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The A to Z of Jucy
‘Jucy’s’ screenwriter and occasional FilmInk contributor, Stephen Vagg, gives us an A to Z lowdown on the Aussie ‘womance’, out on DVD this week.
A - All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane, the low budget Brisbane rom com which featured many of the same cast and crew as Jucy, including the two leads, Cindy Nelson and Francesca Gasteen, and the director, Louise Alston. In Jucy, Nelson and Gasteen play Jackie and Lucy, best friends accused of having a "womance" who are determined to prove themselves normal by getting a dream job and perfect guy.
B - Bronte, Charlotte - author of Jane Eyre, one of those books everyone knows about but few have actually read the whole way through, which forms an important subplot to the film. Both Jackie and Lucy are cast in an amateur theatre production of the novel, causing friction between the two... and causing several jokes to be made about the probable kinkiness of the Bronte sisters.
C - Cindy Nelson, whose real-life friendship with Francesca Gasteen inspired the film. Immaculate cheekbones and styled to perfection, she smokes too many cigarettes, but one supposes that is the price of glamour. Phenomenally talented actor.
D - Damien Freeleagus, the actor who plays Trevor, the assistant stage manager for the production of Jane Eyre, carrying a yen for Jackie. Since making the film Damien appeared in the horror flick Prey and became a Tropfest finalist with his film Bird Envy, which he directed. In Jucy he gets punched in the testicles while wearing a dress in a fight scene with Brett (played by Andy Tomorrow When The War Began Ryan, one of Damien's best friends in real life).
E - Ephraim Island - a multi-million dollar property development on the Gold Coast used as the home of Lucy and her sister Fleur (Nelle Lee), who can't understand why Lucy wants to persist in her dream of being an actor. Despite being on the right side of 30, Nelle is already something of a theatre mogul in Queensland, running her own successful theatre company that employs a number of performers. Future star.
F - Francesca Gasteen, the "ucy" in "Jucy' - another very gifted performer whose real-life friendship with Cindy inspired the film. A popular target for stalkers during her time working at a video store in Brisbane, which inspired a subplot in Jucy.
G - Gregg, Charlotte, who previously played the lead in All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane and agreed to play a small role in Jucy as a favour to Louise Alston. She portrays the self-centered air-headed actor Dimity... a character nothing like Charlotte in real life, although as she does live in Bondi, it presumably didn't take too much effort for her to find people to draw inspiration from.
H - Heat, Brisbane - not the Big Bash team but a major irritant when shooting a movie in January. Still, it means more people are available.
I - I Heart Hiroshima, who wrote one of the songs on the wonderful Jucy soundtrack, which features a host of exciting up-and-coming bands.
J - Jan Reichle. The lovely, skillful cinematographer. Probably the finest German-Filipino-Hong-Kong-raised-Gold-Coast-educated DOP in the world. And his mum provided free prop flowers to boot.
K - Kelly Chapman, former star of the early ‘90s Aussie action classic Bloodlust (directed by Jon Hewitt) turned producer, whose brilliantly efficient work made sure the Jucy train run smoothly on its small budget.
L - Louise Alston - the talented director of Jucy, making an acclaimed follow up to her debut, All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane. One of the names to watch in Australian cinema for this decade.
M - Money, provided by Screen Queensland and private investors. We won't say how much, but it was a hell of a lot less than A Heartbeat Away...
N - Nude cast parties - apparently something that happens in the Brisbane amateur theatre scene which inspired the opening sequence of Jucy. This was shot in the Brisbane suburb of The Gap, where the neighbours saw naked actors and a film crew going into a house at night time, and assumed we were making a porno.
O - Orson Welles, whose voice appears in the film as the voice of a ceramic element (hey, just because this is a comedy doesn't mean we can't have arty bits). Orson was a dream to work with, I don't know where he gets his bad rap from.
P - Paddington, Brisbane - home of Louise Alston where the idea for the film was formed on the back deck between her, Cindy, Francesca and myself plus lots of alcohol. Where would the film industry be without back decks? (Or alcohol for that matter?)
Q - Queensland, the state that was once something of a joke in filmmaking circles with bureaucrats to match, but is now coming along in leaps and bounds. Next up from the Sunshine state: Reef Doctors.
R - Ryan Johnson, who plays the egotistical, self-important actor Alex lusted after in the film by Jackie.... A role completely unlike Ryan in real life (except maybe the lusted-after-by-Jackie part). Now starring in a US series, Fairly Legal, and on the cusp of becoming the big star he's always threatened to be.
S - Summer Bay, the town which is the setting of the drama Home And Away, which has given employment to half the cast at one time or other as well as the writer, Stephen Vagg, enabling him to make Jucy.
T - Toronto International Film Festival. Site of the movie's sell out premiere in 2010 where it was listed as one of the must see films by the programmers and Variety. Since then, Jucy has screened in festivals in London, Seattle, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Adelaide, Scottsdale, Seoul, Wagga Wagga, Adelaide, and Tel Aviv, among others.
U - Underwear - worn by Cindy Nelson and Damien Freeleagus during their sex scene. Since it was 40 degrees on the day, some of the crew stripped down as well.
V - Video store, Trash - the legendary Brisbane video store run by Andrew Leavold for over ten years, based most of that time in West End, which recently went to the great video store in the sky. It lives on in the hearts of film fans and now Jucy - as it is the location where Jackie and Lucy work.
W - Womance, the intense platonic relationship between two best female friends, the girl equivalent of a bromance, which is being depicted with increasingly familiarity on our screens (e.g. Parks and Recreation, Bridesmaids).
X - X factor - possessed by Cindy and Frannie, which makes the chemistry between Jackie and Lucy such a strong part of the film.
Y - Young talent, which Brisbane is full of... and thanks to the growing industry and efforts of Screen Queensland, is now also managing to hold on to without them having to flee south or go overseas.
Z - Zoe McLauchlan, one of the many volunteers who made working on Jucy such a joy. Filmmaking can be an expensive pain in the backside but it can also be wonderful and cast and crew such as her made Jucy more of the latter.
Jucy is available to buy on DVD from July 19 and is for rent now. For more information on the film or to buy the DVD or soundtrack, go here.
Picture caption: Director Louise Alston, actresses Cindy Nelson and Francesca Gasteen, producer Kelly Chapman and writer Stephen Vagg at the Jucy Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, courtesy of Getty Images.
