by Gill Pringle
In celebration of International Woman’s Day, Ambassador Jane Duke, Australian Consul-General to Los Angeles, invited FilmInk to her home to chat with four of Australia’s most exciting women in film including acclaimed actress Danielle Macdonald, Emmy-nominated actress and producer Rose Byrne, Oscar-nominated cinematographer Ari Wegner (The Power of the Dog, Zola) and rising talent Charmaine Bingwa (The Good Fight, The Pitch).
Finally getting to celebrate one another, the four women were eager to embrace and talk about their lives during the past two years of the pandemic.
Mum-of-two Byrne, 42, is first to admit that the pandemic actually brought about a few unexpected bonuses. “I’ve been trying to make this film, called Seriously Red, for over ten years as a producer, and during COVID we finally found this window, weirdly. And it was shooting in Australia, up in the Northern Rivers area, and at that point, Australia had zero Coronavirus. So, it was one of the few places in the world that we could go and shoot without 1000s and 1000s of restrictions,” she tells us.
“And it was thanks to that, as with independent film, where all the stars have to line up to actually get it made. So, in that sense, it was an incredible break for this tiny little movie that we did that – and it’s now going to South by Southwest on the weekend – so it was great really.”
Talking about the massive up-tick in digital entertainment and streaming services, Byrne is embracing the new world: “It’s very exciting and, and in terms of the amount of content and streaming and digital – I think there’s more creative opportunities for everybody here, to write, to direct to produce to act to sing and whatever, so that’s how I try to see it.
“Obviously, there is a lot of content and it’s more competitive than ever and but there’s more opportunity than ever before – and more opportunity means more opportunity for women,” she says.
Byrne is particularly proud of her company Dollhouse Productions, with its strong focus on women and women’s stories. “I think it’s long overdue, it’s like there was always an audience and I think it was just a matter of time before finally people started to have that opportunity to make content for women.
“It was bizarre when I did Bridesmaids like 12 years ago, when I was so naive about people thinking women were funny. They were like, ‘Oh, we can’t believe this is so funny, and it’s a bunch of women!’ and I was like, ‘What? We’re not dolphins!’. It didn’t even occur to me, but this was a part of the conversation then, and I’m slowly hoping that’s not gonna be part of the conversation one day; that women aren’t capable. Because they’re capable of doing everything in anything, obviously.”
For Australian/Zimbabwean actress Charmaine Bingwa, she didn’t just have to overcome the obstacle of being a woman – but also being a woman of colour.
“It can feel like a double whammy if you’re from a minority group or if you don’t identify as heteronormative as well but I think in terms of representation on screen it’s like actors on screen are probably just one link in the inclusion chain. We need directors and producers to select those people; we need financiers to see value in us; we need stories written by the underrepresented, or written about them, and managers, agents, on and on and on,” says Bingwa, who will next be seen in Antoine Fuqua’s Emancipation alongside Will Smith.
“Even things from like a grassroots level… I recall coming to LA and almost every acting class I was in I was like the only black person in there. I was like, ‘Oh, where is everybody at?!’ It’s just about being able to kind of foster it at all levels. And, another positive thing that I think of as well is: try and hunt down where ‘great’ is if you can.
“I feel so fortunate right now to be on a show that I think is like best in class in terms of inclusion, about a Black Law Firm in The Good Fight and it’s led by a wonderful, amazing woman, Christine Baranski, who is not only leading our show at the moment, she’s leading The Gilded Age, which I think is phenomenal for her to be having this moment at age 69. Because we often are vulnerable to ageism, as well as women.
“And then all through the cast and crew, females, people of colour, people of different sexual orientations and it’s a really wonderful place to work. I find that it’s really normalised it for me, and so I’ve internalised those values, and I feel like I take it to every other production that I’m part of as well. And I think if we all do that, we’ll all be advocating for everyone,” she says.
A recipient of the Heath Ledger Scholarship in 2018 – and also the first woman of colour to be honoured with the scholarship – Bingwa is eternally grateful, particularly to Byrne. “The year that I got the scholarship, Rose was actually on the panel as one of the judges; I mean, like what a beautiful example of women lifting up women.
“I wouldn’t be sitting here today unless you took the time to look at somebody else’s talent and donate your time when you’re a very busy lady,” she says as Byrne smiles encouragingly at her side. “I think it’s such a powerful programme and I’m so excited for the recipient this year as well.
“I think we’re doing great things but we can look to areas just to make sure that people or groups that are traditionally underfunded or disinherited can get an opportunity as well. So maybe it’s like more specific programmes to make sure that the marginalised groups have a path to success as well. More specifically trained staff which probably Ari [Wegner] can probably speak to a little bit more specifically, but to make sure that it’s not just in terms of actors, but it’s grips and crew and every aspect of the craft,” she says.
For Sydney-born Danielle Macdonald – who is already enjoying such an extraordinary career in the US – she has a particular perspective as an Australian actress in America where she rarely gets to use her native accent, having moved to the US when she was 18 years old.
Reflecting on her role as Lilian Roxon in Unjoo Moon’s 2019 biopic about Helen Reddy, I Am Woman, she says, “It’s been interesting for me because that was my first ever time playing an Australian. I’ve only played an Australian twice – which is kind of crazy. And I’ve only filmed in Australia twice.
“I did it very much in reverse. I came out to America, and I had to work out here and then I got to be able to go back to Australia and work. Americans, I find, like working with Australians. I think we have an easygoing nature but also there is a very hard working nature – like to get out to America on a visa is not easy! It’s difficult, so you really have to want it and you really have to be working for it. It’s bizarre to me that I kind of did it in reverse. I think it was very cool to come back to Australia and see how much the Australian industry has grown. I found that when I was starting out there, there wasn’t really any opportunity for me. And going back now and seeing how diverse Australia has become with their content has been really amazing and refreshing to see,” she says.
Macdonald has also broken the typical Hollywood model for women with her roles in Patti Cake$, Dumplin’ and Falling for Figaro.
“It’s interesting because it’s really fun to get roles where how you look isn’t even a part of the conversation. It’s just anyone could have played this role, and you were the person that got chosen. That’s really exciting for me. But it’s also important to do films where you do address issues because people are feeling this way and people want to feel represented and people want to have the conversation.
“Patti Cake$ and Dumplin’ were really special to me. Dumplin’ was something where I very much looked like my 16-year-old self. I found it very cathartic to do a film like Dumplin’ and I read the book and I was just like, ‘Oh wow, full emotions’, and to get to actually do that in my mid 20s and feel kind of past that stage but being able to go back into it, meant a lot. It’s weird how you kind of think, ‘Oh, maybe this is just how I’m feeling’, and then, once the movie came out here, hearing the amount of people that come up to you; I would have people crying sometimes. I didn’t realise how many people wanted to talk about this or see this, because it wasn’t really shown that much to be honest, and it wasn’t really talked about. It opened up the conversation in a way that it never really had for me. I feel like growing up it was always just something that you didn’t really talk about. Then all of a sudden, you do movies really talking about issues and body positivity and weight and people actually want to have the conversation and say, ‘I felt this way as well’, and it just helps people be more open,” says Macdonald who also featured in The Tourist and Unbelievable.
According to Bingwa, “I was at The Magic Castle with Danielle, and I couldn’t get to the dinner table because everybody wanted to talk to her. And we’re with some other people that they would have wanted to talk to but you are the rock star!”
Making history as the second woman to be nominated for Best Cinematography at the Oscars – for Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog – Ari Wegner is recovering from a recent bout of Covid when she joins us.
Ask her how coming up in the Australian film industry has brought her to this point, Melbourne-born Wegner admits, “It’s hard to kind of go back and pull all the bits apart because I think, like all of us, we’ve only ever lived as ourselves and grew up where we grew up.
“But then, I guess I’ve spent quite a lot of time overseas now, but I think Australians are really good at some soft skills like reading the room, and it’s an under-appreciated skill in the world, and I think we’re really good at that.
“Growing up in Melbourne, which is fairly multicultural, there’s a general sensitivity; we’re pretty well traveled as a culture. I think that kind of helps. And growing up in a small population in a niche industry in one particular field, I think it’s a great place to train and grow because you have such direct access to the people that are above you. There’s just less people around.
“And you can quickly meet amazing mentors and seeing the kind of things that would take you decades, maybe in another place, to get to see and to get noticed. Also, I think Australians have a natural tendency to push against hierarchy. And maybe instead of everyone working to serve a director, it’s more like a bunch of people making a film together.”
Obviously, the life of a cinematographer is not for everyone; an all-encompassing career, demanding a lot of travel and time away from home and loved ones. It’s something which has clearly been on Wegner’s mind recently as she travels around the international award circuit.
“I’m so glad you brought it up because it’s a huge thing in my life,” she says. “I’ve juggled it with varying degrees of success. But I think when you’re young, especially coming from Australia, everything that’s not Australia is really exciting. You want to get to London and get out and see everything. And then after 10 or 15 years of that, you actually realise that where you grew up is actually kind of amazing. Around that same time, the idea of having family and where you grew up, suddenly starts to have this magnetic pull… I’m not sure where that was going but I’ve been thinking about doing the baby thing.
“And women do disproportionately bear the responsibility of caretaking, and I know, it’s not something I think is right. But I think that, right now, it’s the reality from what I see anyway. That’s not true in every family, but I think that is a huge challenge for people in the creative industries, because you can get stuck in a bind between two things you really love which might be your children, or maybe your parents are older or someone else that you care for – and then your job.
“Both of those can be really important to you. And I think maybe we can put some of that burden on the people employing us to say, ‘If we do want women to be better represented in our creative industries, then we need to talk about caretaking and maybe we can share that a little bit. I don’t know how it could work but I’ve been thinking about this a lot, basically, childcare. We want more people; more diverse voices in the film industry; we want the best stories, so we can’t exclude anyone that’s got a child because that doesn’t make sense,” she says.
On that note, FilmInk can’t wait to hear Wegner’s Oscar acceptance speech.
