Interview: Morgan O'Neill

Interview by Clint Morris

Interview with Morgan O'Neill
Director of Solo - Winner of Project Greenlight Australia.

For the past four weeks 32-year-old Sydney-sider Morgan O'Neill has had quite the time. In the space of a month he's gone from a work-beseeching TV actor to fully-fledged movie director, having been handed a million dollars to make a movie - as the winner of Movie Extra's Project Greenlight Australia.

O'Neill beat 1,200 other entrants with a script entitled Solo that is set in the Australian underworld. Clint Morris talked to him at the end of a classically gruelling day of shooting, towards the end of the film's month-long shoot.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon created the 'Project Greenlight' film-making/ documentary back in 2000, and is now in its 3rd season in the United States

O'Neill, a graduate of NIDA, says the whole experience is absolutely surreal. "Getting to make a feature film is surreal in itself," he explains, "then to be followed around by a documentary crew while you do it is a bit of a mind fuck - but mostly in a good way."

The newbie director says he'd be lying if he didn't sometimes take into consideration that a camera was constantly pointed at him while he does his job.

"In the beginning you try and watch your P's and Q's because you know Mum's going to be watching, but I sat down the other day and thought about how many times I've said "for fuck's sake" while I've been looking at the monitor - you can't censor yourself in the heat of the moment."

O'Neill says the U.S version of Project Greenlight - of which there's been three seasons - is handled rather differently than this local offshoot.

They're looking for a bit of nutty drama or comedy, in the vein of reality television, there, he says, but here - you're simply seeing what's happening, as undramatic as that may be sometimes.

"The American version, as far as I can tell, was slightly reality-TV based, in a funny way. They were very keen to see drama and chaos and tears and tantrums. Whereas the Australian thing, and I think it reflects the type of people Australians are, is much more interested in simply documenting what it's like to make a low-budget feature film in this country."

Not that his filmmaking experience hasn't been met with some drama. As O'Neill explains, in one case, he's found out at the last minute that they've lost one of their filming locations - the same place, third-time-in-a-row.

O'Neill is very passionate about his craft, and determined to make a film that will want to make Australians - who are not only starting avoid going to theatre to see films, but dodging every Aussie release that comes along - pre-book tickets to a new Aussie movie, again.

"I think what will come out of the documentary is that people will look at it and go 'Ah, so they're not trying to make crap'," he explains. "Everyone on this set is sweating blood, trying to make fine work. Hopefully there will be a few people that will watch the series, and see what we're doing, and say 'Ah, maybe we should have a look at Australian films again'."

O'Neill says Solo is looking pretty good so far.

"Everything that's coming back is looking pretty exciting. If nothing else, it will be a different cinema experience. It'll be grittier than your average Australian film."

The filmmaker believes there's so much real-life drama going on in Australia at the moment that we should be taking advantage of the situation and turning these captivating stories into cinema. "Drug runners that work for airlines, drive-by shootings in Sydney, the whole gangland thing in Melbourne, the Fitzgerald enquiry… it seems to me there's this oversupply of great stories and great characters that are seemingly untapped."

Solo, described as a dark journey into the heart of the Australian underworld, is headlined by the acclaimed Colin Friels.

O'Neill can't say enough about his star. "He's fucking unbelievable. His understanding of the craft of filmmaking is just extraordinary. Why he hasn't directed a film, or numerous films, is just beyond me."

O'Neill says he couldn't have shot this film in 21 days if he hadn't cast someone as brilliant as Friels. "We've managed to use every single first-take he's done." Also in the cast is Vince Colosimo, Bruce Spence, Angie Miliken, Chris Heywood, Tony Barry, and promising newcomer Bojana Novakovic, who recently claimed fame with her performance on the acclaimed TV mini-series Marking Time.

"She's fucking fantastic," says O'Neill. "When we were going through the whole casting process I saw a lot of girls who would have been really good - but then I saw her. There's something live about what she does. There's something instinctive, and uncompromising about her."

O'Neill isn't sure how many cinemas will be showing Solo, when it commences in November - it all depends on how good of a film he hands in at the end of a day.

"They tell me there's all sorts of distribution agents who are showing preliminary interest in the film, but if it turned out to be a piece of shit I'm sure they'd go back under their shell. On the other hand, and this is what I expect to happen, if it's pretty good I wouldn't be surprised if they come out and give it a good shunt," said the young director Morgan O'Neill.

"There aren't many Australian films at the moment, and if you do one that's half good, and position it right - you might even get people to watch it."

Project Greenlight screens Wednesdays at 8.00pm on MOVIE EXTRA.
Website: ProjectGreenLightAustralia.tv

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