Red Hill: from frustration to success
Sometimes it does pay to take justice – and filmmaking – into your own hands. From frustration to success in 11 months, that’s what writer/producer/director/editor Patrick Hughes experienced with his contemporary revenge western Red Hill.
Red Hill came “from a place of frustration”; after writing a number of scripts and being attached to projects that fell over for different reasons, Patrick Hughes felt things were always out of his hands.
“Your first film is really scary because all you’re looking to do is to have an impact with audiences and impress the right people,” said Hughes.
Thinking about his favourite filmmakers – from Robert Rodriguez to his mate and now executive producer Greg McLean – he realised they had all mortgaged their house, raised private investment and shot their first film without having a distributor, so he decided to follow their steps and write a new script. It would take place in a country town – the story of a newly relocated young officer (Ryan
Kwanten) who must deal with a dangerous criminal (Tom E. Lewis) with a thirst for revenge.
“It feels big and it’s a grand spectacle, but it was made in a small town, which made the production more economical,” explained Hughes.
In late 2008 Hughes approached McLean and producer Al Clark, telling them he wanted to make a commercial project for as little money as possible and, giving himself a deadline to shoot the following June, asked them if they were interested in helping him put it together. Three months later he had finished the script and Clark and McLean joined the project.
The script reached a couple of US producers interested in turning it into an American film shot in the Rocky Mountains – an offer which was ultimately turned down: “We had raised 85 percent of the money by that point and although it was tempting, I said no because I wanted to make a movie in my own terms. We raised the money privately, put the crew together, went and shot the movie; the plan was to put an edit together and shop it around to find a distributor and funds to finish the film. By doing that, we were not waiting on anybody,” said Hughes.
It worked. With completion funds from Screen Australia and Arclight Films, Red Hill became a reality.
“Eleven months after finishing the script we were having our premiere in Berlin, so it happened very quickly. I’m really proud that, in such a short time, we’ve made a movie that we sold to 14 territories in 24 hours.”
RED HILL, VER COLD MOUNTAIN
“I dare anyone to watch it and guess the budget,” Clark said last year. And some media outlets took the challenge and estimated the budget at around $3m.
“I will laugh and remain silent,” said Hughes when Encore suggests this amount. “But I will reveal all on the DVD commentary. One of the greatest things about doing TVCs is that you get to hone your craft and create relationships, so I was able to find the best crew and tools, including two 35mm Panavision cameras. We also found a second-hand film stock supplier in Hollywood that got us short ends from Entourage and The Fast and the Furious for $50,000. But we didn’t have any time. We shot 5.5 pages a day!”
The four-week shot was done in the town of Omeo, Victoria, the middle of winter, with cast and crew enduring temperatures of -7o. Difficult as it was – Hughes claims he lost 15 kg from the stress – the experience was also “liberating” because there was no sign off and every single element was ultimately their decision.
“The biggest asset money buys you on a film set is time. When you don’t have that, everything is compromised and you have to think on your feet, work with what you’re given. Sometimes you realise you have 10 minutes to shoot a scene, so you throw the storyboard out and figure out how you’re going to get it in the can.”
Working with DOP Tim Hudson and production designer Enzo Iacono, the goal was to capture the mood of the region, with a timeless quality and texture: “I wanted to create a film where you didn’t know whether it had been shot 10 years or 10 days ago”.
Red Hill was a work in progress when it was submitted to the Berlin Festival. It was selected to screen in the Panorama section, and completed just in time for the premiere. International interest was immediate, with a sale to Sony’s Worldwide Acquisitions Group for the US and Latin America, and deals for Canada, the UK, France, Scandinavia and other territories.
In Australia, Transmission Films was originally attached to the project, but in the end, it was not in a position to give the film the scale of release it required. Sony Pictures Australia took over the domestic release and will launch Red Hill on November 25.`
This guy’s an inspiration. No more posturing in cafes and talking about celluoid pipe dreams. Banish this crap – go out and make it happen. Love your work Patrick.
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We need more Producers like him – very inspiring.
After the disaster that was The Loved Ones, I hope Red Hill is a roaring success and Aussie audiences have their faith restored in independent filmmakers.
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I agree with Dave and Dean very Inspirational Australian action film from some clearly talented filmmakers.
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Job well done, bright things in the future ahead for this Producer!
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Ticks all te boxes, great cast, excellent script, superb directing and production values.. well done to all the team!!
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Well done I know it’s so hard to get a film off the ground here in Oz.When you help people out to get their film off the ground and then they nick off overseas and do not care about the people who helped them out,that hurts.
Hopefully will see more production companies stay here and build the industry up.
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