by Dov Kornits
Debut writer/director Mick Connolly went out on his own with his feature comedy Hands Up Who’d Like a Hug?, shooting for next-to-nothing on an iPhone 13 with a minimal crew and a cast of unknowns. The film is now set to screen as part of The Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
“Did I consider the budgeted route?” laughs first-time feature film writer and director Mick Connolly. “Not for this. I’m in my sixties. I’ve been trying to get movies made with budgets all my life. It’s looked like something would happen but then it doesn’t. Before you know it, you’re sixty… I know to a young person – or a successful person – that sounds stupid, but that’s just been my journey.”
Mick Connolly’s journey has indeed been a long and winding one. A longtime director of TV commercials, Connolly has been scratching away at the edges of the film industry for years. He won second prize in the 2010 Final Draft Big Break Competition with his action/comedy Crims. His short film Cabbie Of The Year won several awards, including Best Short Screenplay at the Australian AFI Awards and Best Screenplay at the St Kilda Film Festival. Another of his shorts, Opportunity Knocks won Best Short Film at The Sydney Film Festival Dendy Awards and Best Film at The St Kilda Film Festival.
With these notches carved into his well-worn belt, Connolly knew, however, that he had to make the jump to features… and that he had to make that jump on his own. “I was at the point when I knew nobody was interested in me or my scripts anymore,” Connolly says plainly. “If I was going to do this, I had to make the movie without financial or producer support. Not that I didn’t get support from my network. I’ve been directing TV commercials for a long time, and I had colleagues who helped, along with family, friends and parents from the school gate. That was part of the joy of making Hands Up Who’d Like A Hug? It was almost like a community project.”
Shot for not-very-much on an iPhone 13, Hands Up Who’d Like A Hug? follows Thomas (Kyle McCallion), a lonely, friendless young millionaire so desperate for connection that he engages a homeless drunk, Deacon (Don Bridges), in a grab for friendship. Meanwhile, Thomas’s neighbour, Blake (Josh Vinen), discovers his girlfriend was once involved with his best mate, Logan (Mark A. Campbell). Blake decides to end the friendship with Logan… Logan won’t let him. These four emotionally stunted men become entangled when Blake and Logan start competing to be Thomas’s best mate just to annoy each other. Thomas is ecstatic about all this new attention… until Deacon becomes homicidally possessive.
“The spark behind the plot for the movie was firstly the practical boundaries,” Connolly explains to FilmInk. “I was self-financing this movie and had $40,000 to spend. That meant everyone had to work for free, and I had to get locations for free. Basically, I tried to come up with a story I could shoot in my house and around my neighbourhood. I needed to call on the help of people in my life who would offer their talents and their resources. Hats-off to my family, who agreed to move to an Airbnb for a month so I could have the house! My neighbours also gave me their house for three nights. The generosity toward me during this time was astounding.”
Though shooting the entire film on an iPhone might seem vaguely outrageous, this filming method has certainly become more popularised of late, largely through the higher profile now afforded to festivals like The SF3 Smartphone Film Festival, which is held every year. “Budget was the catalyst, but the more I looked into it, iPhone filmmaking has so much going for it,” Connolly tells FilmInk. “Firstly, we were shooting in public a lot. With iPhone, we were almost invisible. With iPhone, I literally got on a tram with two actors, got our shots and stepped off the tram at the next stop. Nobody on the tram would have any idea we were shooting a feature film. We shot all over the place. The quality achievable on iPhone is also amazing. When I first saw the images projected in a cinema, it absolutely blew my mind. I had a bum-bag with a couple of lenses, filters and a spare phone. That was the camera department. It’s a revolution. I’m no cinematographer but I’m proud of the look of our film. In the hands of a true cinematographer, an iPhone is an incredibly powerful filmmaking tool.”
As well as his iPhone, Connolly is helped immeasurably by his very game cast, which is made up of unknowns. “I went to my best mate who’s a casting director, but he told me I was wasting my time,” Connolly sighs. “Agents wouldn’t want to help, and I just wouldn’t get any actors who were good for no money. But I felt there would be great young actors who just didn’t have a foothold in the industry yet, who would jump at the chance to be in a feature film. And I was right. I found actors through the few agents who did want to help, along with the Starnow website. I got around three or four strong contenders for each major role and went through the callback process. With minor roles, I went straight to family and friends.”
In something of a coup, Connolly’s no-budget iPhone comedy has been chosen to play at Cinema Nova to tie in with The Melbourne International Comedy Festival. “I really hope the Comedy Festival screenings are the start rather than the end as far as cinema screenings go,” Connolly says. “If these screenings go well, I want to continue at the Nova and branch out to some more cinemas. I don’t have a distributor, so I’m doing it myself and it’s a steep learning curve. But I believe in this movie and my hope is that word-of-mouth will help us get to wider and wider audiences. There are going to be a lot of people who love this movie. I’ve just got to get it in front of them.”
Finally, we can’t help but ask, is it a wise financial move to get into filmmaking? “Absolutely not,” Connolly laughs. “If it’s financial security you’re after, pick anything but the arts. The overwhelming possibility is that you will struggle! This is an industry of dreamers who are compelled to do it because they love it. There shouldn’t be anything I say that has any influence on whether a person does or doesn’t follow this dream. I just want to share my journey because I’m in my sixties and I spent over thirty years trying to make a movie via the usual route, basically putting my future in the hands of others. I realised I didn’t need to do that. Of course, it’s ideal to get funded and supported but if you don’t, you can still make something happen. Don’t wait until you’re sixty like I did. If you want to make a movie, make a movie. You can.”
Hands Up Who’d Like A Hug? will screen at Cinema Nova I Carlton between April 8-15 during The Melbourne International Comedy Festival, with plans of a wider release following this run.
