Red Dog: Red Collar Worker
Red Dog captures the wild, blokey days of the 1970s Dampier. Shot on location in isolated WA’s Pilbara Region, the producers employed a low-budget mentality and called in favours to make finances go the distance. Joanne Whitehead reports.
Set in Western Australia in the remote town of Dampier, Red Dog is based upon a legend about a local stray dog, that residents claim was responsible for creating a sense of community in the 1970s, when the coastal town was barely established. A sentimental comedy that finds laughs from not just the dog but the inner workings of the male dominated mining community, it’s adapted from Louis de Bernieres’ (Captain Corelli’s Mandolin) novelisation of the story.
While wholly aimed at families and dog lovers, it might come as a surprise that Red Dog was directed by Kriv Stenders, who did the dark colonial tale Lucky Country (2009) and the intense drama Boxing Day (2007). A father now, Stenders was keen to tackle something different, and had been looking to challenge himself by doing a family film when this story caught his attention. “It was one of those very rare scripts that you read and they fly off the page,” says the director. “You know exactly how to make it, and I just knew I had to make the movie… It was exactly the kind of material I was looking for and exactly the kind of scale of film I was looking at doing.”
We saw Red Dog last night in Albany & the Tears and laughter were a reality which makes me so proud to have had the pleasure of working on such a brilliant movie with such amazing people,and last but definitely not least, Koko is fantastic.
Looks like this one might be a winner. My next door neighbor (75) is anything but a film buff, and said she’s looking forward to seeing it.
Loved it. And I am a dog lover. But it”s also a great nation building story. Great dog/s.
loved it, beautiful, funny, sad – best australian film ever.One for the whole family. For once,no gratuous sex or violence, a wonderful film.
I’ve just come home feeling like I want to go and see more of Australia and our legends like Red Dog. I didn’t know how I would go as I just lost my best friend 2 weeks ago. It’s another fantastic Australian movie with something for us all, like Fiona, I loved the no sex, drugs and violence associated with so many movies today. I loved it and the soundtrack, will definately see it again. The characters were real and Koko just great and the vast outback beautiful.
$8.5mil is now considered low budget???? wtf folks.
I saw Red Dog and I recone it was a terrific movie really pulled on my heart strings being a dog lover I really did enjoy it my son has a red kelpy she is just so intelligent Red Dog just looked like her our Mille.
In early seventies I rode a gold Seven fifty Honda 4 from Perth to Karratha back when the bitumen ended at Canarvron. Worked and lived with the Public Works in the light in industrial area of Karratha . It was the first Honda 4 in the north of WA ,, I often ponder if the makers of this film had inside information or just fluked copying real life at the time,..