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Why Tim Minchin said yes to Upright

He says no a lot more than yes to projects, but Tim Minchin is in boots-and-all on his new Foxtel series.

“Chris came up with the idea, absolutely, to have a man crossing the desert with a piano,” says Tim Minchin.

But Chris Taylor’s concept for Upright still needed the star it would find in performer Tim Minchin.

As Minchin tells TV Tonight, he wasn’t about to sign on without being in boots-and-all, creatively, on the 8 part Foxtel series.

“It was developed to a certain extent by Leon Ford, Kate Mulvany, Chris and Lingo Pictures to get it to a pitch document for me. That got them to having the (episode 1) car crash with a working class teenage girl.”

‘When I do things, I get obsessed by them and go very hard at it”

“But I sort of have to explain to people when they ask me ‘Would you do this project?’ that when I do things, I get obsessed by them and go very hard at it. So I sort of said, ‘Well, I’ll do it but I need to be an executive producer and I want to write on it.’ From that point forward, it was all four of us sitting in a room just chewing over stories.

“So a lot of the story is mine but a lot of the stories are everyone’s really.”

Upright stars Minchin as Lucky Flynn who, upon learning that his mother is dying, decides to drive to the other side of Australia to see her, bringing his upright piano. But his plans are soon turned upside down when he meets the rogue teenager Meg (Milly Alcock). Together they forge an unlikely friendship, as they embark on a road-trip adventure across the Nullarbor Plain.

Minchin, whose screen projects have included Californication, The Secret River, Squinters and No Activity, says no to projects a lot more than yes.

“I would say ‘No’, because I don’t think I’m a presenter”

“I’ve just said no to stuff for years, because I always thought I want to act and I want to do proper narrative stuff. I’d get offered panel shows or pilots of late night music shows. And and I would say ‘No’, because I don’t think I’m a presenter. Against all evidence, I thought maybe I could act,” he explains.

“In England, I’ve got a really big audience but I haven’t ‘cashed in my chips’. I haven’t delivered on the promise of my profile. So I kind of put all those chips into Upright.’

The series plays on both Foxtel in Australia and SKY Atlantic in the UK. Canadian pay TV network Super Channel has now also picked it up. Filming took place in South Australia and WA, including challenging days in Kalgoorlie.

“There’s always tough days,” he acknowledges. “We were shooting in Kal with two days to get a whole episode in a two-up shed, shooting through the night with 120 Kalgoorlie miners as extras. Then one of the extras faints and production is shut down for an hour, and then you have to ride out a huge electrical storm where the Third AD is yelling ‘Get in a vehicle with rubber tyres!’

“This is a big action scene at the end of episode seven and we’re not going to get it'”

“I’m sitting there almost in tears thinking ‘We are leaving Kalgoorlie tomorrow and this is a big action scene at the end of episode seven and we’re not going to get it!'”

In contrast, some scenes went like clockwork.

“We were trying to shoot a scene where Lucky gets bitten on the foot by a snake… and you can’t train snakes. But it slithers up to me, lifts its head and puts it on my ankle where the make-up department had already marked out where the bite would be.”

In addition to being star and an executive producer, Minchin wrote several scripts for the show which has 30 minute episodes.

“I was really worried that people would give up on it because it’s deliberately slow burning”

“I was always aware that if we get people to the end of ep three, they’ll stay with us. I was really worried that people would give up on it because it’s deliberately slow burning and you don’t know who the characters are or what they want,” he continues.

“But so far certainly reviews and public response has been like nothing I’ve ever seen.

“It’s interesting because it’s not episodic drama. It’s a ‘three and a half hour movie.’

“I still don’t know whether this is a comedy or a drama. I don’t care, but the industry does a little bit!”

Upright airs 8:30pm Sundays on FOX Showcase.

One Response

  1. The final episode of Upright could have been screened all by itself, it was a wonderful conclusion everything emotionally clicked and the characters showed genuine empathy.
    Upright is really just another road show movie on the small screen which European directors excel at, especially the German’s and French, my only criticism was the use of some gratuitous coarse language which could have been toned down with little detrimental effect to the evolving story arc.

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