by Sofia Paul
“I was going through a bad period, struggling a lot with finding work and feeling lost in the world.”
The crime-comedy follows Calvin, along with his dole bludging friends, who after a surprise $200,000 lottery win, see their dodgy investments going off course.
The feature made on a budget of $12,000, is quite different from Lorian’s previous work.
“It’s my first major comedy. I’ve done a bunch of different genres and short films. I did a psychological drama [2017’s Subject 36] for my first feature. This one is my first try at doing something more quirky, comedic and out there,” he said.
Lorian said he received more assistance with this production than past ones. He collaborated with Elle Cahill again, whom he first met when searching for a producer the year prior.
“She was very busy at the time because her work was taking her places.”
One of the actors, Bryce Myles Fenwick also got to work behind the scenes, taking over the art department.
“He did more than he bargained for, but he seemed quite eager to help out and was invested in the project.”
Lorian hopes the audience will relate to the story.
“I hope they connect to the characters and find themselves a bit surprised with some of the twists.”
His goal was to make a film that features complex characters who are not always likeable.
“I am curious to see what people would find empathetic with very flawed people, who want to do the right thing but don’t really know what that is.”
He also wants the piece to get people thinking about the social ideas that surface.
“How people live, issues with unemployment and crime, which I don’t think the movie takes a hard stance on, but it brings up a lot of concepts. I hope it starts conversations.”
The whole team gave greatly to the production.
“We all put in a lot of unpaid time. I tried to pay people a little bit, upfront $25 a day to actors and $20 to crew. I gave more to the actors mainly because they were doing unpaid rehearsals as well.”
Lorian needed to contact everyone he knew throughout the production because he was not able to get people who would commit to the entire filming period.
The production of Good For Nothing Blues ended up being spread over a whole year to achieve the filmmaker’s desired aesthetic.
“It’s a movie that’s supposed to have this really hot, sweaty, summery feel. It didn’t make sense to shoot it in winter. We had to wait for the sun to be higher in the sky and until the grass was a bit dry to get that look we were going for.”
The film is guaranteed to get a few laughs too with its distinctively Australian vibe.
“There’s a lot of local references, people who have some experience of bogan culture and there’s a few mullets,” Lorian said.
Now that filming has wrapped, Lorian is looking forward to the film’s premiere in August.
“After that, if the demand is there, we’ll do more screenings, try to send it to festivals and maybe stream distribution.”
See Good For Nothing Blues on August 12 at Luna Leederville. Grab tickets here.
