Sundance winner Michôd wants to stay in Australia
Hollywood has come knocking after winning the World Cinema Jury Prize at Sundance, but Animal Kingdom director David Michôd told Encore that he’d like his next project to be Australian.
“I have my head swimming with Australian stories, so I’d like to do another Australian movie. I’m hoping to do it really soon, because it feels important to me that I don’t spend a year riding on the back of Animal Kingdom,” he said.
His desire to develop another Australian project doesn’t mean he’s not enjoying the international attention and making important connections. Michôd is no stranger to the Sundance scene; his shorts Crossbow and Netherland Dwarf screened at the festival in 2008 and 2009 respectively, and although those experiences prepared him for meeting Hollywood’s big wigs, the director says that the ‘great Hollywood monster’ image is not necessarily real.
“One of the things that are true of all of the meetings that I’ve had – a list that includes Miramax founder and chairman of The Weinstein Company, Harvey Weinstein – is that despite that image you have of the great Hollywood monster, this town is full of people who are really smart and interesting, who want to help filmmakers make good films,” he said.
According to Michôd, while there is a perception that Australian audiences and media pay more attention to films that have succeeded at international festivals, it might be just a case of awareness. The director admits that he initially had low hopes for his debut feature – a crime drama set in Melbourne – to be accepted into Sundance, but now that the film has won the prize, the hopes are high that it will connect with audiences everywhere, particularly Australia.
“Australian films struggle to penetrate the public consciousness, so anything that can lift a film out of the entertainment pages and into the news pages is a good thing. Winning an award like this one is just gold,” he told Encore.
The director was not present at the awards ceremony. He had booked tickets to Los Angeles for the day after the film’s last screening and although he briefly played with the idea of staying for the event, he ultimately decided not to.
“A part of me said ‘I’ll jinx myself if I do that’,” he said.
Animal Kingdom actor Joel Edgerton accepted the award on Michod’s behalf.
The film will be released in Australia on May 6.
