0/5

Nadine Garner: “Why is it ok to not have a film industry?”

Nadine Garner laments the rise of Television has come at the expense of our Film industry.

2014-03-10_2149She won an AFI Best Actress Award at the age of 19 for the film Mull, but industry survivor Nadine Garner isn’t confident she will ever have the opportunity to win another.

While she has been prolific as a Television and Stage actress Garner harbors some regret that her career began after the Australian Film renaissance in the 1970s.

“As actors we all want to do film, but it’s a bit of a sadness to me that throughout my career the Australia film industry has faltered to the extent that it has. It had its heyday before my time, and probably will (return) after my time,” she says.

“Film is still a glorious and romantic medium that we all as actors want to be part of, but it just doesn’t seem to be working out that way.

“I’d like to do more film work but I don’t know in Australia if that’s going to be possible.

“I just can’t see Australia finding its relevance as a film-making culture unless the government gets behind it and says ‘Let’s regenerate this industry.’

“All our good writers are leaving feature film writing to write for television. You need talent and endurance to make a good film because it takes about 7 years.

“I think it’s a shame that we are prepared to cast the film industry aside. Why isn’t this being discussed? Why isn’t it in the papers? Why isn’t anyone saying, ‘Where are our Australian feature films?’” she asks.

“Why is it ok not to have a Film industry? We’re a unique culture. We can make great films. Why is it ok not to have one? Israel wouldn’t put up with it. France wouldn’t put up with it.”

But while Garner acknowledges the prolific state of the Television industry, she says it is no longer the poor sibling to Film.

“If it wasn’t for Television we probably wouldn’t have AACTA Awards because most of the awards are about Television. Although you wouldn’t know that because the Film Industry has tickets on itself about being Film and not Television.

“At the end of the day what’s being made in this country is Television. And what’s being made well is Television and what’s being watched is Television,” she insists.

“The filmmakers that we know and love might have to pop down a few pegs and acknowledge that we’re the ones keeping on, keeping on. They’re the ones who are actually struggling for stories to tell. Where are they, actually?”

Currently appearing in The Doctor Blake Mysteries for the ABC, she attributes the renaissance in Television to improved audience tastes.

“I think it’s to do with long-form storytelling. We can’t necessarily tell a great yarn in 90 minutes. People want more intricate storytelling and character development. I think it’s to do with people having evolved as consumers of story.”

In her second season of Doctor Blake, Garner plays housekeeper Jean Beazley. Performing alongside Craig McLachlan (‘Lucien Blake’), the pair have established a nuanced relationship: Jean is employee, assistant sleuth, and distant admirer of her employer.

“She’s a woman of principal and she’s been in that house for a long time. She knows it better than Lucien does because she was the original housekeeper for the father,” she says.

“It’s an interesting relationship territorially because she’s more than just a housekeeper. It’s her home as well, she’s been there for 20 years.

“I think she watches herself very carefully to make sure she’s not over-stepping the mark and being too familiar.

“She’s also very careful about her conduct with the doctor because it’s often misconstrued by the society around them. She’s very aware of being proper and formal at all times. Which is very admirable.”

Yet while Jean burns a candle for Lucien, she maintains her discretion in this most period piece.

“I don’t think she would fully allow herself to acknowledge that, even in her own heart. She’s there as a working person, who doesn’t really see herself as a contender,” Garner explains.

“She’s the sounding board for Blake because she’s got the lowdown on all the townsfolk, having been a Ballarat fixture for so long.

“She’s the font of information which he utilises. He uses her as a sort of moral compass and she uses him as a way of broadening her own inner life, because hers is pretty straight-forward.

“It’s intriguing for a man and a woman to share a home and not be sexually involved. With our contemporary principles and mores, we find that extraordinary. It’s a discipline that we wouldn’t really see today.”

The Doctor Blake Mysteries is ABC’s highest rated local drama of late, last week netting 871,000 viewers.

Garner says the complexities of her role and relationship with Lucien make the role of Jean deeply satisfying.

“I always feel that the scenes I have with Craig have to be treated really carefully, because she has to be so many things and still be true to herself and her duty. But also allow her to be the human being and the woman as well,” she says.

“Intellectually for me it’s delicious. I don’t need many scenes because what I get is enough.

“I never say ‘I don’t have enough to do in this show!’ because everything I get is deeply intricate for me.”

While the murder mystery elements drive the Doctor Blake plot, it’s in stark contrast to her former role as Detective Jennifer Mapplethorpe in City Homicide. Garner spent 5 years in the Seven series, but concedes the brutal crime scenes weighed heavily on her.

“I used to really not look forward to those,” she admits.

“By the end of it I was so sick of blood and the horrible crimes. They were really awful.

“At least it (was) not real. At the end of the day it’s make believe. I feel sorry for the people who do have to deal with that stuff every day.

“But 4 or 5 years of anything is enough. When you become blasé about it… it was time for me and I was definitely getting tired of the procedural. City Homicide was very procedural and language-heavy. It wasn’t ‘legalese’ but it slipped into that sometimes. Like those big medical shows, they are hard to learn and you have to look like you know what you’re doing.

“The preparation is immense.”

Looking back on her TV career that includes The Henderson Kids, RAW FM, House Rules, Blue Water High, Changi, A Country Practice, Blue Water High, she nominates working alongside Joanna Lumley in 1994’s Class Act as a personal highlight.

“She was everything you want from a human being! I learned a lot from being around her,” she says.

“Working in London was fun and being paid nicely, not having to struggle on the bones of your arse, door-knocking. That was good.”

Garner concedes that despite periods of unemployment she has no desire for the Hollywood career that so many younger actors pursue.

“I don’t see my career the way other people do. People say ‘You’re always working!’ but no. I’ve had lots of very lean times. It’s hair-raising and even more hair-raising when you have children,” she explains.

“When I do something like Doctor Blake that ticks all the boxes I feel blessed, but I never ever presume there is always something around the corner. I’m very happy to quietly build my career. I don’t have any big aspirations.

“(Hollywood opportunities weren’t) in place when I came through and now it is, but it’s not for me. I’m the wrong time. But I wouldn’t swap my career for anything.

“There are still loads of people in Australia that I haven’t worked with.

“As far as I’m concerned, everything I need is here.”

The Doctor Blake Mysteries 8:30pm Friday on ABC1.

11 Responses

  1. To a large extent I have to agree with Mr J.

    When the Australian film industry makes a Red Dog, people watch it. When they make things that they know full well few people will watch, few people do.

    This said, I don’t understand why such narrow market films are sold to the commercial networks and screen late at night during summer, without much promotion.

    Such movies would be highlights of the SBS or ABC schedule. Far more people would watch them than currently do in the cinemas. Surely the government can add a clause to funding deals that includes non-exclusive rights for the public broadcasters, say after 3 years of the initial release.

  2. Government has everything to do with the state of the Australian film industry. The Coalition government endorsed by the Labor Party coming to power introduced the Producer Offset. It has led to no more money for real Australian film stories. By redefining what an Australian film is under the tax act films such as The Great Gatsby, Gods of Egypt and The Lego Movie now receive a subsidy of 40% of Australian spend. Over a 100 million plus subsidy in just three films and there are others. It has become a manufacturing subsidy for Hollywood studios, a far cry from why subsidy was created in the first place. In the light of the Coalition’s withdrawal of subsidy from local car manufacturers I don’t know why they think subsidising Hollywood is any different. Go ask George Brandis and Joe Hockey.

  3. Also one of the biggest problems is that the Australian film industry is a closed one. It’s not about ability or great writing, it’s who you know.

    Look at the movie Saw, James Wan and Leigh Whannell had tried to sell their script to studios in Melbourne before Hollywood bought and produced the movie.

    It’s hard to get your script looked by producers, let alone find the money to finance something you strongly believe in.

  4. It’s not a question of having no film industry just a smaller one. The international films that came here for the low dollar went somewhere cheaper when it rose.

    The main problem is that people aren’t watching films especially Australian ones. The market is fragmented, people are busy, have DVDs, the internet, and TV is doing more interesting stories. High ticket prices don’t help and when people do go it is to see a known blockbuster.

    The Government doesn’t determine what people will watch.

  5. I think Mr J has it slightly skewed, Australian films were often successful because they were not mainstream, they were uniquely Australian. The Castle, Priscilla, Muriel’s Wedding, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Wolf Creek, Mad Max just to name a few.

    What changed was the “Hollywood-ization” of our industry, we became a little Hollywood clone and what made our films special was lost. The biggest market for movies is the US and we tried to make movies that appealed to them, normally good financial sense, however it took something away and we end up here, with our old friend cultural cringe.

    Australia had it up until the 70’s (you simply had to go to London to make a name), we became proud in the 80’s, peaking in in the Bicentennial celebrations only to be destroyed when wrapped around the shoulders of racist rioters.

    Now we have it in full measure, being too Australian makes…

  6. The real proof for me of a healthy industry is seeing our artists make films all over the world. Actors, writers, directors, craftsmen, designers,,,,

  7. It’s a great question, and a terrific catalyst for discussion. There are so many factors integral to the issue. Nadine’s award win sat in between the surge of renaissance for films and then a shift away from art house into more popular fare in the 1990’s. The 2000’s have seen a dwindling of visibility for Australian films in general. The cost of making features; the time it takes for passion projects to be developed, funded, made etc; the fact that Australians pay among the highest amount at the box office to see films, the cultural cringe that still exists as Mr J refers to; the fact that so few first time directors of an acclaimed film never make another feature – too hard to get funding. There are always a dozen or more features released each year of a variety of genres. Only the 1980’s saw the boom with 10ba tax incentives and with that came a lot of movies and a lot of duds…

  8. The film industry brought this on themselves. For too long they refused to make mainstream, broad-targetted movies that people wanted to watch. Alienated mainstream Australia, and with no audience there is no industry. So many times I have seen people interested in a movie, find out it is australian then say ‘oh well, it’s probably crap then, never mind’

    The tv industry has a great mixture of mainstream commercial drama and niche indie drama, and the audience respond.

Leave a Reply