by Dov Kornits
“I was looking for something fun and joyous,” says director John McPhail about his latest film Grow. “We didn’t have a lot of money growing up, but we had a Blockbuster card. So, Friday night, we’d go to Blockbuster, wait for my dad to come home and sit around as a family watching a film. I wanted to scare the kids a little and to give something for parents to sit down together to enjoy and have a laugh.”
Before Grow turns up for you to watch together in a lounge room, it is hitting cinemas around Australia after striking a chord in Great Britain.
“I grew up watching The Goonies and those Amblin movies, but also a touch of Roald Dahl, Matilda and James and the Giant Peach. Those fun stories that I remember my mum reading to me Full of fun, odd characters.”
Grow is about orphan Charlie (Priya-Rose Brookwell) who is desperate to find her mum, who she believes is a big Hollywood star. When she’s taken in by her aunt, Dinah (Golda Rosheuvel) at the family farm, Charlie learns of a pumpkin growing festival with a massive cash prize. With a magic ability to communicate with greenery, and together with local caravan-dwelling eccentric Arlo (Nick Frost), Charlie takes on the rest of the town, including the aristocratic Smythe-Gherkins (Jane Horrocks, Tim McInnerny) and scientist Mr Gregory (Jeremy Swift).
Were you involved in the casting?
“The producers loved my take on the material. We really wanted to get Golda, she’s so great as Queen Charlotte in Bridgerton, she’s just got an incredible face. I grew up watching Black Adder and I got to work with Tim McKinnerny, Lieutenant Darlings! I’ve adored Nick Frost for years, I was nervous about egos, but honestly, they were all class. They never wanted to go to their trailers. They just wanted to be on set the whole time. Just wanted to have a laugh with the crew. We genuinely laughed every day on this job.”
What about the village where you shot the film?
“Culross in Fife, it’s a beautiful little quaint village. The architecture’s got this touch of Scandinavia to it, which I thought would help lean into the fantasy.”
The film has a heightened tone – how did you balance the levels of the performances?
“As soon as they were cast, I phoned them all and was like, ‘look, I want your stamp all over this. I want to hear when we’re coming in to do this, I want to hear you when I block.’ I’m very collaborative.”
“They’re all a little bit heightened. I like to play in almost cartoon mode. The Simpsons is a massive touchstone throughout this whole film. The kid’s pretty much Bart Simpson!”
Do you ever ask cast to do another take where it’s turned up to 11?
“I had American producers, American and British finances. I knew that when I got in the edit, they’re going to be arguing, they’re going to be like, ‘crank it up,’ ‘bring it down.’ I always try to have those alts. I could push the comedy or dial it back.
“On the very first day of rehearsals with cast I do a day of clown. It’s not clown like, ha ha ha. It is physical, more mime. It’s about understanding your physicality and your body. It’s understanding for the cast about how they hold themselves, how they walk, how they move. I’ve got such a big cast, you want get to know them as quickly as possible. And the best way to do that is through the body language and who they are. And on that day, you play loads of silly games and you’ve got the director being a kid as part of a game. We are all going in, we’re all having fun, we’re all learning together and thinking about certain things. That always breeds a really good atmosphere on set. We can talk to each other without feeling like, ‘I need to tell you this’ or ‘you’re not listening to me.’”
How did you get into this caper?
“I was a camera assistant for years. When I went to uni, I specialised in cinematography. I thought I wanted to be a director of photography. Then I made a short film for fun. Me and my mates, we used to meet up on a Wednesday night, we’d write comedy sketches in the pub and then we’d go and shoot them at the weekends.
“I have never been good at anything in my life. I’ve never had a natural talent for anything. I used to get the thank you for turning up award, the participation medal. But when I shot that short, everything clicked. I could see everything, I was cutting in my head, how I was talking with folk, how I was talking with the crew, with the cat, and then with the edit. And then I put in a couple of festivals, won an award. And at that festival, there was a panel on shooting a first feature film and how to raise money. I watched this panel and I went, ‘you know what? This is what I’m going to do, I’m going to make three short films playing in comedy, getting a bigger cast, a bigger crew, more locations each time and work towards making that feature. And I’ll raise the money and that’s how I’ll do it.
“I knocked out four shorts, and within a year I was shooting my first feature!”
Grow is in cinemas 15 January 2026
