Writer/Director Brendan Cowell and star Patrick Brammall. Photo by Mark Rogers.
The new Australian film Ruben Guthrie opens in cinemas this week, following the tale of the title character who takes a year off drinking. We caught up with writer/director Brendan Cowell and the film’s star, Patrick Brammall, to find out more.
Talking first with Cowell, we asked about his personal experience and whether it mirrored that of his main character.
Ruben Guthrie is based on your personal experience of taking a year off drinking in 2007. Was a specific incident that prompted you to take this step?
It was a combination of a hundred different f-ups and it came at a point in my life where everything was really good as opposed to the movie cliché of man losing job, wife, dog then turning to drink. I had a beautiful girlfriend, my own TV show, I was winning awards and yet I was drinking destructively. I didn’t care about myself so much, but when I started to upset other people, that’s when I decided I had to do something about it.
Ruben kept his incredible alcohol collection in his living room while he had sworn off the stuff. Please tell me why you did that.
I’ve had a number of people take me to task on this. It was deliberate because there’s a point in the movie where he says he only needs to take a year off. It’s indicative that while he’s giving up the booze, he’s still really the same guy and not at the point of realising he has to make real change – like people who say they’re giving up smoking but continue to smoke at social gatherings – they’re not really changing. You actually have to change as a person.
The supporting characters all sabotage Ruben’s efforts to stay sober because it makes their lives more difficult. Is this an exaggeration for the sake of the movie?
The exaggerations were the external things like the fact Ruben is in advertising, he has a supermodel girlfriend and incredible waterfront property. The rest of it, people’s reactions, was basically biographical. I exaggerated some, like my mother didn’t pour wine down my throat, but there was a point at the end of my year off where we were at a blues fest and she did say to me that I’d done incredibly well and if I wanted a drink, perhaps I should have one. Also, my best friend did break his foot and get evicted and stayed on my couch for four months during that year. All he did was drink everything I had and smoke drugs around the house. It was a no-win situation – he is my best mate so what do you do? But it was perfect for the story.
What message do you intended for audiences to take from this movie?
It really comes down to recognition of the fact that for some people, a drink can change their whole lives. It can derail relationships, jobs, lives and it’s a living thing in some people that will always be there – that desire to get smashed. It’s also about society’s intolerance of change. We need to be more supportive of people who want to change their lives, not cut them down. When people change, it confronts everyone in their lives because it forces those people to look at themselves.
Could you tell me a bit about your experiences with attending AA, and why you chose to feature this over the mainstream counselling and government services?
I went to AA and I think it’s an incredible organisation. I wish everyone had a group like AA, not necessarily related to addiction for those who don’t have that demon, but just somewhere you can unload about the cruelties of life and get a bit of a cuddle. There are some people who need to go every day and they’re alive because of AA and their families are together because of AA. Also, in a dramatic comedy sense, it was fun to show the difference between the hard-core alcoholics in the beginning, versus the touchy-feely hippie meeting that Ruben joins later in the meeting.
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Lead actor Patrick Brammall is currently being seen in ABC-TV’s supernatural drama, Glitch, but may be best known for his role as Danny Bright in the television comedy series Upper Middle Bogan.
Can you tell me what drew you to the role and what you liked about playing Ruben Guthrie?
He was a great character, fully rounded, at once charismatic and charming while also broken and ugly. It was my first lead in a feature film and I think in film, you get to present the poetic version of a human.
You had a wonderfully talented supporting cast. How was it working with all those actors?
They were all so different and each of them affects Ruben in varied ways. [Ruben’s girlfriend] Zoya says he must do this or they’re over, then there’s the mum and dad characters who are loving obstacles, and Alex (Dimitriades) was just charismatic chaos. The writing was so good that I was able to respond genuinely to each of them. It’s really hard to say who I had the most fun with, but if I had to pick, I’d say Robyn (Robyn Nevin who played Susan Guthrie, his mother).
Did you do any research for the role?
I did go to an AA meeting and from just that one meeting, I came out buoyed and with a new perspective on people who struggle with this particular demon. It takes great strength to change and to support others to change and continue doing that on an ongoing basis.
What is next for you, Patrick?
I’ve been doing a new show for streaming service Stan, called No Activity. It’s a 6-part improvised cop show where nothing happens. The minutia of life is discussed by the detectives who sit and wait for the crims to do something. It will air later this year, probably in November.
Interview by Samantha Bond
Twitter: @sambond
Ruben Guthrie opens in cinemas on 16 July 2015.
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