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Film wives step forward
By Gabriella Coslovich
July 24 2003
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| These days she is better known as the wife of Australian success story Hugh Jackman, but actor Deborra-Lee Furness is puzzled by the inevitable questions about life in the shadows of a Hollywood star. |
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| "Hugh's doing his work . . . and I am playing mum and doing my own creative stuff. It doesn't affect us, but it seems to affect everyone else," Furness says. |
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| Her "creative stuff" includes a foray into directing and scriptwriting, the fulfilment of a life-long dream which Melbourne audiences will be able to judge for themselves at this year's Melbourne International Film Festival. |
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| Furness, who met Jackman when she starred opposite him in the Australian prison drama Correlli, is in town to introduce her debut short film Standing Room Only before screenings on Saturday and Monday evening. |
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| The 12-minute short, which is almost dialogue-free, features a stellar cast - apart from husband Hugh, Furness also managed to assemble Michael Gambon, Joanna Lumley, Sophie Dahl and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. |
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Picture: KEN IRWIN
Actors-turned-directors Rachel Ward, left, and Deborra-Lee Furness.
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The film was shot in Britain and Australian composer David Hirschfelder, whose credits include Shine, Strictly Ballroom, and The Truman Show, created the score, which is essential to the plot - a feel-good comedy about a group of strangers queuing to buy theatre tickets.
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| In another coup, Furness persuaded Hollywood heavyweight and Miramax chief Harvey Weinstein to co-finance the film with Trudie Styler, wife of singer Sting and head of the production company Xingu. |
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| Styler and Weinstein injected a healthy US$150,000 into the film, an amount that would be a luxury for most Australian short-film makers. |
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| It is no wonder that since arriving in Australia from London, where she and Jackman live with their three-year-old adopted son Oscar, Furness has been fielding questions that she finds rather funny, such as: what was it like directing your husband, and is filmmaking a much easier task when you enjoy the sorts of connections you do? |
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| Directing Jackman was a breeze, she says, not a huge difference from directing him to do the dishes at home. |
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| "He is just so easy to direct: you give him directions and he runs with it." |
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| But Furness laughs off suggestions that who she is gave her an advantage in getting the film off the ground. |
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| "Trudie is an old friend, Harvey I know socially. It helps that I know (them), but you are a punter like everyone else asking for favours and asking someone like Michael Gambon, who I think is one of the best actors in the world, to work for actors' scale (minimum wage)," she says. " It's really tough out there and I take my hat off to anyone who gets a film up." |
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| It is a sentiment echoed by English actor Rachel Ward, who also has a film in the festival, the 50-minute Martha's New Coat, which was made for $500,000. |
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| Ward, who is married to Australian actor Bryan Brown, says: "When you have been a Hollywood star there is a lot of scepticism about what you are worth. You have to prove your own mettle. However, you are talking to Deborra-Lee Furness and Rachel Ward, so, of course, there are advantages." |
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| Ward will be introducing tonight's screening of her new film, which stars her and Brown's daughter, Matilda. |
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| Ward's decision to direct films was partly born of a frustration with the lack of decent roles for female actors. However, she has found directing a far more satisfying experience - in Australia, at least. |
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| "I think it's almost an advantage being a woman in Australia, at this stage anyway," she says. |
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| "I don't know what comes into play when you are heading out to make $4 million or $5 million movies, but we have had enough (female) directors (in Australia) before us to prove that women can stand up with the men. That doesn't go for Hollywood. I know my friends are incredibly envious of the opportunities I have here that they don't have in England and the United States." |
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| The opportunities Ward speaks of are something Furness hopes to find out - her next project will be a feature film, one that she would dearly love to shoot in her native Australia. |
This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/07/23/1058853136122.html
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