by Dov Kornits
“I came across Steve and Carl initially just to screen The Xrossing,” says Ian Hale, a film industry veteran, who now runs The Backlot in Perth, a post-production and boutique screening theatre. “I sat and watched it and I saw the blood, sweat and tears that they’d put in over the last three years to make this film and just how good it was. I thought what they’d made was quite extraordinary and so I came on board initially as an executive producer just to help them out, but I just felt this was the film that I felt I’ll jump off the fence and create an entity that can support the industry moving forward in Western Australia and basically created HALO Films, and this is the first film.”
HALO Films will act as The Xrossing’s distributor, facilitating further screenings of the film beyond its bow at the Revelation Perth International Film Festival.
When we turn to speak with the filmmakers themselves, we are initially trepidatious about Steven J. Mihaljevich, who, apart from doing virtually everything behind the scenes on the film (there were only 7 crew on the film), he also plays the crucial role of an imposing gang leader. “He’s a big teddy bear,” co-writer Carl Maiorana assures us. He should know, he has known Mihaljevich since university, when they used to talk about collaborating on filmmaking while stocking shelves at a supermarket. Maiorana went off and made money in finance, whilst Mihaljevich pursued the arts. The Xrossing sees them make good on that talk all of those years ago.
“I thought I could just do it to save us some money,” says Mihaljevich about the casting. “Initially it wasn’t as big a role as what it ended up being after the developments, and by then it was just too late, I’d already committed.”
The developments?
The Xrossing follows a trio of young men on the cusp of adulthood. One of the young men has an older brother, who is a violent gang leader. They all roam through suburbia, where a young woman has recently been murdered. Bobby, a loner Aboriginal man is the talk of the neighbourhood as a prime suspect. When the young men graffiti Bobby’s fence, it sets off a series of events that are not going to end well.
“Initially, it was very much about the character of Bobby and the boys, and then when Carl [co-writer] started developing it, he added layers and other characters and really made it a lot more of a complex drama,” says Mihaljevich.
Speaking of complex drama, the role of Bobby was initially cast with an actor who died tragically 2 weeks out from the start of production. “It was a horrible time,” says Maiorana. “We got to know his wife quite well and she said that she still wants us to make the film in memory of him, given that we kind of rewrote the character based on him somewhat.
“And then we had to gamble, and basically, we shot the first half of the film without Bobby.”
The crucial role ended up going to Kelton Pell, who is, without doubt, the most fascinating element of the film.
“Kelton just has this amazing face and really it was big shoes to fill at the beginning, and there was a time there when Carl and I were a bit disheartened,” admits Mihaljevich. “We thought that if we can’t get the right Bobby, this show is not going to go on. I had Kelton’s face in my mind quite vividly and I just sent him the script and a few text messages, and I just thought, ‘I’ll just keep texting him and keep calling him and he can’t ignore me forever’.
“Eventually he called me back and said, ‘Unbelievable, brother’. He read it, lightly, just mainly his parts, and he was pretty much in.”
The Xrossing takes some surprising turns in its narrative, including upending expectations with its open heart, which is what undoubtedly appealed to Pell.
“I’d been a drama teacher for quite some time,” says Mihaljevich about the subtext of the story. “I’d gotten a little disheartened when I’d see some of my ex-students roaming around on the streets, losing sight of their dreams. They had such a vivacious energy and optimism, and then got caught in these cycles of negativity.
“I think that youth today undervalue the importance of having a positive role model. I think that the irony of this story is that the only positive role model is the convicted man, Bobby.”
Apart from losing their leading man 2 weeks before production, a number of other issues afflicted this micro budget production.
“Aside from the tragedy that occurred before production even started, on the very first day of shooting, we had a drone crash into a rock,” says Maiorana.
“Lucky we had a backup,” adds Mihaljevich. “But also, my computer died on the first day and we had a crew member’s car engine blow up too.
“I remember on a very stressful production prep day, I crashed my car into a taxi and I didn’t have insurance because I just let it lapse. It was constant… My car got keyed one time after a massive long shoot, and then the next day the starter motor blew up. We started calling it the curse of The Xrossing.”
“I remember rushing to meet Kelton,” chimes in Maiorana, “and I was pulling out the driveway, and because I was rushing, I ran over the water main and it just gushed water. I had to leave my wife to fix that up as I was rushing to meet Kelton; we didn’t want to let him down.
“I used to try and keep the morale upbeat and say it’s the blessing of The Xrossing because it’s making us better filmmakers by having to overcome these challenges.”
“What they’ve actually done with such a small budget and what they’ve had to overcome over the last three years to get this film made is really quite inspirational,” says Ian Hale.
“When I saw the film, I just thought, ‘This film has to be seen. This can’t just disappear like countless other films do’, and that’s what made me jump off the fence and actually start HALO, and it really was these two guys and the level of passion. And not just from the guys, but everybody that was involved in the film, every single person. It’s pretty extraordinary.”
The Xrossing premieres at the Revelation Perth International Film Festival. A theatrical release of the film commences on January 8 at The Backlot in Perth.
