My Friend Mister Percival - All About Filming

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

A touching and amazing drama "My Friend Mr. Percival" directed by Sean Sith is released in Russia. The main roles in the film are played not only by pelicans, but also by the famous Geoffrey Rush and Jai Courtney. The shooting of My Friend Mr. Percival (2020) was interesting, especially working with the pelicans themselves. Learn interesting facts about the production and filming of the picture.

How Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush became a storm

Choosing an actor for the role of Michael Kingley - Stormick in adulthood in modern scenes - Sean Sith and the producers instantly converged on one person - Oscar winner Geoffrey Rache. They approached the actor during the script development phase to enable him to get involved in the script detailing process. Producer Michael Bougain:

“We are incredibly lucky to have Jeffrey Rush imbued with the project. Jeffrey would have lent weight to the film and the role anyway, but he also believes, as we do, that the script should tell the story exactly the way it should."

Rush, who joined the film and as an executive producer, recalls:

“I joined the project because Sean Sith, Michael Bougain, Matthew Street and Justin Mongeau explained to me the essence of re-arranging the story for a modern audience: how to find and open the door to take a look at the story of Colin Thiele, which unfolds in the 50s. Sometimes such roles come to you that you immediately think:

Wow, it sounds amazing

Geoffrey Rush never saw the 1976 film as he studied in Paris in the year it was released. And, having joined the project, he chose not to watch it.

“I watched the trailer for the 1976 movie because I wanted to see what effect it had,” Rush recalls. “Then I read the story, after I had read the script. Colin Thiele awakens the imagination. It is very interesting how minimalistic this story is. It seems there are only 50 pages, but this is a fairy tale. In the film, Stormik is over 60 and he tells his granddaughter about how he passed from childhood to the adult world. And the fact that he tells it in the form of a fairy tale is absolutely wonderful, because it connects with personal memories, and does not turn into a listing of facts: "First I did this, then this …"

The key task was to construct a scenario in which the transitions between two historical periods would be clever and meaningful.

“It had to have a poetic lightness so that no one thought that now we are going to watch a film about someone who is telling this film,” says Rush. Screenwriter Justin Mongeau has been very adept at capturing the simplicity of children's storytelling in modern history, borrowing in part from Thiele the sensibility of language and integrating it into the script. Reading, you immediately visualize what is happening. There were heart-squeezing moments: the story itself is poignant, and it is exciting to see a small child who opens his soul to such a strong feeling of love for nature."

In the land of the Australian aborigines

The main character along with Stormik and his father Tom is Bill Bonefinger from the Ngarringeri Aboriginal people. The involvement and inclusion of the Ngarringeri was vital because the film is filmed in their land and represents their heritage and culture. Pelican (Nori) is a totem in the Ngarringeri culture.

“The film raises the question of Aboriginal land rights, which is incredibly relevant today. I think we still have a lot of work to do regarding our relationship with the Aboriginal people, says Sith. We wanted to make the Aboriginal aspects of the film as accurate as possible. This is a sacred place for the Ngarringeri, and the plot of the story grows out of this. It was impossible to tell a story about unconditional love and life in harmony with the land and nature without their help"

Street continues:

“It was very important for us to establish contact with the Ngarringeri people, actively involve them in the work and secure their permission to film in Kurong. I think they knew that we would be respectful of their customs and beliefs. " “The Ngarringeri people helped us, advised us on script, language and customs,” adds Bougain. "We put it all into the film to create a fuller and more believable story on top of what was already contained in Justin Monjo's excellent script."

In Thiele's book "Stormik and Mr. Percival" and the 1959 story, the environmental problem was revealed through the question of whether the Kurong hunting zone will remain or turn into a nature reserve. In the modern version, the film touches on the topic of mining and its impact on nature. Producer Matthew Street says:

“It's all about the balance, the balance between human society and not to exploit nature and natural resources too much. It seems to me that this is exactly what was explored in Thiele's book, and I hope that we have paid tribute to him in our version of the story."

Features of shooting pelicans

For the producers of shooting pelicans, two critical questions were raised: how to maximize the use of real birds in the scenes and how to establish a tangible connection between the animals and the main character. The producers knew that in order to achieve this, they would have to start a few months before the preproduction of the film - and take the risk of involving trainers in the project, as well as find, raise and train pelicans.

Interesting things to know about interacting with pelicans and preparing for filming:

• Bougaine & Street hired highly trained Zeli Bullen of Animals All Around as animal supervisor. Bullen knew how few pelican trainers are in the world, but fortunately, bird trainer Paul Mender, who works off the coast of Queensland, took up the challenge.
• Pelicans have a long lifespan, but a high mortality rate of around 30% in the wild, in particular due to predators like foxes. Five birds were found, rescued and raised. The training process was relatively short, thanks to the intelligence of the pelicans.

“Behavior is trained by rewarding food, so it's a positive motivation,” explains Paul Mender. - Every time their behavior meets the requirements, we give them fish. Pelicans have a good memory, so what they learned stays with them the next day."

Bullen sees a common trait in training any animal to understand how the animal thinks and feels

“Animal trainers need to know a certain amount of theory, but they also need to have empathy and understanding of animals,” says Bullen. "They have to respect animal boundaries."

Finn and Mr. Salty

It was imperative that Finn Little secure contact with the pelicans, so he first met them when they were just six weeks old.

“Every week Finn came and talked to the pelicans,” explains Mender. - He spent time with them so that they perceive him as a friend and as part of a group. The birds have formed a strong attachment to Finn and vice versa."

Working with five birds representing three characters - Mr. Professor, Mr. President, and Mr. Percival - was like casting real actors for a role.

“Pelicans have very strong and varied personalities,” says director Sean Sith. “Thanks to this, we were able to decide which of the pelicans will be Mr. Percival, which will be Mr. Professor, and which will be Mr. President. Plus, they all learned different tricks. Some were good at hide and seek, others were good at flying, so we could make choices based on their skills."

One male Salty pelican was able to work closely with Finn and it was he who introduced Mr. Percival on the screen. The actors and crew were amazed at the birds and their improvisations every day. Certain actions were built into the script, but the filmmakers developed a principle they called "flexible thinking." They decided to be open about what the birds were doing. They transferred this philosophy to other aspects of filmmaking.

“We tweaked the script to match their play,” says Bougain. - On paper, we only assumed that we would succeed, but pelicans are real personalities, they are solid characters and they brought a lot to their heroes. I'm sure the audience will think that we used CGI pelicans - this did happen, but on very rare occasions. Almost everything you see is real and it's just amazing. "

Sean Sith continues: “When we were filming the scene where Bill Bonefinger tells Stormik that the pelican is his totem, the pelicans weren't very interested in the conversation, so every time we started filming, they drifted apart. There was a beautiful sunset and we thought: "What should we do?" And then someone said:

“Let him dance the dance that comes after the dialogue, and skip the dialogue. As soon as Trevor started dancing, the pelicans reacted as if they had read the script. They turned, looked at him, came back and lined up to look at him. It was real magic."

In the process of filming, the pelicans became more and more comfortable with the film crew. When we brought Salty to the set, he ran and rubbed against each member of the crew one at a time, as if greeting everyone.

Nothing limited the birds on the set, so at the most unexpected moments they could fly away. Sometimes they came back pretty quickly, on other occasions Paul Mender used the red bucket as visual "motivation."

“The red bucket was a very strong visual sign that they were getting more than one fish,” explains Mender. "Pelicans are very visual creatures, so from a distance the bucket was the attractive card that brought them back."

Finn Little recalls his experience with feathered co-stars:

“They were just amazing. I could sit them on my lap and stroke them. Paul Mender, Zeli and her husband Craig Bullen treated pelicans so well. The birds sometimes started to freak a little, then Paul took them in his hands and told them: "Behave yourself", kissed them and they behaved well again. As if you could talk to them"

Jai Courtney adds:

“I have horse riding experience, have ridden a horse in the film, but I have worked very little with animals. The trainers have done an incredible job with the birds. They are incredibly beautiful. I will never forget how I worked with them"

On the future of birds after My Friend Mr. Percival, producer Michael Bougain says:

“They have now found a home in stunning locations, such as Mr. Percival at the Adelaide Zoo. All of them will live their lives with great pleasure. They did not have to go through the harsh manifestations of nature. " Zeli Bullen confirms: "What came out on the screen was phenomenal and great, and it's all thanks to the animal training, but also the professionalism of the actors."

Learn about the work on the film "My Friend Mr. Percival", which will be released in Russia on March 19, 2020: the most interesting facts about filming and the peculiarities of interaction with pelicans.