What Do The Critics Say?

"Tom Russell and Kodi Smit-McPhee are really touching as the children battling this horrible disease, and they give the film its heart and soul. Less involving are the adult characters, partly because they behave improbably at times. And Merissa's efforts to track down her husband's past lovers and the way she confronts them aren't entirely convincing. There's a lot to appreciate in a film which is really about the very basics: life, love and death. I'm giving it three and a half stars." David Stratton AT THE MOVIES "Based on a story by Lynne Renew, who also wrote the screenplay with Parker, we are confronted by serious issues facing a family in times of adversity as well as serious discomforts as the imperfections of the characters are brought under the spotlight. Eliciting superb performances from her lead actors, Tass delivers a potent drama about human relationships and vulnerabilities." Louise Keller URBAN CINEFILE "I found it really, really moving. I think those two kids are really amazing and I used to think that Hollywood could produce child actors at a rate of knots. Every time they grew up there was another crop of young-uns that were so splendid and now we're doing it. We're producing some really find young actors. I really think that. I liked this film. I did cry in it. I'm giving it four stars." Margaret Pomeranz AT THE MOVIES "Nadia Tass's Matching Jack is a hard sell. It's about two young boys with leukaemia. But Tass and screenwriters Lynne Renew and David Parker have come up with a couple of imaginative distractions in their efforts to save it from being written off as a film only a masochist could love. Russell's Jack has a sunny stoicism that persists through all the sad and painful stages of his illness, and after his heavy-hitting roles in "Romulus, My Father" and "The Road", Smit-McPhee has matured into an actor with the potential to do just about anything." Sandra Hall SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

"Built on a premise that would make Pedro Almodovar proud, Matching Jack is a gripping melodrama that explores a complex set of relationships amidst the intensity of deadly illness. The cast are excellent: Kodi Smit-McPhee is a standout as the ailing young Finn, as is James Nesbitt as his devoted dad. Tom Russell makes a good fist of Jack, the youngster battered and confused by the combination of illness and parental conflict, and Yvonne Strahovski makes an impact as the current mistress, Veronica. Thoughtful and compassionate, Matching Jack is a satisfying work from all concerned." Andrew L Urban URBAN CINEFILE "You have to commend director Nadia Tass. This smorgasbord of sorrow could have been the grimmest movie ever, but by deftly weaving gentle humour into the mournful storyline, she somehow manages to raise a few smiles between the tidal waves of tears. Matching Jack centres on such sensitive issues that any criticism can come off like a curmudgeonly slight. Beautifully played and powerfully moving." David Michael Brown EMPIRE MAGAZINE "Nadia Tass's new film stars Jacinda Barrett and Richard Roxburgh as a stylish, inner city Melbourne couple, Marisa and David, whose world is rocked by two painful revelations. Their young son is diagnosed with cancer, and Marisa finds out that David has been sleeping around for years. Sentimental? Yes, all right. Contrived? Here and there. But so is life on a children's cancer ward a series of desperate contrivances, among them clowns leaping around trying to make sick children laugh. Matching Jack draws on three true stories, about two kids on a cancer ward, and their parents." Julie Rigg MOVIE TIME ABC Matching Jack is a wonderfully warm and moving film that does its plentiful heartstring-pulling in an honest, non-manipulative way. Australian director Nadia Tass navigates this material beautifully. Its affirming and often funny, while never losing sight of the pain at its core." Erin Free FILMINK

The Making Of Matching Jack "Matching Jack" was shot over six weeks in Melbourne. Pre-production was officially 6 weeks before that, but work on the film had actually started years earlier. The first additional team that came on board was the production designer and set dresser so that we could get a jump on some of the more difficult art department elements, namely the figureheads, the hospital and the boat shed. There were no studio builds on the shoot; it was an all location shoot, but some of the major locations required extensive adjustments before they were camera ready. The prime location was a disused hospital, which the art department were able to transform into a fully working hospital. The other major location was a boatshed at Williamstown, which is normally the local Sea Scouts boat shed, but again, the art department transformed it, this time into a workshop where Connor carves his extraordinary ships figureheads. The boatshed was a windowless boat storage shed; the art department turned it into a very functional workshop, furnace and living area. Doors were added, windows were cut into the walls, and the roller door was changed to a wooden sliding door. Work benches, figureheads and machinery were trucked in. It looked like it had been there for years, and 2002 BIF Award winner James Nesbitt ("Bloody Sunday") made it his own from the day he first walked in there. The scenes with Kodi and Jimmy in this space are magical; they are some of the most tender, most delicate moments in the film. The shoot itself was restricted because we have two children in this film: they can only work a certain period of time per day; they need to be tutored and they can’t work past ten oclock at night. So the schedule became quite a complex document that interweaved adult actors with young actors, locations, and the required light for each scene. Often D.O.P David Parker ("The Big Steal") would require a scene to be shot in 'magic hour' or dusk so everything had to be well organized in advance without intruding on the overall day’s shooting schedule. As we were shooting in winter, our days were short, so we would often start with day scenes, then move into night scenes. In the hospital we were able to avoid this problem by choosing a hospital ward that could be lit for day or night at any time of the day. The gaffer, Brendan Madden ("Where the Wild Things Are"), and his crew, were able to remotely change the hospital corridor lights from day to night saving an enormous amount of time and therefore, money. The shoot was preceded by a rehearsal period. Rehearsals took place in a local hall. AFI Award winning director Nadia Tass ("Malcolm") would bring actors in one by one, then in two’s, as she would start to work the scenes and the characters in those scenes. The family unit had to feel real, the relationship of the two boys needed careful honing, and the development of the relationship between Marisa and Connor needed careful marking in its development and its intensity. The two boys needed particular attention. Tom Russell as Jack has a wonderful, open, childlike quality that needed to be channelled into a fine, controlled performance and Kodi, after hearing what was required of him, would then figure out ways of arriving at particular points in his characters arc. Nesbitt would constantly refer to Kodi as Brando. He found his scenes with Kodi to be some of the most extraordinary experiences of his acting career. The two boys together light up the screen: the older wiser Finn leading the younger, exuberant Jack as they sail the uncharted waters of the oncology ward is at one time gut wrenching and another heart warming. The atmosphere on the set was jovial when setting up, but once actors were on set, the atmosphere changed to a quiet, professional air. As many of the scenes were complex, emotional and demanding, everyone respected the need to give the actors the safe platform that they needed to give their best performances. We shot on Sony F23 digital cameras, but also carried a 35mm camera for some shots where D.O.P David Parker felt that a filmic capture was more appropriate. The first three weeks of filming was in locations primarily in Williamstown, a bayside suburb of Melbourne. We had great co-operation from the local council. All the sailing sequences and other boat scenes were filmed here as well. Williamstown has a great sailing community and we were able to draw on local sailors and clubs to help us. On the day we shot the boys sailing sequences, there was virtually no wind at all. We had to re-arrange the day and were lucky enough to have a breeze pick up in the afternoon. Neither boy had sailed before, so they had lessons in the rehearsal period to give them a crash course in the fundamentals. We actually hid a young sailor in Jack’s boat, just in case something went wrong. The other sailing boat in the film is the 'boat' that Connor builds around Finn’s bed in the hospital. This is a modular construction so that we could show it on screen in its various stages of development. The final bed boat proved to be quite a tricky device to 'sail' around the corridors of the hospital. Nadia wanted a full height shot of the bedboat coming around the corner under full sail and apparently being propelled by a pedestal electric fan. Suffice it to say, there was some wire removal needed on this shot. The hospital we used is the old Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne. It was decommissioned a year earlier, so many of the fittings and all the furniture and beds had to be sourced and re-installed. As it is a non-working hospital it makes a perfect set. There was plenty of power, water, and no restrictions with noise and movement. There was one issue: there was apparently, a ghost on the floor above us; crew who ventured upstairs were aware of 'a presence' and no one particularly wanted to investigate certainly after nightfall. The design work required with the hospital posed a particular set of problems for the production designer, Jon Dowding ("Paperback Hero"). The brief was to make the hospital fairly patient friendly, but without all the bright colours and warmth that most modern children’s hospitals exhibit. This particular hospital had carpeted corridors; Nadia was keen for this corridor to have a polished floor. Given that there was very little money available for such changes, it became the art department’s biggest challenge to source a flooring material that was both functional and cheap. The end result looks every part like it’s been there for twenty years. We were fortunate to have Mark Warner as our editor on this film. Warner has a string of credits including an Academy Award Nomination for Oscar winner "Driving Miss Daisy". Tass ("Mr Reliable") and Warner ("The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep") worked for two months on the picture edit; they worked long and hard on honing the story and juggling the various story threads into their best combination. The music was written over a period of months by well known jazz pianist and composer, Paul Grabowsky ("The Last Days of Chez Nous"). He was able to bring an empathy to the score that permeates the very soul of the film. "Matching Jack" was truly a work of love. Virtually everyone worked for far less than their normal fees. Everyone involved in making "Matching Jack" hope it will stay with cinemagoers forever. After pursuing an academic career in Arts and Education, Nadia Tass began acting and later directing classical and contemporary theatre in Melbourne. She directed her first feature film, "Malcolm", in 1986. Since then she has directed the Australian features "Rikky & Pete" (1987), "The Big Steal" ('89), "Mr Reliable" ('97) and "Amy" ('98). "Amy" received twenty three international awards including Best Film at the Paris Film Festival (99), Grand Prix de Cinecole at Cannes Film Festival (99), Grand Prix Cannes Junior (99), Les Mureaux Grand Prix Cannes Junior (2002) and the Humanitarian Award at Asia Pacific Film Festival (1999). Nadia’s work in the US includes "Pure Luck" (91) for Universal Studios, "The Miracle Worker" (2000) and "Child Star: The Shirley Temple Story" (01) for Disney, "Undercover Christmas" (03) for CBS Network, "Samantha: An American Girl Holiday" (04), and "Felicity: An American Girl Adventure" (05) for Warner Bros/Revolution Studios, and "Custody" for Jaffe Braunstein Films. She also directed "Stark" (93), a mini series for The BBC/ABC television. Graduating from the Central School of Speech and Drama in London in 1987, Irish actor James Nesbitt worked in theatre for seven years before making his debut in the feature film Hear My Song (1991). His 'breakthrough' role as Adam Williams in the romantic comedy-drama "Cold Feet" (1998-2003) won him a British Comedy Award and National Television Award. Nesbitt’s role as 'Pig' Finn in "Waking Ned" (1998) gained him a nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award. He has also appeared in Lucky Break (2003), Jekyll (2007) and Five Minutes of Heaven (2009) alongside Liam Neeson. The role of Connor posed both a refreshing and challenging one for Nesbitt, whose most recent roles have been villains. Nesbitt credits Kodi Smit-McPhee’s talent for the intimate moments found between Connor and Finn: "We formed our own very strong alliance." Australian-born actress Jacinda Barrett worked as a model in Europe before attending the British-American Drama Academy in Oxford with the aim of pursuing a career in acting. Barrett first became known to audiences as a cast member on "The Real World: London" before appearing in "The Human Stain" (2003), "Ladder 49" ('04), "The Namesake" ('06), "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason ('04), "The Last Kiss" ('06) and "New York, I Love You" (2009). "First of all, you don’t see these complex, mature, witty characters enough for women. When you get one it’s immediately enticing. That drew me to her." Roxburgh graduated from prestigious Australian theatrical school NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Arts) in 1986, first gaining attention with his role as corrupt NSW police detective Roger Rogerson in the television miniseries "Blue Murder", for which he won an AFI and a Silver Logie for best actor in a TV series. Following several years working in Australian theatre, in 2000 Roxburgh appeared in his first of a string of international blockbusters, including "Mission: Impossible III" (2000) and "Van Helsing" ('04). He played villainous characters in films such as "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" ('03) and "Moulin Rouge!" ('01). AFI Best Young Actor Award winner Kodi Smit-McPhee ("Romulus, My Father"), who recently appeared with Viggo Mortensen in "The Road" says of his role: "I thought it would be a challenge that is very real to life." South Australia's Tom Russell who has an impressive theatre resume, recently made the move to the big screen appeared with Hugo Weaving in "Last Ride". Tom took his role as a Leukaemia patient seriously, visiting hospitals and studying the illness online to research the role. What's It All About?

Life seems idyllic for Marisa and her son, Jack, until a poor performance at a school soccer match ends with Jack in hospital and Marisa trying to find her husband, David, who is interstate at a conference. In fact, David is planning to leave Marisa for his current mistress, with his phone off and not a care in the world. Jack is diagnosed with leukaemia and the only possibility of a cure is if David has had a child from one of his many flings who could be a bone marrow donor. So Marisa looks back through his diaries, figures when he could have been having affairs, and goes out door knocking. Unsuspecting women face a desperate mother as Marisa searches high and low for possibilities and the full scale of David's infidelity is revealed. Meanwhile, Jack befriends Finn, a young Irish boy in the bed next to him, who has been travelling the world with his father, Connor. Marisa's initial disdain turns to respect as she and Connor find their own way to deal with their respective son's illnesses and the reality that either child may die.

The Verdict "Nadia Tass, who had a string of successes with films such as: "Malcolm" (Colin Friels, Chris Haywood & Charles 'Bud' Tingwell) 1986; "The Big Steal" (Ben Mendelsohn, Claudia Karvan & Steve Bisley) 1990 and "Amy" (Alana De Roma, Rachel Griffiths & Ben Mendelsohn") 1998, returns to the big-screen with what should be, another winner, the highly emotive, "Matching Jack". Leading the strong cast are Brisbane born Jacinda Barrett, who left home at seventeen to pursue a modelling career, later turning to acting and making her feature film debut in "Campfire Tales" (1997) and well known Irish actor James Nesbitt, who is a familiar face on TV having appeared in "Murphy's Law" and "Cold Feet". But it is the young actors who will steal cinemagoers heart. Kodi Smit-McPhee (Cinemades Antipodes St Tropez Best Actor Award for "Romulus, My Father") gives another outstanding performance, this time as the terminally ill Finn. I have no doubts fourteen year old Smit-McPhee has, given the right guidance, a long acting career in front of him. He just goes from strength to strength. Twelve year old Tom Russell who plays Jack is, despite his lack of screen exposure, surprisingly good. Some will argue he is a future star, but only time will tell. While there have been other films in the ilk of "Matching Jack", Tass's film deserves to be judged solely on its own merits. On that basis it scores well. Bring the tissues. Well worth recommending. 4 STARS." The Production Team

Director Writers Story Producers Original Music Cinematography Film Editor Casting Production Design Set Decoration Costume Design

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Nadia Tass Lynne Renew & David Parker Lynne Renew Richard Keddie/David Parker/Nadia Tass Paul Grabowsky David Parker Mark Warner Christine King Jon Dowding Chrissy Feld Edie Kurzer

Who Is Playing Who?

Jacinda Barrett Richard Roxburgh Tom Russell James Nesbitt Kodi Smit-McPhee Yvonne Strahovski Jane Allsop Colin Friels Marg Downey

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Marissa David Jack Connor Finn Veronica Marianne Professor Nelson Nurse Celia

Run Time 103 minutes Rated M [AUST] Copyright ©2010 - Twentieth Century Fox Films - All Rights Reserved ©1999-2010 The Movie Pages & impact Internet Services. All Rights Reserved. Protected by Australian and International Copyright. Trademark Laws and Intellectual Property Rights apply.