After The Movie Pages Night Out

"Thank you for the tickets to this. There were four people in my group and we all enjoyed it. We had dinner after to discuss the movie and all agreed that the acting was excellent with a superb cast. There was very good attention to detail in portraying the 60's era (unfortunately we could all remember the 60's)." DENINE M "Thank you for the double movie ticket to go and see ROMULUS, MY FATHER. It was a very good film with a good story to it. Very good cast." FAY B "It was very enjoyable although very sad. ... the actor who played the son did a great job." SUE R "I thought this was a very interesting movie, which was quite a sad and moving story. It was also a good reflection on what life must have been like for some of the migrants to Australia in the 60’s. What the boy Raimond went through as a kid was a pretty hard and sad childhood, and I thought the actor who played this character was brilliant – deserving of an AFI award. An enjoyable movie and fascinating family life." CHRIS O "Not sure what the little boy's name was, but WOW, what an actor! Also loved Eric Bana, never had much time for him before, but sure have more respect for him as a serious actor. Loved the cinematography - such typical Australian images were captured.Also thought the way that the era/time was captured was perfect - the dago's, the wino's, the boarding school, even the marks on Eric Bana's forehead from the EST - absolutely perfect attention to detail." PETRINA B

"Richard Roxborough has directed a dramatic and very beautiful film. The scenery is first class and Eric Bana and Kodi Smith-McPhee were great." ANN H "I thought it was a really good film; very touching and the acting was great especially the young boy. Eric Bana does good portrayals." YIN-YIN O "What a touching film, Eric Bana was superb, even without saying much." CHRISTINA M "casting was perfect with Kodi Smit-mcPhee & Eric Bana trying to keep their extended family together. Made me feel quite thankful for the childhood I had." JEAN B "It was well cast, making the film very realistic, set against rural Australia. As soon as the lights went up, Terri turned to me and said, "My dad had a ute just like that; same colour and everything". Now I want to read the book." DIANE D "really enjoyed Romulus, My Father last night, despite it putting me off boiled eggs for life. It was dark and bleak and at the same time uplifting. The despair of poverty was brilliantly portrayed, as was the coming to terms with life in a new country and the combined effect on relationships between family and friends. But the bond between father and son shone through. The acting was top class, particular Bana and the young boy. Good to see another, although rare these days, top Australian movie." PETER G

From The Director I read the book "Romulus, My Father" eight years ago. I finished it in one sitting, and decided immediately that somehow I was going to make a film of it. The story of "Romulus, My Father" appealed to me on a gut level. It centres on a battered little migrant family, and is set in the Victorian bush at the end of the second world war. The cast of characters is drawn with great philosophical detail by Gaita. But it is also a heartfelt tory, a vast reservoir of pain, and at times, humour. It is the tale of a boy trying to balance a universe described by his deeply moral father, against the experience of heartbreaking absence and neglect from a depressive mother. We follow the boy’s journey through seemingly insuperable tragedy, including his mother’s arrivals and departures, her infidelities, her descent into madness, and her relationship with her husband’s friend which spills with horrible inevitability, into death. And then perhaps most tragic of all, the fall of Romulus Gaita, the father, the rock, into his own madness, which he at last manages to pull himself out of, seemingly by his own strength of character. All of this witnessed through the eyes of a young boy. The singular thing about this story, given its tragic dimension, its almost biblical reach, is how strangely uplifting it is. Somehow through the pain, there is not only a sense of possibility, but of promise, held in the relationship of that father and son. Finding Romulus Casting Romulus was really difficult because we needed an actor who could, in the most minute way, convey an enormous amount. Eric Bana just came as a bolt out of the blue. I was in Italy and I woke up with that thought and I rang Rob and we thought this is a great idea and so we sent him the script. He then got back to us. Not only did he love the script and the book, but Eric (born Eric Banadinovich) is the son of Ivan Banadinovich (a Croatian immigrant) and Eleanor (who came from a German family. and was a hairdresser). Bana is also a motorcycle enthusiast and a very devoted father to his two children Klaus and Sophia. Bana's breakthrough came IN 2000 with the film "Chopper" in which he played notorious criminal Mark 'Chopper' Read. Bana's performance gained huge critical acclaim and four Best Actor awards: AFI, Film Critics Circle of Australia, If and, Stockholm Film Festival. The 1997 Logie winner (Most Popular Comedy Personality) made his international debut in 2001 appearing as Hoot in the Ridley Scott blockbuster, "Black Hawk Down". A Tragic Mother Then in the casting of Christina we just needed a really wonderful actress. We did a lot of testing for that role. Finally there was just something about casting an actual German in that role that seemed right and it needed to be somebody like Franka Potente. I had seen her in a few films and I felt she was riveting and so we cast her. Franka is very, very strong minded and it’s a wonderful thing. She stands her ground and represents her character very strongly on set at all times. Fans of art house films will recognise the name Franka Potente (pronounced Poe-ten-teh) as the star in Tom Twyker's film "Lola rennt" a.k.a "Run Lola Run". Potente picked up two major awards for her role in the film before moving on to her next role in Twyker's "Der Krieger und die Kaiserin" a.k.a "The Princess and The Warrior". In 2001 she appeared alongside Johnny Depp and Penélope Cruz in the film "Blow". True International fame came when the talented actress (who by the way speaks fluent French, English and German) co-starred with Matt Damon in "The Bourne Identity". In 2004 Potente appeared again as Marie in the sequel "The Bourne Supremacy". A Boy Named Rai The scariest piece of casting that we had to do was to cast the character of Rai. What we needed was a child who had the maturity to go on this big journey and deal with the emotional demand and the physical rigour. So we devoted a few months to trying to find that kid. That came after we’d already cast Romulus and Christina because we needed to anchor those roles really strongly. We had to find someone who could hold the screen and to be to be honest, Kodi (Smit-McPhee) was probably the fiftieth kid we looked at. He walked in and on his first audition said, "I looked it up on the internet". This is a nine-year-old boy and he started talking about the life of Rai Gaita and how sad the story was and how it affected him and he said it in this totally genuine way. And then his audition was just superb; very unmannered and very simple. Kodi is amazing on set. A Best Friend Marton Csokas who plays Hora has created the most beautiful performance. I’d worked with Marton a few years ago in the theatre when I was auditioning for a role of the character of Orsino in The Twelfth Night. I’d never heard of Marton before that and he came in and auditioned for me and he was phenomenal. And I said, "Where did this guy come from?" When the role of Hora came up, it just seemed like it would be something he could do. I knew that he came from a Hungarian background so you know he was acquainted with some of the sensibilities of that world, and the men in that world. Marton Csokas (pronounced CHO-Kash) has been acting professionally for sixteen years in theatre, film and television. After appearing on TV in "Halifax f.p: Swimming with Sharks", "All Saints", "Wildside", "Water Rats" and 10 episodes of "Xena: Warrior Princess", his film breakthrough came thanks the exceptional New Zealand production "Rain" (in which he starred as Cady). It led to roles in a number of major films including; "LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring", "LOTR: The Return of the King", "xXx", "Garage Days", "Timeline", "Kingdom of Heaven" and "Æon Flux". A Brothers Tragedy Russell Dykstra, who plays Mitru, I had worked with for the first time the year before last when I directed a new Australian play called Ray’s Tempest and I cast Dykstra in that as a Russian boyfriend. Russell’s really pretty special because he’s a terrific clown but when you see him restraining that and putting in a performance like that of Mitru, there’s something about that that’s even more wonderful. I though he would be exactly right and I really never thought of anybody else for that role. Dykstra is well known to fans of the "BlackJack" tele-movies. He played the character Buchanan in "BlackJack", "BlackJack: Sweet Science, "BlackJack: In the Money" and "BlackJack: Ace Point Game". After winning an AFI Award Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for "Soft Fruit", Dykstra appeared in the critically acclaimed "Lantana" (2001). The next year he appeared with Marton Csokas, Pia Miranda and Brett Stiller in the film, "Garage Days". Russell will next appear with Golden Globe winning actress Brenda Blethyn in the Australian production "Clubland". Film Bytes The story of the migrant experience in Australia is such a vast and significant part of who we are and what we’ve come to be. We might now be second, third, fourth, fifth generation Australians but prior to that we came from somewhere else, a lot of us, and I think that story of migration, of people transplanted and ending up in incredibly harsh conditions is really at the heart of our civilisation. These people are incredibly hardy and had to survive in an arid, cultural, nomadic condition and there’s something about that world that is really beautiful. Pre-production was doing a lot of location work, obviously commencing with the building of the Frogmore homestead because it was going to be our primary location, the interior and exterior of that building. There was also finalising of the other locations, a lot of scouting and working with Geoffrey Simpson on the visuals and so on. We built Frogmore where Romulus, Christina and Rai set up house, about fifty metres from where it originally stood which gave us a clear sight to the Lillie’s homestead where Romulus had his forge. The film was all shot in and around Maldon in Central Victoria. It was a seven week shoot and five day weeks. The shoot itself was at times exhilarating, though not very often to be brutally honest, because it’s just so hard. I had worked with Director of Photography Geoffrey Simpson A.S.C three times before and he has that poet’s sensibility about him and a very gentle nature and I thought that we needed somebody like that to tell this story. And of course he’s a master of what he does and the film looks absolutely beautiful. Both our Production Designer, Bob Cousins, and our Costume Designer, Jodie Fried, I’d worked with in the theatre before. I just love the combination of those two people together. Bob is a phenomenally gifted man and Jodie is a major force; this real extremely vibrant personality who takes ideas really well. So I was really happy with the team that we managed to get together. Being a director has changed my perspective on a lot of things. It’s changed my perspective of directors, for one thing. And I feel like I need to apologise to a few directors who I’ve worked with along the way! It’s made me aware of what is a good way to be an actor in terms of performance. It’s made me aware of things that I can’t really describe. It’s probably like child birth, you know, you can’t tell somebody about it until you do it. Synopsis

Romulus Gaita has immigrated to Victoria, Australia from his native Yugoslavia with his beautiful German wife, Christina, and their young son, Raimond. Here, on a lonely and harsh rural homestead, Romulus cares for his young son and makes a living as a blacksmith and farm labourer. Tom Lillie and his wife and her sister and the eccentric homeless man, Vacek, are his immediate neighbours. The glamorous Christina, out of place in a desolate and foreign land, increasingly struggles with her role as a mother and wife and deserts their family after she begins an affair with Romulus’s friend, Mitru. Consequently, Raimond is raised mainly by his father who finds solace in his work and the calming presence of the stoic Hora. Mitru and Christina come to Frogmore to stay and things go wrong. Romulus has a devastating accident on his motorbike and ends up in hospital, leaving Hora and Christina to look after Rai. Hora and Christina fight. She returns to live with Mitru. It is the start of a tragic period that will truly test Romulus Gaita.

The Verdict "A beautiful story of love, loyalty, betrayal, heartfelt suffering and redemption akin to a gallery of painted canvasses portraying a bygone era long before the word multiculteralism became a fashionable statement for the integration of migrants into the broad landscape of the Australian community. "Romulus, My Father" is an interesting, down to earth film some may find, in our fast paced, hectic times, feels a little laid-back. By doing so it gives the audience a chance to soak it all up, take it in and enjoy a film that allows them to 'put their feet up', so to speak. The cast are outstanding. The cinematography is exceptional. The soundtrack matches the Central Victoria mood of the film perfectly. Roxburghs direction masterful. The performances of Kodi Smit-McPhee (Raimond) and Marton Csokas (Hora), are to be applauded. Bana is solid as ever. The film is indeed, a moving tribute to Romulus Gaita, assisted migrant blessed with "many fine European talents", and loving father who "was never one to complain". Romulus, "a good and honourable man with inscrutable ideals" passed away in 1996 while in intensive care at the Ballarat Hospital. Very recommended. 4 STARS." Cast & Crew Bytes "ROMULUS MY FATHER" stars .......
AFI Best Actor Award winner Eric Bana ["Chopper", "The Nugget", "Hulk", "Munich" and "Lucky You"]; Franka Potente ["Run Lola Run", "The Princess And The Warrior", "The Bourne Identity" and "The Bourne Supremecy"]; Marton Csokas ["Rain", "Kingdom Of Heaven" and "The Bourne Supremacy"]; 1998 Matilda Award & 1999 AFI Best Actor Award winner Russell Dykstra ["Lantana", "Garage Days" and "Soft Fruit"]; Jacek Koman ["Thank God He Met Lizzie", "Moulin Rouge" and "The Children Of Men"] and Kodi Smit-McPhee ["Stranded", "End Of Town" and "Fatal Contact"] as Rai.
"ROMULUS MY FATHER" was .......
directed by Richard Roxburgh ["Romulus, My Father"]; screenplay by Waterstone’s/Forward Prize recipient Nick Drake ["Hilary and Jackie", "Enigma" and "Iris"]; From the novel "Romulus, My Father" by 1998 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award winner Raimond Gaita ["The Philosopher's Dog" and "Why The War Was Wrong"]; costume design by Jodie Fried ["Little Fish", "Caterpillar Wish" and "Candy"]; production design by Robert Cousins ["Candy"]; edited by four time AFI Best Achievement in Editing Award winner Suresh Ayyar ["Bad Boy Bubby", "Footy Legends" and "The Interview"]; cinematography by three time AFI Award winner Geoffrey Simpson A.C.S ["Oscar and Lucinda", "Shine", "The Navigator" and "Under The Tuscan Sun"]; original music by Basil Hogios ["The Thre Furies"]; produced by Robert Connolly ["The Bank", "Three Dollars" and "The Boys"] and John Maynard ["Sweetie", "The Navigators", "Three Dollars" and "The Bank"]. Who's Who?

Eric Bana Franka Potente Marton Csokas Kodi Smit-McPhee Jacek Koman Veronica Sywak Esme Melville Russell Dykstra Alethea McGrath Terry Norris Esme Melville Nick Peace Laurie Jensen Tom McCathie Eve Parker Maddison Gargiulo Bodie Janka Veronica Sywak Rhys McConnichie Heather Mitchell

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Romulus Christina Hora Rai Vacek Lidia Vukovic Miss Collard Mitru Mrs Lillie Tom Lillie Miss Collard Teacher Taxi Driver Bearded Man Baby Susan Toddler Susan Toddler Rai Lidia Headmaster Television Presenter

Run Time 104 minutes Rated M [AUST] Copyright ©2007 - Dendy Films - All Rights Reserved ©2007 All Rights Reserved - Protected by Australian & International Copyright. Trademark Laws Apply.