Screening on the Taormina Movie Pageant following its Cannes premiere, Lorcan Finnegan’s The Surfer is anticipated to be certainly one of this 12 months’s hit movies. The movie is a wierd amalgamation of Kafka and Exploitation, with a late Cage efficiency and a psychological comedy made even darker by the daylight. Irish director of Vivarium and Nocebo interviewed kind The Mediterranean Sea sparkled within the distance.
Have been you aware of surf tradition earlier than making this movie?
I would not name myself a surfer as a result of I am extra of a skateboarder, so I do not know a lot concerning the tradition. These points of poisonous masculinity have by no means actually appealed to me, however I do not need to reject one thing simply because I do not comprehend it. That is an attention-grabbing problem.
Why select Australia as your background?
Initially it was California, however I solely considered Australia. I have been there a couple of instances to shoot commercials and stuff like that. I am additionally a giant fan of Australian New Wave movies: Knocked Up, The Lengthy Weekend and The Stroll. A number of the greatest movies had been directed by outsiders, like Ted Kotcheff, who directed “Knocked Up,” who was Canadian, and Nic Roeg, who was decidedly British. Peter Weir’s The Final Wave, particularly the ending, was additionally an affect on The Surfer.
When did Nic Cage become involved?
As soon as we established that the character was American, we thought of him very early on. We had this window after we did not need it to be too scorching, so within the Australian spring we had been able to shoot in early summer season. His free time is sweet. We rolled the cube and despatched him the script. Oddly sufficient, he had seen “Vivarium” and “Nocebo” and favored them. He learn the script and mentioned, “Oh, I get it. That is Kafka. He was fully linked to the fabric. We hopped on Zoom, chatted, and acquired alongside rather well.”
What did he carry to the film?
As soon as he got here on board, we made lots of modifications to the script over the course of some months. All his concepts are nice. Small stuff, however actually improved it and made it his. Once we had been filming, we acquired to know one another and we laughed collectively. We’ve the same rhythm. All of us prefer to work shortly.
So, who got here up with the mouse? [‘The Surfer’ includes a scene with a dead rat destined to join the pantheon of classic Cage memes.]
That is an attention-grabbing story. We shot the scene the place he kills the rat. Nick may be very connected to the rat prop. The artwork division saved asking for it to be returned, and he’d be like, “No, I need it in my pocket.” He was stepping into character, and he thought he was going to maintain it as a result of it was the one little meals he had. So what’s going to he do with it? lastly?
Chekhov’s Mouse?
Precisely. Nick was reminded of a scene in Humphrey Bogart’s film “The Good Match,” through which a person takes an olive, stuffs it into his uncle’s mouth, and says, “You eat the olive.”
Is that this his homage to Billy Wilder?
Type of. Nick got here up with many concepts. On this scene, he yells about having a giant household dinner on the balcony, like spaghetti and clams. We did some photographs that cleared up the entire area as a result of we had been taking pictures with an 8mm ultra-wide angle lens. Individuals needed to cover of their vehicles because the cameras moved round. He wasn’t even certain what he mentioned after that. He tapped into his inside shaman and it was wonderful. One thing wonderful emerged. And he was bitten by a snake.
OK What?
We’ve a snake scene the place the snake goes via his hand. Nick was aware of reptiles, so he needed to handle it himself. But it surely was already late at evening, and there wasn’t a lot motion. I requested the handler – who was proper behind Nick – what we may do to make it transfer extra. She mentioned, “Tickle his tail.” So Nick scratched his tail and that factor [mimes snake attack] It bleeds! It’s non-toxic. Nick mentioned, “Oh, my gosh.” The coach mentioned, “Oh, yeah, for those who scratch them, they get actually aggressive and chew.”
Would you prefer to work with him once more?
Sure, hopefully so. We’re engaged on some issues.
What’s subsequent?
Subsequent spring we’re taking pictures a film referred to as Goliath in Greece, which I’ve been engaged on for a couple of years. It’s a dystopian fable set within the close to future. It is about creating monsters to wage warfare and steal pure assets. However informed via the prism of allegory.
