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Mad Bastards: You'd have to be mad

A mad bastard is the person who drags the net in the deep end, where the crocodiles are… brave to the point of being mad. You could say that a mad bastard is also someone who decides to make a film starting with the actors instead of the script. That would be Brendan Fletcher, with his first feature, Mad Bastards.
The seeds of Mad Bastards can be traced back to 1996, when Fletcher first met musicians Alan and Stephen Pigram, as well as the rest of the family music band The Pigram Brothers. In return for a fishing trip in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, he directed a couple of videos for them.
Over the years they developed a strong personal and professional bond, creating documentaries and even a 10-minute drama called Kulli Foot, which aired on the ABC. That project also put them in touch with David Jowsey, an executive producer at the public broadcaster.
During the time he spent in the Kimberley, his “second home”, Fletcher met people whose stories he felt deserved to be told: “What inspired me to make this film in the first place was not a particular story; it was being around these guys who I thought had movie star presence and incredible life stories that I was very moved by. I thought if we could capture that cinematically, we’d have something unique.”

Fletcher proceeded to compile these stories, first as written notes, then as audio recordings and finally, on video. He decided he would not use professional actors to bring them to life, so he wasn’t just looking for stories, but also for his cast.
“There was a kind of authenticity in the way the idea was originated and captured; it was a back-to-front process. We started looking for performers before we started the script because it was important for me to make sure we were creating something they could act. There’s no point in having the idea for the world’s greatest movie if these guys couldn’t pull it off as performers,” explained Fletcher . “Part of the process was trying to find stories and scenes that they could relate to from their own lives, so they could perform them effectively.
“We also needed people who had been through that life journey, but had already passed that point of transition were they could act like a mad bastard, but could also perform in a professional context in a feature film instead of getting pissed and not turning up to set.”
After a number of years, he had an inventory of stories that he could see as scenes from a film. “But I just wasn’t quite sure what the movie was,” admitted Fletcher.

The project received its first script development grant in 2003 but the process of sorting the stories into a narrative structure was long and the final script was not completed until 2008. It told the story of TJ, a ‘mad bastard’ trying to change direction and reconnect with his estranged 13-year-old son.
The film would be produced by Fletcher, Alan and Stephen Pigram, and David Jowsey. It was financed and although it was supported by Screen Australia, ScreenWest, Screen NSW, Transmission, Entertainment One and Fulcrum Media Finance, it was not eligible for the funding options reserved for Indigenous filmmakers – even though the story is about Indigenous people and the project features Indigenous actors, producers and composers, as well as cinematographer Allan Collins.
“The fact that our writer/director wasn’t Indigenous precluded us from the targeted funding available but the fact is, the Pigram brothers were at the core of the project so it may be a little bit outside the box, but it actually is a genuine collaboration between black and white creatives, and that’s definitely a good thing,” said Jowsey.
According to Jowsey, executive producer Colin McCumstie raised “a significant amount” of private investment, particularly from the mining industry.

Mad Bastards was ready to go into production in 2009, but the experimental methodology behind it made the shoot a unique experience.
“The process almost started again at that stage. We knew that certain scenes had to happen, but how they would happen was open for interpretation by the actors and me, in collaboration with them,” explained Fletcher. “It was challenging and we had hits and misses, especially in the early part. We had sequences we had to throw away because the scenes weren’t focused or they didn’t serve the story. We had to think quick and it took every molecule of my storytelling ability to, on the run, make sure that this shit flew, and at times it was a frightening experience. There were moments when I thought, ‘how is it all going to come
together?’ But at the end of the day, the story is quite a simple one: a father and a son coming together. We worked out pretty quickly that as long as we stuck to the basics rules of narrative rules storytelling, we’d probably be alright.”
THE HARD WAY
In the words of Jowsey, improvising with non-actors in a remote location, with a crew who were not very experienced, is a difficult thing to do.
“Some would say crazy!” he said.

Jowsey admits that there was a moment when there was concern amongst the investors about how the project was going: “Some people were worried when they saw the rushes because some of the performances were not great. It wasn’t a huge concern and we felt very supported, but we were taking a high risk where we didn’t really know what we were going to get,” he said.
The main shoot was six weeks long, followed by 16 weeks in the cutting room. Fletcher then had an opportunity rare for a low-budget film: a secondary three-week shoot.

“It sounds like a luxury to have a pick up shoot, but this one was more than that. Because our process was unusual in some ways, we always allowed for a second shoot to clean up the pieces,” explained Fletcher. “We already had an 85-minute rough cut, but it had a bunch of titles in it that said ‘scene goes here where TJ calls his son’, or ‘TJ travelling on the road’. I wrote those scenes; we went back and shot them. It was critical to get some of those bridging moments and establishing scenes for the film to feel right. Our crew went from about eight the first week, to just three in the last few days; it was a matter of making the budget stretch as far
as we could.”Mad Bastards was shot on film for two main reasons.
Working in the hot, humid and dusty conditions of the remote locations in Western Australia – sometimes up to 600 km away from the nearest airport in Kununurra – digital was considered too risky. The second consideration was the shooting ratio.
“I had a feeling that if we shot digitally, we’d end up with hours of stuff rather than really just focusing on what we wanted to get from the moment and going for it. Ultimately, film provided a basic security that we needed,” said Fletcher.
The director says the unorthodox method used to make the film has been an invaluable lesson, and has given the project its appeal.
“I learned so much about making drama and I learned it the hard way, so it’s unforgettably burnt into my skull now. It was a very difficult process, but it has created something unique that got the interest of the Sundance Film Festival, and it’s why it’s picked the interest of festivals around the world,” he said.
Mad Bastards premiered at Sundance in February, and it was simultaneously released online in the US, available as VOD for about a month. At press time, Jowsey had not yet received the results of this distribution experiment.
“We all have to get used to the changing paradigm of the film industry. VOD is alive and well in lots of other countries; we have slow broadband here, but it will happen,” said Jowsey.
In the meantime, the film will get a traditional theatrical release in Australia on May 5, via Transmission/Paramount. There are also plans for regional tours and screenings, particularly to reach the Indigenous communities whose stories are represented in the film.

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