Celebrating 60 years of the Royal New Zealand Ballet, acclaimed director Toa Fraser and producer Matthew Metcalfe capture on film the dance company’s praised 2012 production of Giselle. Released by Rialto Distribution, the film is Giselle the ballet in full and features world famous stars, American Ballet Theatre’s Gillian Murphy and Qi Huan. Both are hypnotising to watch as the lead dancers in the famous heartbreaking tale of star-crossed lovers. The film also includes behind the scenes and rehearsal footage shot in New York and Shanghai.
Celebrating 60 years of the Royal New Zealand Ballet, acclaimed director Toa Fraser and producer Matthew Metcalfe capture on film the dance company’s praised 2012 production of Giselle. Released by Rialto Distribution, the film is Giselle the ballet in full and features world famous stars, American Ballet Theatre’s Gillian Murphy and Qi Huan. Both are hypnotising to watch as the lead dancers in the famous heartbreaking tale of star-crossed lovers. The film also includes behind the scenes and rehearsal footage shot in New York and Shanghai.
With a dance film, the art form is physical and unfolds in front of you so it would’ve been vital to get the cinematography right for this one and the team of camera people led by Leon Narbey ever so beautifully manage this. Leon was the obvious choice for the job, only last week he won the ‘Services to Cinema’ award for his contribution to New Zealand film at the Rialto Channel Film Awards.
I absolutely loved Giselle – dance and film – as a dancer myself, it doesn’t get much better than this. Thankfully, filmmaker Toa gave me the time to ask him some questions ahead of the film’s debut on Christmas Day.
What a year for you! Congratulations on the success of Giselle and The Dead Lands this year.
Thank you!
Your background is in writing. Plays, Bare and No. 2 you won awards for - how did No.2 the film happen?
Right from the start, before I wrote the play, I was determined to adapt it into a movie. I remember telling my cousins in Mt. Roskill when we were having a barbecue that that’s what I wanted to do and they were like yeah right, slowly but surely and with a lot of good fortune and the generosity of others it found its way to the screen.
After No.2, which was your directorial debut, award-winning feature Dean Spanley followed, which stars Sam Neill and Peter O’Toole - then came Giselle. How did Giselle come about?
After Dean Spanley I was looking for something more athletic and sweaty and sensual. I told my producer friend Matthew Metcalfe this and we took a while to figure out what that might be. But then he had the idea of collaborating with the Royal New Zealand Ballet, and asked me to do it.
What was your creative interest in the film?
I was very excited to work with Ethan Stiefel and Johan Kobborg, Gillian Murphy and Qi Huan. I saw the opportunity to do something about intimacy, grandeur and private heartache. The way we approached the movie was very intuitive and romantic and the form slowly revealed itself as we went along.
How would you describe the film? Because, it’s not really your typical documentary, for one there’s no dialogue – but it has a story, and that’s Giselle the ballet, the production that you capture in full.
I kind of talk about it like a concert movie. My key inspiration was The Last Waltz, the Martin Scorsese picture about The Band’s final performance.
Some would say absent dialogue for a whole feature is ambitious – but you pulled it off. Why did you choose to make it a non-dialogue film?
It really came out of my discussions with Ethan. It just didn't seem right to stick words in there. Words can be awesome, but I wanted to do something that operates on a different, more heartfelt, emotional level, largely inspired by the ballet itself.
The Royal New Zealand Ballet’s interpretation of Giselle is considered by many dance enthusiasts as one of the best and most challenging… how did you make sure to capture that on film?
By very close collaboration with Ethan, Qi and Gillian. I know I work best when I’m trying to earn the respect of people I respect, and I feel like we all worked together, advising each other, guiding each other in a very beautiful and respectful way.
How long did the film take to make - from pre-production to post? And, did you come across any challenges along the way?
It took about a year. The biggest challenge came after we had showed a cut to a few people and realised it would be great to get some more footage of Gillian and Qi together. By this stage Gillian was back in New York and availability was a real issue. So, Metcalfe found some money so that I, Qi and Leon could go back to New York for a weekend to scout and shoot in the Catskills with Gillian. We got some beautiful footage and I’ll never forget that weekend. Again, very romantic.
Leon Narbey is a master cinematographer and I saw that he was your DOP on the film – how closely did you work with him prior to and during filming?
Leon is a great friend. We’ve done four movies together now, over the last decade. We shot No. 2 together ten years ago this summer. I work very very closely with Leon, and on Giselle often I’d take him off for a walk with Gillian or Qi and the camera and we’d get beautiful footage.
Did you find that you had to know about dance and how to shoot dance or know the dancers?
I’m a terrible dancer and dance is a real fear of mine. I am very confident, however, in theatre and in rehearsal rooms and all the dancers and crew at the RNZB were very supportive. And again Ethan was an amazing guide.
Did you have guidelines and rules for the types of shots you would be using and stuff to stay away from?
We worked with a crack team of New Zealand camera operators, all great cinematographers in their own right, and we asked them all to follow their heart, use zooms and pans and have a kind of searching feel to their operating.
2015 looks set to be another big year for New Zealand film – can you make any comments about where you think the industry is headed in this country?
I’m personally very excited about next year and have got a couple of exciting things cooking again with Matthew Metcalfe. Word on the street is that 2015 is going to be a busy year. My friend Duncan at the DVD store Videon reckons he’s been seeing a lot of directors come in lately, some of whom he hasn’t seen in a long time, coming in to rent movies for research. And, certainly I was thrilled to be a part of an amazing year for New Zealand movies.
To see what Toa's up to, follow him on Twitter https://twitter.com/toafraser
and Instagram http://instagram.com/toafraser
and to view behind the scenes pics of the film
http://instagram.com/p/aoxnv7OCb8/?modal=true
Screening Times:
25/12/2014 08:30pm
28/12/2014 05:05pm
29/12/2014 07:30am
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