Nearly everyone knows of at least one internet cafe` that has folded. That would have made the lenders rejection of her business plan a lot more believable. To be really honest readers,"Little Fish" is so slow that were it a competitor in the Olympic swimming trials it would not have made it to the qualifying heats. While the plot may sound tempting, "Little Fish" is actually a pretty boring film to watch and is only saved by the last ten minutes or so of its run time. Does that mean there's nothing good I can say about "Little Fish"? Before I do, remember this one very important point. I didn't part with $15 to see it, unlike many others cinemagoers will. I saw it for free and I'm writing on its value when it comes to as I always say, "parting with your hard earned cinema dollars." So what's good about "Little Fish" that might just tempt you to part with your 'dosh'? Hugo Weaving is good. No he's not! He's bloody good. In fact he's the best the film offers. His performance as former Rugby League star Lionel Dawson is one of his very best to date. It's a complicated role in which Weaving's character is a drug addict and a homosexual who is on a downhill slide and heading for disaster. Weaving has had some great roles during his career including Elrond in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy; Agent Smith in "The Matrix" trilogy and most recently Alan in "Peaches". What makes this role standout is 'that kiss' which will surely shock some in the audience. Director Rowan Woods notes, "one could argue that for story reasons, the role of Lionel would be the most important if the movie was to finally succeed." As for Weaving taking the role he says, "Hugo Weaving’s casting as Lionel turned out to be a magical turning point. I was fretting and dawdling on the role for a long time. And even when I cast Hugo, I was still freaking out. I had no doubt about Hugo’s brilliant craft, but the Lionel role was an almighty challenge. Playing a homosexual, heroin addicted, ex-rugby league champion was only part of it. Unless the audience ended up loving the character, we didn’t have a movie. I now thank my lucky stars we had Hugo in the role." Weaving was attracted to the challenges playing this character would create for him. "Lionel is so far removed from where my life is, but I was instantly excited by the prospect of playing him, because he exists in a number of different worlds," Weaving says. "Not only is he a football hero, he's also a heroin user of some 15 to 20 years, plus he’s in a kind of gay subculture. So there are a number of elements in his character, which you wouldn't necessarily see in the same character on the screen. It’s a very ambitious piece of writing. The challenge for me was to meld all those aspects of his character." If some are shocked by the frankness of Weavings role, they will be taken aback by the role Sam Neill plays, that of Lionel's ex-lover known as Bradley 'The Jockey' Thompson. It's a dark role indeed but one Neill does well. "There's quite a lot of, you know, off-white and grey tones, but if there is someone who's really vile, it's The Jockey," Neill explains. "But you know every bad guy has his reasons and you can't play people like that in a convincing way unless you have some sort of empathy. The Jockey’s been involved in quite a number of things, some of them not illegal particularly… he's probably been involved in some property development for instance, and depending on your view of property developers, that's been consistent with the sort of man that The Jockey is. He's gone through a messy divorce; he has grown up children that he doesn't see much any more. He lives in Sylvania Waters with a kind of respectable front for a rather seedy life, and he's made money from manufacturing and distributing amphetamines and owns brothels. At the same time he's a very conservative bloke." The lead role of Tracy Heart went to the person I've often described as "the best actress this country has ever produced", Academy Award winning actress Cate Blanchett. "Being such a white-bread, middle-class girl and not having any exposure myself, I needed to do a lot of research," she recalled. "I mean I understand the nature of having an addictive personality, you know, having friends who've gone through that, but what I found fascinating about Tracy as an addict, and what Rowan and I talked about a lot as a recovering addict, is that Tracy didn't fit neatly into a model." According to Vince Sheehan "When Cate Blanchett attached to Little Fish, the project shifted a gear. For creative reasons, Rowan wanted to invite Cate into the filmmaking team. I agreed and was excited by the common desire we all had to keep the project independent, to keep control of a particular vision inherent to Rowan and Cate’s needs." Tracy's on-screen, younger brother Ray, is played by Martin Henderson. Woods was enthusiastic about having Henderson on board after he'd "seen Marty in The Ring opposite Naomi Watts and I thought he stole the movie. I also had remembered him as a fantastic actor from Australian TV. When we met in LA, he expressed a concern at being offered lots of predictable studio genre roles in Hollywood. He loved the Little Fish screenplay," Woods says and "he looked like Cate’s brother and struck me as a wonderfully committed actor, so his casting was a no-brainer." Casting an actress to play Tracy's mother Janelle wasn't quite as easy because there was pressure on Woods to use an overseas actress "as an opportunity to shore up a US/UK presale." "I seriously considered making Janelle a British immigrant with a view to accommodating a very famous British actress who the US finance wanted in the role," Woods said. "We then moved on to Noni Hazlehurst who is a revelation in the role." While all this sounds very appealing I must point out that watching "Little Fish" is a little like boiling a kettle with a candle. It's all very pedestrian, very dark, depressing and it only comes alive in the last ten minutes of it's run time. And while it will have high appeal to those who love a gritty art-house/designer films the 'carrot on the string' for those who don't normally find films such as "Lantana", "The Bank", "Silent Partners", "He Died With A Felafel In His Hand", "Gettin' Square", "Peaches" or the excellent "Oyster Farmer" good fare, will be seeing Cate Blanchett in the lead and Hugo Weaving leaving no doubt as to the brilliance of his acting ability. Those with a love of feasting out on indie, art-house or 'non-commercial' productions should get a fare return for the cinema dollars they invest in seeing "Little Fish". Of course, you could go just to see Hugo Weaving, couldn't you? Or our Cate? Crew Bytes "LITTLE FISH" was .......
directed by Rowan Woods ["Tran The Man" and "The Boys"]; screenplay by Jacqueline Perske [TV'S "Big Sky", "The Secret Life Of Us" and "Fireflies"]; costume design by Melinda Doring ["The Two-Wheeled Time Machine", "Mullet" and "Walking on Water"]; production design by Luigi Pittorino ["The Boys", "The Bank", "The Man Who Sued God", "Travelling Light" and "Three Dollars"]; edited by John Scott ["The Return of Captain Invincible", "Windrider", "Rabbit-Proof Fence" and "The Quiet American"] and Alexandre de Franceschi ["Down Rusty Down", "La Spagnola", "In The Cut" and "We Don't Live Here Anymore"]; cinematography by Danny Ruhlmann ["Tulip", "In A Savage Land", "The Nugget" and "The Night We Called It a Day"]; set decoration by Beth Garswood ["Star Wars Episode II", "Danny Deckchair" and "Deck Dogz"] produced by Richard Keddie ["Waiting At The Royal", "Wonderboy", "My Brother Jack" and "After the Deluge"], Vincent Sheehan ["The Sapphire Room", and "Mullet"] and Liz Watts ["One That Got Away", "Island Style", "Buried Country" and "Walking On Water"]. Casting About "LITTLE FISH" stars .......
Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild awar winner Cate Blanchett ["Bandits", "Charlotte Gray", "The Missing", "Veronica Guerin", "Elizabeth" and "The Aviator"]; Hugo Weaving ["Russian Doll", "LOR I, II & III", "The Matrix I, II & III", "Everything Goes" and "Peaches"]; Martin Henderson ["Windtalkers", "The Ring", "Torque" and "Bride & Prejudice"]; Two time AFI Best Actress Award winner Noni Hazlehurst ["Fatty Finn", "Monkey Grip", "Waiting" and "Waiting at the Royal"]; 1998 New Zealand Film & Television Award Best Actor winner Joel Tobeck ["The Summer The Queen Came", "Memory and Desire", "Perfect Strangers" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" and "Stealth"]; Susie Porter ["Better Than Sex", "Monkey’s Mask", "Two Hands" and "Bootmen"]; Linda Cropper ["Teesh and Trude" and TV'S "White Collar Blue", "All Saints" and "Farscape"]; Jason Chong ["In the Red", "The Dark Redemption", "Better Than Sex" and "The Pact"] and Sam Neill ["The Horse Whisperer", "The Dish", "Dirty Deeds", "Perfect Strangers" and "Wimbledon"] as Bradley Thompson. What It's All About Tracy Heart is 32 years old and after a stint on the drugs, thanks to her step-father Lionel, has stayed clean for four years and holds down a job at a Video Shop in the western suburbs of Sydney. "I swim, I work, I sleep." And Tracy dreams. Dreams of getting a loan. Of buying the shop. Putting in an Internet Cafe`. Of making something for herself in life. But her past keeps catching up with her and casting dark, foreboding shadows across her life. Her criminal activities while on heroin exclude her from a loan, her amputee brother is selling drugs, her stepfather Lionel needs her help to get off heroin and now her ex-boyfriend Jonny is back in town. At least Jonny has found respectability. He's been working in Canada and carving out a career as a stockbroker. Or has he? Like anything to do with hard drugs there's always another side to the story. The lies. The cheating. And the disappointment. When everything comes crashing down you can only turn to the people you know. Tracy Heart is at a crossroad. Which one she takes will define her future. It's all come down to choice. The Verdict "Most cinemagoers will find this a cut above a good telemovie. Sure the cast do a good job and Hugo Weaving is brilliant, but the pace is pedestrian until near the end, the films very dark [as it should be] but there's no light at the end of the tunnel. Most cinemagoers would opt for something bright, cheery and uplifting at the moment and that may be the downfall of "Little Fish". It's a big ask and with Cate Blanchett in the lead role as Tracy there's a lot riding on this latest film from "The Boys" director Rowan Woods and his screenwriter wife Jacqueline Perske which features as I've already noted, a terrific performance by Hugo Weaving. It's dark! It will shock! It's "Little Fish". Definately not an attractive film to those who feed off big budget commercial films but those who find arthouse, indie and festival style productions good fare will get enough out of it. Worth seeing? Like Tracy Heart, it all comes down to choice. The Cast

Cate Blanchett Sam Neill Hugo Weaving Martin Henderson Noni Hazelhurst Dustin Nguyen Joel Tobeck Lisa McCune Susie Porter Nina Liu Linda Cropper Daniela Farinacci Ferdinand Hoang Anh Do Jason Chong Anthony Wong Bic Runga Natasha E Beaumont Lisa Bailey Lan Tran Wesley Wong Andrew Tran Thi Lan Nguyen Thi Ngoc Nga Nguyen Penny Pedersen Jacqueline Mikhail Ali Ammouchi Anthony Phelen Steve Vella Rachel Aveling Ian Roberts Georgia Emerton Alex Cook Rebecca Bell Samuel Patterson Peter Tkacz

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Tracy The Jockey Lionel Ray Janelle Jonny Moss Laura Jenny Mai Denise Donna Khiem Tran Mingh Mr Chan Night Club Singer Tania Suzy June David Jason Old Nanna Lei Real Estate Agent Nahal John Michael Nick Receptionist Marty Sammy Little Tracy Young Janelle Little Ray Young Lionel

The Crew Directed by Rowan Woods Written by Jacqueline Perske Produced by Richard Keddie/Vincent Sheehan/Liz Watts Cinematography by Danny Ruhlmann Film Editing by John Scott & Alexandre de Franceschi Casting by Ann Robinson Production Design by Luigi Pittorino Set Decoration by Beth Garswood Costume Design by Melinda Doring Run Time 114 minutes Rated MA15+ [AUST] Copyright ©2005 - FFCA - All Rights Reserved Copyright Protected © 2005 - Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved