In the lead up to its national release on January 18th, the cast and crew of the new Australian comedy Swinging Safari strutted their stuff down the orange carpet to talk all about their crazy new film, one which has the potential to earn classic status alongside director Stephan Elliott‘s defining feature, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
The Iris’s Peter Gray was fortunate enough to catch cast members Guy Pearce, Kylie Minogue, Asher Keddie and Radha Mitchell on their travels, waxing lyrical about working together and how it was within the not-so-restricted compounds of Elliott’s free-spirited view on Australia in the 1970’s.
GUY PEARCE AND KYLIE MINOGUE
What was it like working together again?
Guy: (Sarcastically) It was alright
Kylie: It was just great reconnecting…
Guy: I like your sense of humour
Kylie: Oh, do you? (Laughs)
Guy: Actually we did talk about a couple of times working together back in the 80’s (on Neighbours) where we would laugh so much sometimes that we couldn’t get the lines out when we were supposed to. So I think we managed that, we were more mature this time.
Kylie, do you think this will be a big return to acting for you?
Kylie: Oh I definitely loved it, I always get a little terrified cause I don’t do it very often…but on the other hand I feel at home. I have these kind of conflicting emotions but I loved it. It was so much fun, and working with Guy and the rest of the incredible cast…I can’t imagine not having done it.
Guy: Yeah, it was a pretty great experience.
ASHER KEDDIE
Obviously you’re primarily known for Offspring, how did the film come about for you?
Stephan. We just wanted to work together, and it was the right project I guess
Were you nervous doing a broad comedy like this?
Broad? You think this is broader than Offspring, are you serious?!?! (Laughing) No! Offspring is…the clowning I do in that, I feel like I pushed that further than I probably should sometimes. No, I just absolutely love this kind comedy, when it’s light and you can be as big as you want to be, as long as it’s anchored in truth. And that’s Steph in a nutshell.
RADHA MITCHELL
You’ve been based in the US for the majority of your career, what brought you back to Australia for this movie?
There’s just been this sense of coming home, of bringing something home…bringing what i’ve learnt back with me. This specifically was the script and just the collaboration. The people involved are really interesting and i’ve always admired their work, so to be invited to the party was a privilege.
When the film was presented to you initially, I know the original title was Flammable Children, did that make you just think what the hell is this?
We all loved that title! It’s just so out there, it doesn’t sound like anything else out there, and we were all so attached to it. But someone had the idea that it was perhaps misleading, sounded too much like a horror film… but Swinging Safari is definitely on point (as a title) you know what you’re up for.
Comedy isn’t a genre you’ve ventured into much, were you a bit terrified?
It was an interesting step into something so exaggerated. You know, having not worked in that space, but there was just such great collaborators (on set) that it felt very comfortable.
Swinging Safari opens nationally on January 18th.
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