DIRECTORS NOTES Where do stories come from? This one unfolded almost complete from the very beginning. I watched it form as if it had arrived as a visitor and all I had to do was not get in the way too much as I wrote it down. The story of Perfect Strangers explores the fine line between love and pursuit, romance and danger, fear and obsession. How far do you fall when you fall in love? The enduring mystery of the perfect stranger, that unknown and perfect person who will ‘arrive and take us away from all this,’ remains central to the mythology of romance. We are warned to steer clear of strangers, yet it is as strangers that we fall in love. Perfect Strangers is a macabre fairy tale. I suppose you could say it is the quintessential ‘man alone’ story turned around on itself. It is most scary when drippingly romantic, and it has it’s tongue firmly in it’s cheek. It sets out to debunk romantic myths, but only by bending well accepted story conventions to become something new and confrontational. Being ‘in love’ is scary. Freud first talked about transference as a psychological state in the early years of the last century. Since then we have grown into a nation of transference junkies. ‘In-loveness’ is what drives the culture. You don’t believe me? Listen to the words of the songs on the radio. Film culture is full of it. Since the first production of Dracula a whole industry has formed based on the idea of a murderous man who loves women but is compelled to kill them. In Perfect Strangers I am flipping that fear. What happens if the innocent victim isn’t that innocent and catches on fast, eventually becoming the predator. On the way, we can explore the danger of desire, and the strong transference experienced through being ‘in love.’ The plot is unquestionably bizarre and aimed at exploiting the audience’s overwhelming need for a ‘happy ending.’ Melanie’s emotional transition is the story’s central journey, and it is the small shifts in her psychological reality which to a large extent, drive the plot. The man is not a ‘baddie.’ Melanie is not a ‘goodie’. Complex characters in life and in stories behave mysteriously until we get to understand them properly. Melanie is all the more alluring the more edgy she becomes, but it is the Man, the perfect stranger, who carries the heart of the movie. SAM NEILL is the perfect choice to play this damaged man. Old enough to have a past, but with a screen presence of considerable warmth and depth, Sam saw the potential of this story from very early days and remained committed through the heady ride which film development is always. ‘The man’ was difficult to write, but Sam’s performance makes it look easy. He brings to the character an interesting mixture of mystery and romantic longing and, as is always the case with Sam’s work, he supports his leading lady so their characterisation is mutually strong and true. This will be Sam’s first involvement in a New Zealand production since Sleeping Dogs, (1978) and I am gratified he chose Perfect Strangers for his returning. The casting for Melanie was a long journey. She is ‘ordinary Ms everywoman’ but the actress to play her had to be extraordinary. Perfect Strangers is a film where the lead actor’s range needs to know no bounds. I had many moments during shooting when I thanked my lucky stars to have found RACHAEL BLAKE to discover with me this complex alluring, crazy, practical scheming innocent. She is hardly off screen for the whole film which required a very rare and particular kind of physical and emotional stamina. Fortunately Rachael is a person who possesses straight forward honesty in abundance which makes the work, though hard won, always pleasurable, clear and truthful. Bill arrived last. I had cast Melanie and the Man then we found JOEL TOBECK to play Bill. We shot in order as much as possible, so we were well and truly already on the island by the time he turned up to find his character. It would have been easy to be overwhelmed by the demanding mystery of it all, but Joel came in, staked his own ground, and triumphed. There’s a lot going on under that slightly dumb, slightly gruff, slightly annoyed exterior. Bill’s never the guy who gets the girl, but he’s not just a clumsy oaf either. Joel played this man of few words with an ironic internal twist which elevates this good keen man to someone surprising, kind but calculating. Bill gets what he wants, but there’s a price. In fact everyone gets what they want in Perfect Strangers. The man gets Melanie to love him forever, Melanie gets to live happily ever after, and Bill gets the girl – in a manner of speaking. Originally conceived as an improvisational piece, we developed the characterisations in rehearsal. This film is essentially a performance piece after all, but there is a fourth character in this movie – the location. A moody companion, it cries, it moans, it shines, exuding a strong presence which amplifies the action. The treacherous beauty of the wilderness, the way the rain falls, the sea pounds, the clouds move, all reflect the protagonists ‘ moods, their exultation and their deepest fears. We shot in the South Island on the West Coast (a return to my roots) where the bush is serious, the sea, treacherous and the winter light beautiful. We shot in all weathers including one of the worst storms to hit the place for ten years. By the end of the day only two small lights were operational and our hero boat ‘Dauntless’ was off-shore unable to take shelter, swamped and very nearly sunk by six meter high seas. As our battle-worn, storm-swept crew squelched and shivered their way home, we discovered slips on the road, trees torn out of the ground by their roots and a community further up the Coast evacuated from their homes. And all this on day one. If we could cope with that, we could cope with anything we decided and after that no natural force ever got in the way. But it was eerie how every day for almost nine weeks, the Gods delivered us the scripted weather! Which brings me to the cinematographer. The raw energy of this film demands a special eye behind the camera and I certainly had that with ALUN BOLLINGER, who is an undisputed master of light and action. The world the characters inhabit is heightened and subjective. Alun created a disturbing reality which reflects the psychology of the piece. But there is also a lyricism and romanticism captured by his eye behind the lens. The camera is hardly ever still, but you don’t notice because you are always going with the story, with the performances and with the mood. Bollinger amplifies and anchors the action in a world from which there is no escape until the lights come up at the end of the credits. Perfect Strangers has a mythic quality. I wanted the scored music track to inhabit the underbelly of the story as well as to enhance the emotional journeys. Experienced in both jazz, rock and classical music, PLAN 9 are composers comfortable in counter-pointing the romantic against the deeply unnerving, working alongside sound designer TIM PREBBLE to move realities - sometimes, the birdsong is real, sometimes musically enhanced in a soundtrack I wanted to be dynamic yet delicate. The score and the effects cut across traditional boundaries creating a unique sound track that conjures up old-fashioned romanticism but with a cutting edge contemporary sound. DON McGLASHAN has contributed a new and haunting version of ‘Anchor Me,’ HAMMOND GAMBLE has beefed up ‘Leaving the Country,’ and Crowded House contribute ‘You’re not the Girl You Think You Are’ which was first recommended to me by Sam during our rehearsal time. The theme song ‘Recognise a Stranger’s Face,’ was written by PLAN 9 with JAY CASSELLS our associate producer contributing to the lyrics. NEIL FINN brought ‘All Shall Be Well,’ with lyrics by MICHAEL LEUNIG – a small prayer for Melanie as she loses sight of reality and drifts into madness. One of the best things about filmmaking is the fantastic opportunities offered for collaboration with seriously talented artists over many disciplines, and I feel I have had more than usual my fair share of fun on this one. Making a film out of my head has been pure pleasure. There’s something direct about it. Maybe film is the closest medium to thinking.