Our good friend and Behind the Panels co-host David McVay over at Geek Actually has just posted an interview with Burning Man writer/director Jonathan Teplitzky and star Bojana Novakovic. David’s given us permission to replicate it here. Bless his cotton socks.
Burning Man the new drama written and directed by Jonathan Teplitzky (Better Than Sex, Gettin’ Square) is a powerful piece of work. An amazing script married with stunning visuals and terrific performances make this film about loss, mourning and ultimately rediscovering life compelling viewing. The script’s fractured narrative builds upon itself throughout the running time of the film and it is extraordinary to watch, not only because it it slots together perfectly by the end but because Teplitzky wrote it that way. One of my first questions in this interview was about the script and he informed me that he didn’t write it in linear form and then chop it up, nor did he lay it out on index cards…he just wrote it out as it is in the film. When you see the film you will realise that this is no simple task.
The interview you are about to watch was recorded on October 14th 2011 at the Intercontinental Hotel here in Sydney as part of the film’s Junket. Jonathan Teplitzky and David were also joined by one of the stars of the film, Bojana Novakovic (Devil, Edge of Darkness, Drag Me To Hell). The two of them were very gracious with their time and we even had a few laughs along the way. Along with talking about the script we also cover topic like how did Bojana prepare for such a raw performance and how does Jonathan like directing actors.
Burning Man is the reckless, sexy, funny, moving and ultimately life-affirming story of Tom, played by Matthew Goode (Watchmen), a British chef in a Bondi restaurant, who seems to have decided there are no longer any rules he needs to obey. Whatever Tom is up to, his actions seem to be tolerated by those around him.
As Tom descends into darkness, fragments of a different story begin to emerge. All the women in his world are trying in their own, very different ways to help put him back together.
The film also stars Essie Davis, Rachel Griffiths, Kerry Fox, Anthony Hayes and Kate Beehan. The film will be released by Transmission/Paramount across Australia on the 17th of November.
