Lady in a Cage[WalterGrauman,1964] – it’s perhapsmy
favouriteopeningever,[nextto]thestartofBlue Velvet–
whichautomaticallydialstheviewerintoanatmosphereof
heat and danger.It was a big influenceover me. The Southern
Gothictradition,of course,often deals with hot weatherand
forbiddenrepressedurges,soI drewfromThe Nightof the
Iguana[JohnHuston,1964]andSuddenly,Last Summer
[JosephL Mankiewicz,1959].The photographyof Weegee^5
duringNewYorkheatwavesalsohasa kindofgrotesque
extremitythatwasinspiring [to me], as was the photogra-
pher MartinParr.
Tocreatetheatmospherecinematicallywasoftenquite
complicated,andI learnedlotsaboutcolourgradesandadd-
ing sweatto skin. For the more extremelooks in the film, we
used heat distortionby puttingflames in front of the lens and
adding them in post-production.
How challengingwas it to achieve such specific stylistic flour-
ishes on a tight budget?
Incrediblychallenging!There is a sayingin independentfilm-
making:don’t show what you don’t have. Althoughwe hopefully
succeededin makingthe film appearbiggerthan it is, we really
consideredwhatlocations,lightingandpropswereachievable
withinthescopeoftheprojecttogivetheimpressionofa bigger
budget.I workedveryhardwithcollaboratorssuchas[director
of photography]Ivan Davidovand [visual-effectsartist] Josh
Weeks to push the limits of what we could do.
Couldyou tell us aboutthe castingof the threeprimarychar-
acters? Why were the selected actors so right for their roles?
Liam had done anotherfilm [Sororal, SamBarrett,2014]
that I had workedon [as co-writer],whichwas kind of in
this Italianneo-giallotradition;it was made in Perth,and he
wastheleadin that.Forme,helookeda bitlikeJohnPhillip
Law, the guy inDanger:Diabolik[Bava,1968]andBarbarella
[RogerVadim,1968].I don’tknowwhy,butthatwassome
sort of incentive.I didn’t actually audition Liam; I just met
up with him for a beer.
We found Alysonthroughauditioning– she was just the
best. She came in and had really gone out of her way: she
hadsortofdressedupashercharacter,andhadprops,and
justwentthatlittlebitextra[...]I wasreallyimpressedbyher
performance.Shehadthetoughestjobbecausehercharacter
is the ‘axis’ of the film, and [has] the strongestarc.
Richardwas [cast] throughauditioningas well; he was an
oldhandaroundPerthandhasdonea lotofstageandstufflike
thatfora longtime.Hehadtherightpresence:hewasstrong,
charismatic,but at the same time [had] that kind of Australian
humour.And he was accessible– if he was too dominating, he
would have shut everything down [...] He was perfect.How have audiences respondedtoBurning Kiss?I think peoplehave been really intriguedby it. For an Australian
film, they were kind of surprisedand [...] processingwhat they’d
seen.I think,becausethere’ssomuchsexandunusual editing
[...] it kind of throws everything against the wall.http://theburningkissmovie.comOliverPfeifferis a Queensland-basedseniorcopywriterand film
journalistwhohasbeenpublishedbyTheGuardian,BBCCulture,
SFXandSBSMovies,amongothers. Hewritesregularretrospec-
tive featureson classicand cult cinemafor the UK’sSciFiNow
magazine.<http://www.oliverpfeiffer.com.au> mAbove, L–R:Charlotte’s father, Edmond (Richard Mellick); Charlotte; Max
Endnotes(^1) Referringto filmmakerLuis Buñuel.
(^2) Narratedretrospectivelyby an unnamedyoungman, Bataille’s
1928 novellaconcernsthe unconventional sexual exploits of
love-struckteenagers.
(^3) For a primeron the midnightmovie,see Neil Strauss,‘It Must Be
Midnightand Must Be Weird’,TheNewYorkTimes, 7 July 1995,
https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/07/movies/it-must-be
-midnight-and-must-be-weird.html, accessed21 May 2019.
(^4) Referringto the work of filmmakerDouglasSirk.
(^5) Knownfor his black-and-whitecrimephotography,Arthur‘Weegee’
Fellig was a photojournalistwho cameinto prominenceduringthe
1930sand 1940s.He subsequentlygainedwork in Hollywood,
includingas a special-photographic-effectsconsultanton
Dr. Strangeloveor: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love
the Bomb(Kubrick, 1964).
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