Garage Days: Interview

Review by By Clint Morris

Interview with Alex Proyas
Directing the forthcoming Garage Days film.

Alex Proyas was born and raised in Australia. An aficionado of film who ultimately worked in the ever so spirited commercial and music video field. His first major film The Crow was a cult sensation; his second Dark City was his most personal and his next project, Garage Days, is his most ambitious. Clint Morris talks to the illustrious director from Proyas’ Sydney quarters.

Alex Proyas: Director

After tackling the Hollywood machine in the early 90's, Alex Proyas bought a one-way ticket back to Australia.

His latest film, Garage Days, marks a return to the smaller kind of movies the director first started out doing.

"I wanted to have some fun. Garage Days takes me back to a style of film-making I miss", Proyas says.

"It's been great working with a small crew again, on location, with the time to be flexible and muck around a little bit. When you're doing a big budget movie with a lot of sets and visual effects it can get pretty stressful. I was a little more relaxed on this movie".

The Garage Days storyline tackles the pitfalls and sacrifices of fame, as seen through the eyes of an Urban Sydney band. "My years of involvement with the music industry partly inspired the story of Garage Days. And I certainly know how to film a guy playing a guitar - having done it hundreds of times - it all came back to me like riding a bicycle," explains Proyas.

The cast of Garage Days reads like a who's who of the impending talent directory: Pia Miranda, Kick Gurry and Maya Strange. No doubt another factor in getting Proyas to work back in Australia was the fact he could cast Australian actors like the latter lot.

"I like working in Aus. It doesn't really matter what level of production I'm doing. Garage Days in particular had more of a 'family' feel with the cast and crew on the set. Everyone's there because they want to be - it isn't just a job," explains Proyas.

A scene from Proyas' Garage Days

An Alex Proyas movie can be spotted a mile off. They're usually dark, somewhat austere, and dimly lit. It all started with The Crow (1994), a film adaptation of the comic - but as the story goes, it didn't all go as planned.

A tragic incident on the set, which resulted in the death of actor Brandon Lee, left a big cloud hanging over the production. "I finished it for Brandon and am pleased so many people have seen his work and have been moved by it," says Proyas.

The incident didn't deter Proyas from working on such big productions - something else did. "The only thing I was "put off" is working on productions that I didn't have 100 percent control over," says Proyas.

"Dark City was the same. The studio forced some changes on me that I would like to go back and change one day. But I think we made a pretty spectacular film for a fraction of what it would have cost to make in Hollywood," he muses.

While he might be toying with the idea of sprucing up Dark City, It seems unlikely that Proyas would even consider the idea of resurrecting The Crow for another movie as well. Would he do it? "No. Without Brandon, the idea of a Crow franchise is disrespectful to his memory," says Proyas, obviously pointing the finger at the last two sequels.

Jennifer Connelly stars in Dark City

And a remake is out of the question too. "I generally don't go for remakes. If the original film was great - I don't see the point of re-making it as you're setting yourself up for disappointment. And if the original movie sucked... well who wants to remake a move that sucked?" he adds.

What we will see is a film formerly known as Hardwired. "The project is actually called I Robot and is based on the stories of Isaac Asimov. It's a murder mystery where the main suspect is an extremely advanced robot. It will probably be my next movie and we are hoping to start shooting before the end of this year," explains Proyas.

And the final word is a confident one. "I am very excited about Garage Days. I have high hopes for it. You never really can predict how a film will do, but so far test audiences have responded extremely positively."

Garage Days commences in 2002.

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