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By MAGGIE ALDERSON
"Ralph Fiennes was the only person I ever wanted for Oscar," said Gillian Armstrong of the male star of her latest film, Oscar and Lucinda, which was being shot on location in The Rocks yesterday.
They struck a deal five years ago. "When I met him he said to me, "I am Oscar' and I said, "Yes, you are. Please go off and get famous so that we can make the film'. Luckily he did."
With his hair dyed red and dressed in Victorian clothes, the British actor is clearly at home in the role. It's a long way from the camp commandant in Schindler's List, the part that made him famous.
"Bits of Oscar are like me," admitted Fiennes. "When I read the script I just loved the character, his vulnerability and the struggle between his faith and his conscience."
He is also enjoying working with his Australian director. "Every director is different," said Fiennes. "But with Gillian there is always her marvellous humour and energy. Nothing is a problem. She keeps all the other problems away so you always feel things are relaxed."
Creating such an atmosphere is particularly admirable considering the enormous logistical demands of Peter Carey's story. Set in the mid-19th century, Oscar and Lucinda are two odd and naive orphans, who meet on a passage to Australia. They are brought together by a love of gambling, which reaches its apotheosis in a wager that hinges on Oscar building a glass church and delivering it to a remote outback parish in the far north.
When Carey offered Armstrong first refusal on the film rights eight years ago she turned it down because she thought it would be just too hard to make.
"I made the mistake of thinking like a producer not a director," said Ms Armstrong. "I thought it would be too expensive and I let it go. John Schlesinger took up the rights and it was the greatest regret of my career. I kept sending him messages saying if he ever went off the idea I was waiting in the wings."
Five years ago that happened and now Armstrong is fulfilling her vision with no compromises. She got her own way in the casting of Lucinda, persuading the financing studio, Fox Searchlight, to let her use the relatively unknown Australian actor Cate Blanchett, although she says Hollywood stars such as Sharon Stone, Meg Ryan and Winona Ryder were "desperate to play the part".
"It's wonderful to have an Australian actor in the part of Lucinda," Armstrong said. "There
was a long battle with the producers to get Cate, but she gave a wonderful audition and now
they are thrilled with what she is doing. All the American agents are after her."
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© EL STEPHO
Added to the RF Reading Room on June 8, 1997
EL STEPHO