WEBVTT - Jeffery Walker - The Portable Door - Director 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:01.720 It's in the news today, but it was actually on 0:00:01.800 --> 0:00:03.960 TV Reload, the podcast last week they lie. 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:07.000 Welcome back to TV Reload. My name is Benjamin Norris 0:00:07.040 --> 0:00:09.479 and this is your podcast to get all the inside 0:00:09.480 --> 0:00:12.160 goss on the popular TV shows you may be watching 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:15.760 from around the world. Undeniably, our TV sets are still 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:18.400 a major part of our home entertainment, and yet very 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:21.160 little is known about how our favorite shows get made. 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:23.560 Each episode, I find guests that want to dive just 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:26.080 that little bit deeper into the shows they're currently making, 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:29.120 so you can hear all their exclusive stories and gain 0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:32.280 access to the biggest names in Australian television. I want 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:34.920 to thank you for downloading or subscribing to this podcast. 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:37.559 I love hearing your feedback, so make sure you leave 0:00:37.600 --> 0:00:40.720 a review or a comment on your chosen podcast platform. 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:44.000 On today's podcast, I have Jeffrey Walker, the director from 0:00:44.040 --> 0:00:47.000 the exciting Newstand original film The Portable Door that is 0:00:47.080 --> 0:00:50.440 now available to stream on Stand. Jeffrey was a child 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:53.760 actor who audiences would know from popular series like Ocean 0:00:53.800 --> 0:00:56.640 Girl and the cult classic Round the Twist, but now 0:00:56.640 --> 0:00:59.640 he is an actor winning content creator who is working 0:00:59.640 --> 0:01:02.400 with some of the best filmmakers in the world. Today 0:01:02.440 --> 0:01:05.160 we will be talking about The Portable Door, his feature film, 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:08.440 and his delight to be directing Sam Neil and Christoph Waltz, 0:01:08.480 --> 0:01:10.840 who will also star in the film. The story centers 0:01:10.880 --> 0:01:13.400 around a man who lands in internship at a mysterious 0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:17.280 London firm which has a bunch of unconventional employees, including 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:21.920 a charismatic CEO who is incorporating modern corporate strategy into 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:25.200 ancient magical practices. It has all the magic of a 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:28.240 fantasy classic and families from around the world I'm sure 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:30.680 are going to really enjoy this. I will talk to 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:33.959 Jeffrey about his transition from child acting to making it 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:36.800 big behind the scenes. We will also talk about his 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:40.600 mentors and his passion for Australian film. We will also 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:43.360 talk about the importance of telling stories that young people 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:46.160 can enjoy and why this film is so important to 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:49.240 his career. Plus we will get plenty of exclusives from 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:52.520 behind the scenes. Anyway, let's bring Jeffrey into the pod 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:55.600 and I really hope you enjoy this chat. Hi mate, 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:55.960 how are you. 0:01:56.040 --> 0:01:57.880 Going very well? And glad to be with you. 0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:01.800 It's interesting that you've got this amazing legacy with Australian content. 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:03.720 You know, I can still remember going home and watching 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:08.200 Around the Twist and Ocean Girl, very popular shows four o'clock. 0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:09.960 I would have to be home to watch them. But 0:02:10.040 --> 0:02:12.360 do you get recognized still to this day for those 0:02:12.480 --> 0:02:14.520 for all of these roles that you played as a kid. 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:17.239 I never get stopped in the street. But what does 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:20.000 happen sometimes is you're meeting people or I start working 0:02:20.000 --> 0:02:22.280 with another crew and they can be you know, sort 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:24.520 of generationally younger than I am, but have come to 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:28.360 the project through its retro kind of you know, nineties 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:30.480 and thiss. But what will happen is someone will bring 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:33.000 it up and then everyone will go, oh, yeah, I 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:34.959 used to watch that when I was at school, or 0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:36.880 I watched that on Saturday mornings or so the mornings 0:02:36.880 --> 0:02:38.799 are after school. Like it probably is something that I'm 0:02:38.800 --> 0:02:42.160 stopped in the street for these days, But definitely there 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:44.800 was you know, probably you know, a generation half of 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:47.840 kids that were, for better or worse, force to watch 0:02:48.080 --> 0:02:50.440 Round the Twist. And so it's just a project that 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:53.920 stays with me, you know, now thirty years or something 0:02:53.960 --> 0:02:56.240 since I did it, but yet it's still sort of 0:02:56.720 --> 0:02:59.400 its legacy has lived on oddly and that's a pretty 0:02:59.400 --> 0:03:00.600 special thing being a part of. 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:03.360 And then I have to ask you about this transition 0:03:03.480 --> 0:03:05.640 because you know, for a lot of child actors, you 0:03:05.680 --> 0:03:08.240 hear horror stories about what happens to them. But instead 0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:11.800 you've gone on to be a successful filmmaker behind the 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:14.040 scenes because you know, quite often people say, you know, 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:16.000 once you cross the floor from being in front of 0:03:16.000 --> 0:03:18.040 the camera to behind the camera, you kind of have 0:03:18.120 --> 0:03:20.440 to pick a team. What made you want to decide 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:22.400 to become a content maker yourself? 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:24.720 Well, I don't think. I mean, I loved acting as 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:27.200 a kid and everything, but I don't think I think 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:30.280 even working with the fabulous actors that I work with now, 0:03:30.360 --> 0:03:33.120 I just know that I wouldn't. I'm definitely not and 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:35.800 never was that, you know, a caliber of actor to 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:38.720 sit alongside, from Sam Neil and Krystal Watson, the types 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:40.800 of films that I now get to direct. So I'm 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:42.960 very happy behind the scenes that have no interest whatsoever 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:45.440 in performing in front of the camera. Ever. Again, I'm 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:47.840 quite happy that that, you know, that's something that I 0:03:47.920 --> 0:03:50.040 enjoyed and is behind me. One thing I would say, 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:52.240 I guess is that it started for me, you know, 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:55.000 in regard to you know, when that desire for a 0:03:55.000 --> 0:03:58.080 transition behind the scenes began, you know, really young, probably 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:00.000 around the time I was doing Proof and around the Twist, 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:01.640 I was about eight or nine years old and I 0:04:01.680 --> 0:04:03.720 was on set, you know, so I guess like forty 0:04:03.720 --> 0:04:05.400 hours a week or something as a kid, and you 0:04:05.400 --> 0:04:09.480 would just spend all this time with these amazing camera people, first, 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:12.839 assistant directors, directors, grips, you know, all these folks who 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:15.120 were probably away from their kids as well. And I'm 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:17.159 away from my parents, who, you know, I had a 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:19.520 lovely close family, and of course, you know, you sort 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:21.400 of go to work and you miss everybody. So I 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:23.719 think that I ended up finding all these amazing mentors 0:04:23.760 --> 0:04:26.320 behind the scenes, and they were probably the people that 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:29.640 encouraged me, maybe even unknowingly, you know, to sort of 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:34.159 develop this real fixation and passion and the very least 0:04:34.160 --> 0:04:37.200 an interest, you know, in everything behind the scenes. And 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:39.520 I started making Sure films when I was probably about 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:41.760 fifteen or sixteen, and at that point I'm like, okay, 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:44.679 well this is it. And shortly after, when I finished 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:47.160 high school, I was able to train with Jonathan Schiff 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:49.240 as a producer. I'd worked with on An Ocean Girl 0:04:49.240 --> 0:04:51.560 at Thunderstone, and he very kindly knew that I had 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:53.880 been bitten by the bug and he trained me as 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:57.279 an assistant for the producers and director on his projects. 0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:00.120 And it was just it was just an amazing in 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:02.200 ten year apprenticeship to sort of get to where I 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:04.040 ultimately wanted to be, which was a director. 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:06.520 And it's a close knit industry. I guess at some point, 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:09.160 have you found yourself becoming the boss of people who 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:11.240 were making content for you when you were a kid? 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:14.880 Absolutely, you know, and like I was, I still work 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:17.000 with people like I spoke about with Martin McGrath, who 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:19.400 worked with him when I was seven or eight years old, 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:21.240 and I worked with him as recently as you know, 0:05:21.240 --> 0:05:23.280 the start of last year on our I don't know, 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:26.160 tenth twelfth project or something, you know. So first, a 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:28.240 d's all these people we all keep coming back into 0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:30.920 our lives that I remember. It was a Grip who 0:05:31.240 --> 0:05:32.960 came up to the first crew person I remember ever 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:34.760 having a conversation with as a kid. I was nine 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:37.000 years old, and he came up and said, my name's Aaron. 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:38.840 Do you know what I do? And I said, and 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:41.400 he said well as a grip. I put the camera 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:43.200 on the dolly lay all these tracks and he showed 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:45.200 me all the year and it was like Lego and Micano, 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:47.040 but for grown ups, and I was just like, this 0:05:47.120 --> 0:05:50.279 is amazing, and I just just attached myself to that 0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:53.800 gripping department and Aaron and I've worked with Aaron on Riot, 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:55.440 you know, which was the sort of the Mardi gar 0:05:55.480 --> 0:05:57.120 origin story we did a couple of years ago as 0:05:57.160 --> 0:05:58.320 our kid Grip and it was just one of the 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:01.239 sweetest things to be able to vibe this industry, working 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:02.880 it for so long and get to re meet these 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:07.760 fabulous people from three decades. It's just extraordinary. I feel 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:09.039 grateful every day for it. You know. 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:10.839 I can imagine, you know, growing up in the eighties 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:13.839 and nineties, you would have seen some amazing people take 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:17.560 flight and have phenomenal careers. Who are some of those 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:19.360 content makers that you have looked up to? 0:06:19.520 --> 0:06:21.240 Oh my gosh, well, I mean I remember when I 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:23.360 watched as a fourteen or fifteen year old, when I 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:26.000 watched Romeo and Juliet for the first time and saw 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:30.120 what Bazz, Catherine Martin, Jill bill Kock, and Don mceuelpine 0:06:30.160 --> 0:06:32.560 were doing. I just went like, okay, you know, I 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:34.640 just thought that was the most probably the most confident 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:36.400 start to a film that I'd seen at that point. 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:38.200 I just went, wow, have a look at this. It 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:41.680 was so stylized, Leo was an absolute knockout in it, 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:44.080 and you know, clear dangers incredible. So I just remember 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:47.440 that film and it being made by Australians US funded, 0:06:47.520 --> 0:06:50.400 made in Mexico, with some incredible international soundtrack of you know, 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:53.839 every cool artist that was around at that time. Yeah, 0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:55.960 probably around that sort of time. I went okay, well 0:06:55.960 --> 0:06:58.279 there's you know, I had grown up sort of loving 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:00.320 all of the Australians sort of quirky comedies and different 0:07:00.360 --> 0:07:03.560 strictly war Room I'd really loved and Muriel's wedding and 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:05.040 all that sort of thing. But I think that there 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:08.200 was a cool about coolness about that that I really 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:10.280 does And the most exciting part of that was that, 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:13.240 you know, I followed Don Michael Pine's career my whole life, 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:15.600 and you know, and John Seals and you know this 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:19.080 handful of Greg Fraser, Mandy Walker, there's his handful of 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:24.480 absolute doions of cinematography and lo and behold, you know, 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:26.720 my first feature film. Don Michael Pines shot it for me, 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:28.640 and then he made Lambs of God with me and 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:31.000 he shot Portable Door as well, you know, in in 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:33.480 his eighties. I worked with him in three projects and 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:35.520 I learned as much from him. I'm sure he has 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:38.160 the same role as he did for his directors on 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:40.720 you know, on Me and Juliet, as he would have 0:07:40.720 --> 0:07:42.600 been with Baz, you know, at that stage of his 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:45.480 career and being younger coming through and you know, doing 0:07:45.520 --> 0:07:48.160 your first films. He's just a font of knowledge, creativity 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:50.760 and a complete gentleman and someone that you can draw 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:53.960 a lot from. So kind of rapped with the Australian industry, 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:56.480 and I hope it just continues to grow and grow 0:07:56.520 --> 0:08:00.280 and get all bigger exports, whether they're made here find 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:03.040 a bigger audience overseas, or the individuals get the biggest 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:05.120 platform they can to show off their skills. 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:07.160 Do we have a better work ethic or something I 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:10.600 can't work out, you know, why we've been so successful internationally, 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:13.200 especially in the States. I kept, you know, I don't 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:15.360 know the reason why. Maybe there's something in the water 0:08:15.400 --> 0:08:18.480 in Australia, But what is your rationale for the success 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:19.960 that we've been able to have around the world. 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:21.680 Well, I think that the hard thing is everyone sort 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:23.080 of goes astrain and felt like there was a period 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:25.120 of time where everyone you know was giving a strain 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:26.560 film a really hard time because it was dark, it 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:28.960 was brooding, it was you know, sort of tortureous stories 0:08:29.000 --> 0:08:31.679 about you know, heroin addicts, and there's no beautiful films 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:34.720 made by incredible filmmakers. They were like, oh, where's the comedy, 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:37.160 where's the castle again? With this? The thing is that 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:39.640 we make We are such a small territory. You know, 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:42.080 we don't even equate to a second or third tier 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:44.720 state in America in terms of size of our industry. 0:08:44.760 --> 0:08:48.120 You know, Atlanta, the industry in Atlanta worked enormous. You know, 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:51.120 it's huge. So I think that the big thing to 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:53.240 kind of keep in mind is that, you know, we 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:57.800 produce an extraordinary amount of incredible stuff, but from a 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:00.880 very small, ultimately very small if you compare it to 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:06.120 you know, the UK, France, US, just you know, or Canada. 0:09:06.200 --> 0:09:09.199 You know, in areas like Toronto and Vancouver, these are 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:11.960 enormous for film hubs. So I think that you know, 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:14.920 the quality that you know kind of exists in Australia. 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:18.280 Within that ultimately, that sort of smaller pool is definitely 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:22.800 a you know, it's it's rarely matched, you know, anywhere 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:25.040 for the amount of actors that come out of Australia, 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:28.199 you know, through television shows that you know are being 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:30.160 watched by people all around the world, even if they 0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:32.680 might not be on a huge platform overseas. The astute 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:35.600 executives and casting directors from around the world are watching 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:37.640 what we're making here in Australia, and suddenly someone will 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:41.559 be in a fabulous Foxfel series or a you might 0:09:41.600 --> 0:09:43.600 be in an ABC theories and then they'll turn up 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:47.439 in a big US something you know, and it's because 0:09:48.040 --> 0:09:50.199 that talent can be spotted. It just takes sometimes a 0:09:50.240 --> 0:09:51.719 little bit of fining what we're hoping to do. A 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:53.600 particularly the last couple of projects that I've made is 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:57.560 you have more of the projects here you know, made here, 0:09:57.880 --> 0:10:01.920 breakthrough and be watched, you know, by larger audiences around 0:10:01.920 --> 0:10:03.800 the world, so that it's not sort of you don't 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:04.800 have to find them, they. 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:07.520 Find you and you get to really live through a 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:10.200 couple of generations here of some of these amazing shows 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:12.319 being made and how they were made, and now we're 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:16.400 in this new era of streaming services which allows people 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:18.920 like yourself to probably think a little bit more out 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:21.560 of the box. Because before, just to get something greenlit, 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:24.000 you it seemed like there was a very structure to 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:26.160 the narrative of stories being made and you kind of 0:10:26.160 --> 0:10:28.520 had to tick those boxes. But how do you feel 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:30.880 now that you've got the opportunity to be a part 0:10:30.920 --> 0:10:33.240 of you know, streaming services like stan Well. 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:35.720 Yes, Dan, and you know, Disney Plus made a huge 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:38.319 splash last year and just said, look, we're just going 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:41.920 to go out and make a whole you know, we're 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:44.240 coming up with what our Australian brand will be. And 0:10:44.240 --> 0:10:45.760 I've been lucky enough to work on two of their 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:50.160 of that stable of projects, one being The Clearing, which 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:54.440 is a you know, fabulous and very dark and brooding 0:10:54.480 --> 0:10:57.160 kind of psychological thriller, and then another one The Artful Dodger, 0:10:57.200 --> 0:10:59.520 which is all sort of you know de Genzi and 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:02.920 Midnight teenth Century. These are bold projects to be making, 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:06.079 and certainly on mass these were not being made ten 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:09.480 years ago. You might get one project or two projects 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:11.640 a year that were high concept, and you know, when 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:13.720 they were outside of like you're saying this sort of 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:16.400 the safety of being able to say, well, at our 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:18.800 budget range, we can make these shows confidently. And I 0:11:18.800 --> 0:11:20.600 think that Australia you know, did that for a really 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:24.000 long time. But now those projects can exist alongside things 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:28.600 that you push that conceptual limit and hopefully allow projects 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:30.640 to come through that are able to be financed at 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:33.480 the budget range they need to be to sit alongside 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:35.480 their counterparts from the UK and the US. 0:11:35.880 --> 0:11:38.280 Did you make decisions like that with this particular project 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:41.280 as to why you filmed it here in Australia versus 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:43.280 being able to film where the story is set. 0:11:43.720 --> 0:11:46.240 Yeah, I mean with portable door, I mean we looked 0:11:46.240 --> 0:11:48.320 at so many parts of the world to make it 0:11:48.400 --> 0:11:50.600 and it's really written like the storyline is, you can 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:52.440 take a portable door to anywhere in the world. So 0:11:52.480 --> 0:11:54.280 we had a budget line for the longest time that 0:11:54.400 --> 0:11:56.200 you know, we're taking our actors to this country in 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:58.440 that country, I shoot here or do this and coming 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:01.160 up with a you know, sort of a shooting style 0:12:01.200 --> 0:12:02.920 that would be free and maybe we could shoot it 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:05.199 without permits. And these are like we really were down 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:07.520 the path and then COVID came along and you know, 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:10.240 the film collapsed and it was you know, it was 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:13.400 so sad and devastated. These independent film even at this scale, 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:15.840 you know, which is a larger scale independent film, but certainly, 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:18.800 you know, they're so precarious. The ingredients in the alchemy 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:20.959 that goes on to bringing something like it together a 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:24.480 just extraordinary. It could fall over in a day. So 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:27.360 certainly being able to have project that you know was 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:30.080 firstly affected by COVID and then with the good health 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:32.440 that kind of you know started to creep in in 0:12:32.520 --> 0:12:35.200 Australia and we were able to boast to talent and 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:37.600 to people from around the world, production finances and everything 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:40.560 that Queensland was a safe place to film that got 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:43.360 everybody behind it, and you know stand a big part 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:45.880 of that, and the Jim Henson company, who you know 0:12:45.920 --> 0:12:47.840 were the champions of the film for all this time, 0:12:48.000 --> 0:12:51.120 Sky in the UK and most recently MGM, you know 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:52.760 Plus in the US. But you know, it took all 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:55.520 of these amazing sort of people to come together. Australia 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:58.079 just happened to be, you know, the place that made 0:12:58.120 --> 0:13:00.600 the most sense for us. You know, I live, you know, 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:02.520 very close to where we filmed it. Todd Film and 0:13:02.559 --> 0:13:04.720 the wonderful producer lives right near where we filmed it, 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:06.959 and we were able to entice you know, Christal Boltz 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:08.480 to come and do a couple of weeks of quarantine 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:11.040 and film with us and go home again, which I 0:13:11.080 --> 0:13:13.480 was very gratefully did so. Yeah, and then I guess 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:15.160 in the end, you know, our locations. We came up 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:16.920 with location solutions for all of the things that we 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:20.240 needed to shoot here. We had a micro micro unit 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:22.520 of maybe one or two people in the UK helping 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:24.320 us get all of our plate shots and different things. 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:26.400 But it was, Yeah, it was a feat of probably 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:28.680 thinking outside of the boxes. Most filmmakers had to do 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:31.400 it around that sort of time. But it all came together. 0:13:31.840 --> 0:13:33.839 It was it was so much fun to make, and 0:13:34.120 --> 0:13:35.680 it taken so many years to get off the ground. 0:13:35.679 --> 0:13:37.320 It was just nice to be out there and actually 0:13:37.320 --> 0:13:37.600 doing it. 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:39.319 And then you've got to pinch yourself that you're working 0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:41.840 with Jim, like get the Jim Henson production Company, Like, 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:44.240 you know, this is amazing crazy. 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:46.200 I mean, you know, when I was growing up, you know, 0:13:46.640 --> 0:13:48.079 and why I ended up being an actor in the 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:50.120 shows we were talking about at the start of the interview, 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:53.400 you know, like, you know, like those films are never 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:55.920 ending story in the Goonies, and then from the Henson 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:59.680 Company Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal stand by Me. These 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:03.920 coins these kind of young adolescent adventure films that you 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:06.160 know that weren't for kids. You know that you felt 0:14:06.200 --> 0:14:09.720 like you were really you know, you were really being challenged, 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:12.080 whether it was emotionally or visually, or there would be 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:14.400 a jump scare or something that felt like, you know, 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:16.880 I'm eleven or twelve, but I'm watching something that you 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:19.600 know is challenging me a little. And when I started working, 0:14:19.640 --> 0:14:21.480 you know, on this film in the Handsome Company, I 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:23.360 was like, you know, they really Dark Crystal really scared 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:24.720 me as a kid, and they were like, yeah, you know, 0:14:24.760 --> 0:14:26.800 but the sort of the ethos was is that, you know, 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:28.640 we'll undercut it with a bit of humor, or we'll 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:30.880 give you the equipment in a film like Labyrinth that 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:32.200 you can watch it and you get a little laugh, 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:33.840 you will get a little scared, and will take you 0:14:33.880 --> 0:14:36.080 on that sort of journey. It's not a horror movie 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:38.360 as such that there's moments of it and that was 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:40.400 kind of through the lens with which you know, I 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:43.440 tried to make The Portable Door, and you know, having 0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:45.120 now screened it a couple of times and had kids 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:47.560 in the audience, there's definitely a couple of beautiful jump scares. 0:14:47.600 --> 0:14:49.480 They don't last very long, and then the humor comes 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:51.400 back in and they're at ease and they've had it. 0:14:51.400 --> 0:14:54.120 They've been exhilarated. And that's what I felt watching those 0:14:54.520 --> 0:14:55.280 those early pickies. 0:14:55.600 --> 0:14:59.000 I love those moments being in the cinema. The first 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:00.960 movie I ever saw at the cinema was The Never 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:05.360 Ending Story. Still, when I'm scared in a theater watching 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:08.520 current shows, it takes me back, you know. 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:12.200 Well, you know what's so funny is that that Portable 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:15.120 Door has that it has a sort of a contemporary edge, 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:17.280 and then you know, it kind of goes off to 0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:19.800 another place altogether. Not in the same way as the 0:15:19.840 --> 0:15:22.800 intercut work, but they're not that dissimilar when you go 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:24.560 from the sort of the mundane of a little kid 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:27.840 reading a book to this fantastical world. Our version of 0:15:27.840 --> 0:15:30.560 that in The Portable Door is that it's kind of like, yeah, 0:15:30.640 --> 0:15:32.680 half the movie is The Office, you know, and it's 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:35.040 just people in an office in London, and the other 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:36.680 half is Harry Potter and you know, you're sort of 0:15:36.680 --> 0:15:39.640 in this world of fantastical goblins and you know, traveling 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:42.200 through portable doors and magic, and so I don't know 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:44.240 if the audience will necessarily feel all that. I hope 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:45.960 they do. You know, they feel all those sort of 0:15:46.080 --> 0:15:49.560 that connective tissue back to those films, but certainly making 0:15:49.600 --> 0:15:52.520 it that was the ethos and what we were trying 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:53.480 to achieve with it. 0:15:53.480 --> 0:15:55.800 It kind of also reminded me of The Wishing Chair 0:15:55.840 --> 0:15:59.720 and the Far Away Tree of those adventure books that 0:15:59.760 --> 0:16:02.120 we have been brought up with that were so popular 0:16:02.480 --> 0:16:04.840 of the eighties and nineties. And I think it's so 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:08.320 important to take your kids along to shows like this, 0:16:08.840 --> 0:16:11.840 the stories like this to sort of say, this guy's 0:16:11.880 --> 0:16:14.080 the limit with the imagination that they can have. I 0:16:14.080 --> 0:16:16.400 think there's something really important in the DA. 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:19.200 Yeah, it is. And also because it's sort of like 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:21.640 we have a little motif that runs throughout the film, 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:23.920 which is that you know, every single background artist and 0:16:23.960 --> 0:16:26.240 there are hundreds of them. Every single extra in the 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:28.480 film is on their phone and the leaves are never 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:31.160 so you know, the idea is is that you know 0:16:31.200 --> 0:16:33.280 that there is so much magic in the world and 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:35.520 sometimes it comes through your phone. That's cool too. But 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:38.120 there's so much magic in the world, and it's such 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:41.240 a beautiful, wonderful place, and even with my own little boys, 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:43.720 you know, draft it outside every now and then, just 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:45.560 to take it all in. And I hope that it 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:47.480 kind of you know, I would love that, you know, 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:50.120 young people to leave the audience and or leave the 0:16:50.120 --> 0:16:52.440 film and think about where they might take a portable 0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:54.400 door to and use their imagination in that way and 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:57.520 hopefully even be a little scared that a goblin might 0:16:57.520 --> 0:16:59.400 be in their house or something. I think that that's 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:00.720 kind of capture my imagination. 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:03.120 I think there's a real three sixties sort of journey 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:05.320 for you to be back here in fantasy like this, 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:06.720