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THE HILARY LINSTEAD INTERVIEW
During the filming of Bootmen - Hilary Linstead the film's producer has been writing a
weekly diary , which we have been featuring on the site. As Hilary has given us such a
great insight into the film-making process, when I was recently in Sydney , I called in at the
Bootmen Production Office , to find out a little more about Hilary's own role in the project.
How did you get involved with the Bootmen project initially?
Dein (Perry) and I have known each other
for 7 years. I saw this outstanding dancer in 42nd Street and thought "wow
he's as good as Fred Astaire - I'd really love to meet him". I did and it turned
out he was a choreographer who had this idea for a new sort of tap which would bring
tap into the new millenium. I helped get a grant to develop that. Then he did his
first tape - the ABC one - with Adam . That was the beginning of it all.
We did Hot Shoe Shuffle - where he was co-choreographer- Adam was in that too.
Then we did Tap Dogs. And I just realised - today actually, that Adam was one of the
two boys in the original "Dance Hall" that I did with Baz Luhrmann.
Then I did Steel City with Dein and the next thing was always gonna be a film. There's no point just doing a film of the dance unless you've got a story to tell. The basis of the story is the inspiration of Dein's life and his work. It's complete fiction except set in Newcastle, about two brothers and a steelworker. But that's the end of it. So that's how we came to do it.
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 Hilary in the Bootmen Production Office - August 1999 |
Tell us a little about what the role of the Producer involves?
Dein and I are partners in Bootmen Productions.
In order to share the credits around , he's the Executive Producer and I'm the
Producer. Normally the Exec would raise the money. On this project Dein put his own money into script development and I put in a little - but then I raised the money for the production. He quite rightly is getting the Director and Choreographic credits also.
The Producer oversees the producton, keeps an eye on what everyone is trying to achieve - the global view rather than actually being in charge of production which is being done by my co-producer Antonia Barnard- who is in charge of what happens everyday..
In the Diaries you told us what the cast liked and disliked on the shoot. What were your favourite and worst moments ?
I think the worst moment was the one when I realised we were really so tight for money. It was a punishingly hard shoot and the schedule was so tight. We were gonna have immense difficulty getting it done for the amount of money we had. It was like shooting one and a half pictures. Because the dance sequences have to be shot so exhaustively in order to make them exciting. Dein works with synced sound so he doesn't want the sound of the taps to be put on afterwards - which took an enormous amount of pre-production time. So my worst moment was the sheer terror of whether we'd get through and that started very early on when we had non-stop rain.
Fox have been very supportive and they really adore the rushes, they think they're great and we've had nothing but good feedback. And everyone really got behind Dein and enjoyed working with him. I think they all gave 150% and I think that's the only way we got through. So the worry over money was the worst.
And the best thing - there are so many great ones. The finale is just completely amazing - it will absolutely blow you away when you see it. All the water and the tap....
And also one of the best moments was realising quite early on that Adam can be a really big movie star, if he decides that what he wants.
So what happens now for the Producer?
My role remains busy. Amongst other things I'll be the third eye/ear for Dein during the long editing process - including the addition of the soundtrack.
I get to negotiate a book deal and a record deal. And continue to liaise with Fox over the promotion and publicity of the film.
Any gossip from the Wrap Party?
I'm the last one to know or be told any gossip. The party was great, everyone had a good time. Lots of blue, white and red balloons - Newcastle Knights colours. Party was over at 5am when some went on to Drew's (Kaluski) house.
What can you tell us about planned completion and release dates for Bootmen?
We are scheduled to hand over the completed film to Fox on 31 March 2000. Release date is then down to them to schedule and will depend on what else is scheduled for release. From our perspective the need not to premiere during the Sydney Olympics. so its likely to be late Summer/early Autumn 2000.
On our favourite subject - how did you find working with Adam is he still the "prima donna" that he was on SNF (LOL)?
He is the most "unprima donnaish guy I've come across. I found working with him an absolute, total delight. He's a highly talented, highly intelligent, centred person. Knows who he is, knows what he wants. He's very sound when it comes to the basics. I really admire that and respect it and it will stand him in good stead. Because it must be quite amazing to find so much success coming to you so quickly. And you need that sort of background. He's also a generous person and he's really friendly and he made a lot of friends in the crew and cast. He was never ego-centric or arrogant or any of those things at all. He was just a regular person and I think everyone really liked him for that. He didn't give people a hard time and there were several occasions on which he had every reason too - given the amount of work he had to do and the tightness of the schedule. I mean it was unrelenting and he was always good humoured.
We know that Adam has now moved on to his next project - what are you planning next?
I'm not. I just want to get through this one first. There are a couple of ideas that I've discussed with a couple of guys that might make good films. But I'd just like to get this one to the end. I'm having a week off and I'm sure my head'll clear. I can't even contemplate - I mean this one has been so full on you don't have time while you're doing it.
Thank you so much to Hilary, Lyn, Antonia
and the other girls for making me so welcome and to Fiona for sending the Diary each week.
