Scott Hicks: Probing The Musical Mind

by Anthony Frajman

Revered Australian filmmaker, Scott Hicks spoke to us at a special AACTA screening of his new documentary, The Musical Mind.

Almost 30 years after his breakout, Shine, acclaimed Adelaide director, Scott Hicks, is back with a new film, which has a deep connection to his 1996 Geoffrey Rush-starring feature.

A profile of four, major, disparate artists, The Musical Mind peeks into the minds and creative lives of David Helfgott, Ben Folds, Daniel Johns and Simon Tedeschi.

The feature length documentary began while Hicks was revisiting Shine. Each of the profiled artists share a connection, for Hicks.

“It started out as putting together a grouping of musicians that were involved with Shine in some way, and exploring their worlds, their private worlds and their personal processes,” Hicks says.

“The Shine 25th anniversary was approaching. I had always wanted to go back and revisit David Helfgott, who’s remained a great friend over the years, (and his wife Gillian). That had been in the back of my mind for many years, and this just seemed like a good opportunity to do it with an anniversary coming,” he adds.

And then it radiated out from there, ‘what about these other musicians?’ Let’s have a look and see what happened to Simon (Tedeschi) today. That was that kid playing the piano in (Shine). And of course, he’s gone on to have his own brilliant career. Again, a unique artist. And in a way, I started to see it’s a collection of Neurodiversities, quite honestly,” Hicks adds.

Though Daniel Johns may seem an unlikely admirer of Shine, he is in fact a massive fan of the film, and of Hicks’ work. Johns even collaborated with Helfgott on a Silverchair song in 1998, ‘Emotion Sickness’. For Hicks, Johns was the key to the film.

“We met each other in passing often in different situations. He was obsessed with Shine. He’s watched the film a hundred times. We’ve become tremendous friends since, I just find I have the most interesting conversations with him about art and music and visual art as well, and literature. He’s just got a really extraordinary mind.”

For Hicks, each of the eclectic artists of The Musical Mind, gave him a deep insight into how musicians think and approach their lives.

“These people are all living in a world of music in their own heads. And music has been their huge redemption, really. In David’s case, it sort of got him out of hospital. In Ben’s case, he says something like ‘my life would’ve taken a very different path without music’. To create original work of the power and strength that Daniel is capable of, requires a very particular mind. And he’s fascinating, I think. Absolutely fascinating. I think he’s a great artist. He’s like a prince that can create his own world,” Hicks says.

In his impressive career, the South Australian filmmaker has made a disparate range of features, including a documentary on American luminary, Philip Glass, Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts. The Musical Mind is the latest in a body of work which he says has always gravitated towards music artists.

“I’ve always (headed towards) musical subjects, whether it was clips for INXS in the early days; my first feature Freedom, the soundtrack was scored by Don Walker from Cold Chisel. Music has always been very integral. And then of course, Shine just brought that all to a whole other level.”

One of the highlights of the film, for Hicks, was showing a side of Daniel Johns many have not seen.

“I loved it when (Daniel was at his canvas) and the paint (unexpectedly) started to fly. I love filming things where you never know what’s going to happen,” Hicks says.

The Musical Mind marks the first feature film that Hicks has made via his new company, May30 Entertainment, together with partner, Kerry Heysen-Hicks and David Chiem, CEO of global company MindChamps. Based in Adelaide, it cements Hicks’ commitment to remaining in the state.

“We’ve set up this company with a really dear friend of mine, David Chiem, who’s a very successful businessman. We’ve known each other since he was a young actor. We set up May30 Entertainment together with an eye to developing stories about light at the end of the tunnel.

“These two documentaries that we’ve done, one being The Musical Mind, the other being My Name’s Ben Folds, those are the first fruits of that collaboration. But we’ve got several features that are in development,” Hicks says.

The Musical Mind is in contention for an AACTA Award

Main Photo by Steven Laxton
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