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Bad Behaviour
We speak to Aussie filmmaker Joseph Sims about his directorial debut, a thrilling black comedy starring John Jarratt
A couple of psychopathic siblings pit-stop at a sleepy beachside town, on a road trip of bloodshed. This is the setup for Bad Behaviour, the debut feature film from writer/director Joseph Sims, starring Australian acting legend John Jarratt. The ensuing black comedy/neo noir is sure to make waves when it premieres at the 2010 Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF) as it drags its audience into a tangled world of murderers, coppers, teachers and teenagers - each exposing their eventual demise.
"Essentially," director, Sims, divulges, "[Bad Behaviour] is about a man losing control and his effect on the world around him." But, the picture Sims paints is far from the bleak and dour cinematic experience we might expect from this kind of story. "We kept the film warm and colourful... It has this hilarious bubblegum tone which is just brilliant to stand side by side with a Greek Tragedy narrative."
Indeed, having previously directed the short Smiling Faces - about a father and daughter who kidnap families and inhabit their homes - it may seem that Sims has something of a penchant for thematically dark pieces, however the director insists, "I don't want to make depressing whingie films, I want to make fun films."
Of making the leap from shorts to his first feature film Sims explains, "I always loved making shorts, but I was at a point in my life where I really wanted to do something big. Making your first feature is every young filmmaker's dream." That said, completing a feature film script isn't as simple as opening a laptop for a writer/director who works in long-hand... "I have hundreds of books in my bedroom, in my car, at my desk, in my kitchen, all full of random scenes and snippets of stuff. Most of it is just stuff out of my head, some is from someone saying something funny so I wrote it down. I ended up with something like Lord of the Rings - an entire world built around a number of events over a Friday and Saturday. From there it was a matter of refining the material, pulling it back and finding the story."
Script now on celluloid, Sims describes the final product, Bad Behaviour, as his "angry young man film" - the product of "that period in your life when you realise the world is completely mental, and for no good reason; everyone seems to be, in one way or another, a complete psycho."
Having sent shivers down spines the world over with his performance as a psychotic serial killer in Greg McLean's Wolf Creek (2005), actor, John Jarratt, is certainly well versed in the portrayal of complete psychos. Sims explains the effect that nabbing the renowned Aussie actor for a role in Bad Behaviour had upon his production. "I really didn't know where we stood in terms of financing and eventual size of the production until the day I heard John had signed on. Almost immediately after Dwaine [Stevenson] (Gabriel) signed on... With their names we were able to go nuts - we had access to a number of high profile people we wouldn't normally have had access to." The film also stars Lindsay Farris (Primal), TV and radio personality Jean Kittson (Hating Allison Ashley) and Roger Ward (Mad Max).
It's clear that the near future holds plenty of excitement for Joseph Sims and his creative team as the Melbourne Underground Film Festival approaches, and the director is thrilled to be a part of the program this year. "MUFF is Australia's largest and coolest genre film festival and with that it seems a more than appropriate event to stage the World Premiere," he says. "Melbourne is a beautiful place and has a wonderfully supportive film community. We want maximum impact with the World Premiere and so hitting Australia's cultural capital and being a part of the great MUFF we should hopefully be making some noise."
Keep your eyes peeled for screening information, which is soon to be revealed as the MUFF program goes live on its official website.