Problems in paradise for ‘Silent One’ director

Press, 28 August 1986, Page 18

Problems in paradise for ‘Silent One’ director

By

BOB IRVINE

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When you have thrown a lot of money and effort into creating your own storm, the real thing is a big headache.

So it was for Yvonne Mackay, director of “The Silent One." With a budget of $3 million, she was responsible for the most expensive New Zealand film to date — and was breaking ground as the first New Zealand woman to direct a feature.

The hurricane sequence would be the climax of Joy Cowley’s talk of the mystical relationship between a Polynesian boy and an albino turtle.

A DC3 engine and part of the chassis had been transported to the Samoan atoll of Aitutaki, and this, aided by two souped-up Volkswagen engines, was ready to provide a very convincing gale. A 20,000 gallon artificial lake, water and dump-tank towers had been built and tested; a village was ready to be destroyed; the crew of 80 New Zealanders, plus Island extras, were standing by ... and it began to bucket down, for the first time in months.

Ms Mackay says that when schoolchildren ask her now why she couldn’t just film the real storm, she explains that the crew would have been hanging on to trees rather than concentrating on what was before the cameras. Then there was the danger of electric shock, plus damage to very sensitive cinematography and sound gear. “I sat in a hut looking out and thought, Oh God, it (the film) is never going to look like this,” she said, ... “but it looks very good.” lan Mune, Ms Mackay and her husband, Dave Gibson, who produced the film, spent a year hewing a script from Cowley’s novel, and then scouting

locations. They found “paradise” in the ming-blue waters and turquoise skies of Aitutaki, plus 150 “brilliant” extras on hand. But unspoilt also meant undeveloped. Every item of equipment had to be shipped or flown in, from generators to nails. The crew then set about building a village in the traditional Polynesian style, complete with wharf.

The renowned Australian underwater photographers, Ron and Valerie Taylor (who put the bite in “Jaws”), filmed the sea scenes with the boy, Jonasi (Telo Malase), and turtle. Ms Mackay directed the action dry on a barge above, with the aid of a video link. “There is not a lot of drama you can get out of turtles,” she said. “You can shoot at .an angle to make them look wise and old, or beaky and shrewd. But you’re not talking about Bengi.” Ms Mackay says children still remember the “tragedy" of her movie: that the turtle. Big Mama, died • after filming was completed. Perhaps at 120 years of age, she was just too old for the workload, says Ms Mackay. She emphasises that the turtle was very well cared for — to the amazement of the Islanders, who regard the creatures merely as good food. (The Islanders were not slow to capitalise on this

alien affection: they sold 6 other turtles to a crew eager to save them from the pot.) “The Silent One” is dedicated to the memory of Big Mama. During three months of filming in the village Ms Mackay rough-cut the film in the evenings, so that when she returned to New Zealand she had a servicable version for Jenny McLeod to write music for. The full Dolby stereo soundtrack was mixed in Sydney. Two years on, Ms Mackay oversees a sevencentre South Island . release of “The Silent One” with obvious pride.

The movie has already proved a hit, picking up first prizes in several European film festivals. It has sold to “almost every country in the world,” and did very good business in the North Island. They also loved it on Aitutaki, when the film-makers returned to treat their “cast” to an open-air screening.

Ms Mackay thinks that her teachers back at St Margaret’s College, in Merivale, might be surprised by her success. She was decidedly unacademic, but thrived on a wide curriculum of drama and music activities.

After a grounding in Christchurch theatre and producing radio plays, at 21 she headed for London to study opera singing.

But the arias were “no longer relevant to my life,” so she auditioned for West End shows, picked up some radio production work ... and spent a lot of time in cinemas.

On returning to Christchurch, she transferred from radio to television and learned her craft at the “expense” of “Close to Home” viewers.

Ms Mackay left the constraints of TVNZ to

become a partner in Gibson Films, and has directed its independent productions since. Her latest work has been co-productions with her old boss; “Cuckooland” is screening on television at the moment and another Margaret Mahy adaptation, “The Haunting,” will be seen next year.

As for films, Ms Mackay is toying with script ideas. “I want to originate the thing I direct”

She bemoans the fact that successive Governments have all but killed the New Zealand film in-

dustry, but says there is still enthusiasm from financiers and filmmakers to put an indigenous image on the screen.

Should the right script come her way, “I’ll give it a go.”

“Good scripts are hard to find. If you’re got a good script you’ve got a good movie. If it’s a bad script it doesn’t matter how many millions of dollars you spend, you’ll still get a bad movie. That’s why I made ‘The Silent One,’ because when I read the book it made me cry.”