by Shayley Blair
Baby starts with a bang as Erin Kearn’s heroine, Mikaela, experiences the inciting incident that will seal the unexpected fate of her own, and multiple other lives. A significantly engaging hook is achieved as this unfolds in one continuous shot.
James Di Martino takes us through the opening scene. “I had a vision on what I wanted this thing to be, and I wanted it to be a one take shot. And I believe that, while it was definitely hard, it was not impossible to do, if everyone did what they had to do. We rehearsed it a number of times. We rehearsed it a day before, and then when it came to the day, it took us a whole four-hour block. I think we got the take on the third shot. We were very lucky. When we got it, I think everyone was jumping up and down. And I do want to say that a movie like Baby came out as good as it did because we did dedicate a lot of time to it.”
Screenwriter Llewellyn Michael Bates shares Baby’s origins. “I work at Rollercoaster Theatre, where a lot of people have mixed abilities and intellectual differences. They were all talking about being in love, and then I thought, ‘what would be the next step – if somebody was to have a baby? What would happen in that situation?’”
Bates, also a producer of the film, was also motivated to advocate for a frequently voiceless disability sector. “I think it happens a lot in the disability spaces, that the people who should be representing for disability aren’t – they’re not representing themselves in what they need, and getting a chance to have a say,” Bates reveals.
“And everyone’s disabilities are specific to themselves; such a broad range of things. But they’re not going to the people – to the source – to get the information. I think they should do more consulting with people of different disabilities for better outcomes. The thought that we can all live our dreams and do what we want to do, is a big part of the film for me – that we can help everyone try and achieve their goal,” he says.
The filmmaking team have a bigger goal of their own, which is to hopefully expand the twenty-minute short into a full-length feature. “When we go to Slamdance, we’re hoping we’ll be able to garner more interest,” Di Martino says. They’re in the process of getting a publicist onboard, through Screen Australia, and creating a marketing angle towards the feature possibility.
Bates expands on the importance of this mission. “Yeah, that’s my dream – to make it a larger project. Just so that it can reach the biggest audience possible,” he says. “And also, from a representation point of view, I’d love to see a full film where there’s two Down Syndrome actors that are the leads, and it’s a story that’s about them.”
The short’s themes evolved naturally from the story and the filmmakers’ intentions to represent, with the cast and crew comprising many people who identify with a disability – most notably the two main stars Erin and Michael Buxton – who pull off amazing performances. “I don’t think we can even name another movie where there’s two Down Syndrome lead actors,” Di Martino points out. “And this was Erin’s very first performance in a film,” he adds.
Equality was a key part of the atmosphere during Baby’s production. “The casting process for whether you’re disabled or not disabled, should generally really be the same thing. Whether you find the same look; and then when we’re developing the character for them. So that’s generally how we went about it,” Di Martino says.
Another stated aim of this film has been to show off the beauty of people with disabilities. Di Martino continues: “Llewellyn and I worked on a previous film called City of Salt – so we had a bit of experience working together with the disability angle, and this time I really wanted to make the people with disability look the best they could on camera; and me and Alex [Naughton] the DOP spent quite a lot of time meeting and coming up with the style and the look for how we could pull that off.
“The casting of Erin Kearns and Michael Buxton – from seeing Michael in other films, and how he comes out on camera; and Erin through a screen test and just how good it looked, how she came out through the camera lens. That was all really important. Then when you get a really good camera, like what we were shooting with, it just intensified everything.”
Bates elaborates” “And they were very comfortable with it all as well – they really trust me and James a lot, and to guide them and help them if they have any sort of issues.”
“We were lucky to work with [fellow actor] Yiana Pandelis as well, and Llewellyn has worked with her on many films before,” Di Martino chimes in about the supporting player in the film.
“When I told Michael we got into Slamdance, he started crying, he was so happy. If you ask him anything, he’s like – I want to be famous in America. And be in a Marvel movie,” Bates says.
Slamdance is a fantastic opportunity for networking. “More of a feature film could come out of Baby and I think that’s what we ultimately want to do,” Di Martino concludes. “And you know, that’s not limiting it, if we get a good offer for Baby to be on a streaming platform, a good one like Netflix or something, then we’re open to things like that, to get more people to see the short, because the short can stand by itself. It’s a full story.
“But also, as soon as we finished the short, you know, we were like, ‘there’s a lot of room here to expand on and flesh out all these characters’.”
Baby is screening at the St Kilda Film Festival, click here to find out more.
