by Dov Kornits
Writer/Director/Producer Luke Jacobson makes his feature debut with the rom-com Sugar Cube, centering on barista James (Matt Marasco) in love with his manager Sarah (Tess Dobrè) since they were kids, but too afraid to let her know how he truly feels. When Sarah gets a new job at a cocktail bar, James follows like a puppy dog, only to discover a whole new world, and that Sarah does not reciprocate his feelings.
If that all sounds familiar both in terms of rom-com conventions and of the Melbourne social life, think again according to lead actress Tess Dobrè.
“What makes the film unique is Sarah is not your ‘girl next door’, whose light freshness and sweet good girl vibes are irresistible. Contradicting your usual rom-com gals, she is full of grit, foul language and headstrong determination coloured by her messy inner emotional life.”
Sounds intriguing…
“I am passionate about seeing strong women on screen who are layered, complex, with flaws and have a heart and drive to love and lead well. We can learn so much by sharing stories of wrestle, growth and determination and I want to be a part of telling stories other ladies can watch and feel understood, encouraged, supported or inspired.”
We’re with you there!
“I am truly inspired by females playing characters of depth, layered complexity and with their own distinct voice. Performances by Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich, Angelina Jolie in Beyond Borders, Hilary Swank in Freedom Writers, Jennifer Connelly in Blood Diamond, Michelle Pfeiffer in I am Sam, Jennifer Lopez in Enough and Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality have inspired me growing up. I loved the heart of these characters, and their drive, strength and determination, as well as their flaws.”
When we were initially contacted by the filmmakers, they mentioned the inspiration of the Bechdel test when devising the film, even more intriguing because a male writer/director is behind Sugar Cube. “The Bechdel test is a very simple – and imperfect – way of seeing if a writer is creating real characters, not just stereotypes,” says Luke Jacobson. “I began looking into it at the start of a process of admitting that my writing was most likely going to be swayed by my gender and films that I’ve watched. Stereotypical characters in writing isn’t just harmful, it also makes bad scripts. The initial script was really just seeing what would happen if we tried to tell the cliche story but with real characters with different wants and opinions. Once we gave the characters to the actors to try, we knew the story was unique and we got excited about telling it.
“As far as being a guy that’s inspired by the Bechdel test, it isn’t really anything special, the creative team was half girls anyway. I’d be pretty embarrassed to hand over a stereotypical character to an actor and ask them to play it, which no doubt I’ve accidentally done in the past. Fully formed characters make interesting stories.
“We did it really because if we were going to film this story, for one it’d be a pretty regular story if we told it with stereotypical characters.”
