1. Source:

Co-writer and director Elissa Down based many of the incidents on her own experiences growing up with autistic brothers.

The screenplay was selected for the 2004 Aurora Development Scheme through the NSW Film and Television Office and went through a development process that took some four years.

See more about this in her detailed DVD commentary below.

For some more details about Down's volatile co-writer, Jimmy the Exploder, aka Jimmy Jack, aka Daniel Houghton, see the bottom of this page. He has a reasonably detailed wiki listing here.

2. Cast:

The key cast list for the film isn't that extensive, with most of the drama being contained within the family, Thomas's girlfriend Jackie, and Charlie's friend Russell. 

In head credit order:

Rhys Wakefield as Thomas Mollinson 

Gemma Ward as Jackie Masters  

Luke Ford as Charlie Mollison 

Erik Thomson as Simon Mollison 

"and" Toni Collette as Maggie Mollison 

Additionally, among a lot of minor roles:

Firass Dirani as Russell

Rebecca Massey as PE teacher Miss Babb 

Nathin Butler as Chris 

Ryan Clark as Dean 

Remarkably Zoe Carides, a credentialled lead, can be seen doing a cameo as Russell's mother during the big dust up backstage at the climactic Noah's Ark show.

Down's parents and her brother Sean, who inspired the Charlie character, can be glimpsed in the film, while producer Tristram Miall does a cameo as a customer in the supermarket meltdown scene.

3. Music:

A CD of the soundtrack was released (now rare). See the pdf of music credits for more details.

There are songs over the head and tail credits. 

Head credits:

The head credits feature a shortened version of When We Get There, performed by Josh Pyke.

The film begins with Thomas and family moving into a new army home, watched by inquisitive neighbours. Charlie is pounding away with a wooden spoon and humming to himself. Three kids are on bikes are watching.

Kid next door (Sam Fraser): "Why's your brother a spastic?"

Thomas, with box of stuff in hand: "He's not a spastic, he's autistic."

Kid, eyes to the heaven: "Same diff."

Thomas: "No, not really."

Kid: "He doesn't talk, 'n shit?"

Thomas: "Yes, he doesn't talk!"

Kid: "Then why does he make all that fuckin' noise?!"

Maggie leans out from the car with a cheery "Hello boys … where do you live?"

Then she ignores them, as Simon glances at the kids and she heads inside with a cricket bat. Thomas follows and the music begins over discarded cardboard boxes being tossed out the back.

Lyrics:

Last year before the summer heat (Maggie and Simon mucking about in the kitchen)

January came to me

Said "It′s time to get a move on, kid (Thomas installing his single bed)

'Cause you gotta stay ahead of the weather"

What did she mean, I still don′t know

All these winds and tides and autumn clouds (Maggie organising the medicine cabinet and locking it)

Seems too much to say

Speak as such forevers

A life was never easy

A never ending series of (assorted more locks)

Those desert roads that never meet (Charlie bouncing up and down on a trampoline, humming)

Their promised destinations

Weary pioneers that choose

The promised land and ruby shoes

Just click your heels together

'Cause you gotta stay ahead of the weather (on a doll in the window)

(chorus) These are the beautiful days (on Thomas, more unpacking)

These are the beautiful days (on a battered Valiant station wagon with Queensland plates, Simon up on the roof adjusting the TV antenna)

'Cause all things change and all things grow (Charlie vastly amused by a wooden figure with a huge penis that flips up and down)

And all things ebb and all things flow

But when we get there, you will know

That you can′t stay under the weather

(chorus) These are the beautiful days (Simon getting out his teddybear Rex and putting him on the bed)

These are the beautiful days (Maggie putting up a Charlie good behaviour stars sheet)

These are the beautiful days (Charlie with Commodore 64 playing Space Invaders)

These are the beautiful days … 

(Thomas checking out a shirt, and then the shortened version fades down, over a wide angle shot of Thomas sitting on the trampoline, Maggie hanging out the washing, and Charlie sitting on the concrete path, bashing his wooden spoon and humming, while Simon does some whipper snipping. Behind him a pack of red balloons rise into the sky, followed by a single black balloon. Cue main title, and then it's off to an excerpt from Gross's Dot and the Kangaroo, and Charlie getting his medication to get a seventh star).

Tail credits:

The song begins after Thomas has poured out his heart to Charlie as they share a bath. Thomas realises Charlie has just pissed on his leg. We hear off Maggie asking "Hey, Simon, have you mowed the lawn yet?" and Simon, off, replying "Rex - his teddy bear - said I didn't need to." Maggie, off: "I'm going to kill that bear!"

Fade to black and after we hear Sophie cry, end titles start and so does the song, which is Even, written by the film's composer Michael Yezerski and performed by Simon Day.

Lyrics:

You're beautiful 

But you smell 

You're mainstream 

But you rebel 

You're the black sheep 

That runs with the herd 

You're outwardly presidential 

Inwardly nerd 

You're brilliant 

But you're people dumb 

You're catwalk 

But you're fashion numb 

You're a million different contradictions 

Rolled into one 

And that doesn't hurt to win me over 

You're poker faced 

With the clearest tell 

You're magical 

Without casting a spell 

You don't blink enough

And that's weird as hell

When everyone you watch is watching 

You're bewitching 

But you're way too forward 

You'd have conquered the world 

If you'd only been taller 

You're sporty and proud 

Yet you're clumsy and awkward 

If I wasn't yours it'd put me off 

(with chorus) But if you were even 

A little bit badder 

A little bit louder 

A little bit easier to read 

I'd be gone before you'd even seen 

(chorus) That I like you and I just wanted to say that 

If you were even 

A little bit stronger 

A little bit wiser 

A little more glitter and show

I'd be gone before you'd even know 

That I like you and I want you to know that 

(Instrumental, with 'aahs')

Don't change a little 

Don't change a little 

Don't change even a little 

'Cause I like you 

And I love you 

And I want you to know that 

You're shy 

You're a superstar 

You're dysfunctional 

But I'll take what you are 

You could get up and shine 

In a thousand rooms 

And even with flaws such as yours 

You would bloom 

You're intractable 

But you're wholly polite 

I just know you would jump in raptured delight 

'Cause you're tone deaf 

But you sing like a muse 

You leave everyone, everywhere 

Except me confused 

(Chorus) And if you were even 

A little bit badder 

A little bit prouder 

A little bit easier to read 

I'd be gone before you'd even see 

That I like you and I just wanted to say that 

If you were even 

A little bit stronger 

A little bit wiser 

A little more thunder and glow 

I'd be gone before you'd even know 

That I like you 

And I love you 

And I want you to know that 

(very short instrumental with 'aah')

That I like you 

And I love you 

And I want you to know that 

(very short instrumental with 'aah')

That I like you 

And I love you 

And I want you to know that …

(Quick fade out. In the DVD version, the song ends with about 1'28" of titles to go, filled in by an up beat instrumental medley)

4. The Jim Schembri affair:

The reviewer became the story at the AFI awards. 

Schembri set the hare running with a preview of contenders for the AFI Awards in The Age, to be found at The Age here, WM here, under the header Land of disaster films, 5th December 2008"

"A thin field at this year's AFI awards reflects wider malaise, writes Jim Schembri.

Schembri was agitated that Australian films dared to explore dark themes, as opposed to teenage sex comedies, romcoms, caper flicks, etc.

...The Jammed was a searing, low-budget expose on the sex slave trade in Melbourne. Unfinished Sky created an intense drama between a troubled man and an Afghan refugee. The Black Balloon dealt with a family living with an autistic child. It was the most successful of the crop, taking $1.5 million in five weeks — about as much as coarse teen comedy Sex Drive made in two.

When splendidly written and directed, as with The Jammed and Look Both Ways (which swept the AFIs in 2005), dark themes can make for thrilling cinema. More often than not, though, this preoccupation with bleak topics and intense character studies about damaged lives is coupled with poorly structured, inert narratives without a third act, and often not even a second.

In short to succeed, Australian films should become American films, unless Schembri happened to like the dark themes:

Dee McLachlan's astonishing sex-slave drama The Jammed is easily the best film of the year, but sentiment will favour the comparative success of autism drama The Black Balloon, written and directed by first-timer Elissa Down. The film's 11 nominations are a triumph of feel-good emotion over good judgement. It is strewn with glaring inconsistencies, story holes and poor characterisations, yet it is also up for best original screenplay along with the appalling teen flick Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger.

Both films demonstrate how the decades-old problem of script development still dogs the industry. McLachlan deserves the award for The Jammed, and Joel Edgerton and Matthew Dabner certainly did their homework on The Square.

Jimmy the Exploder explodes:

That prompted a response and the ruckus was reported in the Sydney tabloid Sun-Herald by Alyssa Braithwaite on 7th December 2008, under the header Exploder Blows Up As Review Goes Down Like A Lead Balloon, Trove here:

The filmmakers behind The Black Balloon offered a sharp rebuke to their critics after the family drama was named the best film of 2008 at the AFI awards.

The Black Balloon was the most nominated film heading into the awards this weekend, but had just come off the disappointment of winning only one out of 10 awards at last month's Inside Film (IF) Awards.

Last night it emerged triumphant, claiming a total of six awards, including the prestigious best film gong.

The comedy/drama about a family coping with an autistic son also picked up awards for best original screenplay and best direction for Elissa Down.

Receiving the award for best original screenplay, Down and co-writer Jimmy The Exploder, aka Jimmy Jack, had a few choice words for those who had criticised the film.

"F--k you," Jack said.

Jack later explained his outburst was prompted by a bad review he'd read that morning.

Down wrote the film inspired by her autistic brothers. It was a story she had always wanted to tell, she said.

"So I always knew there was a good story there," Down added.

Braithwaite then went on to report other aspects of the awards ceremony …

Jimmy the Exploder explodes part II:

Meanwhile, Emily Dunn and Garry Maddox had more fun in the Sydney Morning Herald, 8th December, 2008, under the header "I'd just like to spank my critics", here, WM here:

It was the night the film industry struck back at its critics. Accepting the Australian Film Institute Award for best original screenplay on Saturday, Jimmy The Exploder read out sections of a preview in The Age and directed two dismissively blunt words to the critic who wrote it, Jim Schembri. His speech was cut from the Nine Network telecast of the awards, which were dominated by The Black Balloon. It won best film, best director for Elissa Down and supporting actor prizes for Luke Ford and Toni Collette.

The Exploder, who took his name from a White Stripes song, told SiT yesterday that he had been told the comments were cut from the telecast because they were litigious. But he said a spontaneous standing ovation by the audience showed how much the industry was angered by constant media criticism. "I just had something to say and I went for it." Yesterday he accused Schembri of praising "the Melbourne-based The Jammed" while dismissing other nominated films.

Down, who shared the original screenplay award, defended the speech by saying it reflected a frustration about "the viciousness of some parts of the media about the Australian film industry - that it's been a lacklustre year etc - instead of celebrating what we've done".

Schembri, who described The Black Balloon's 11 nominations as a "triumph of feel-good emotion over good judgment" and criticised the screenplay for being "strewn with glaring inconsistencies, story holes and poor characterisations" in the article, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Jim Schembri explodes:

Meanwhile, the grieving Schembri nursed his wounds and let out a howl of rage. 

Here he was in his blog spot for The Age, under the header "Impotent rage against critics won't help our films."

Some might wonder how someone saying in so many words "your film is fucked" is helping films, nor why they should get agitated when someone responds by telling them to get fucked, Trove here:

A telling thing happened at the AFI Awards on Saturday night. And it was all because of me.

While accepting an award for best original screenplay for The Black Balloon, co-writer Jimmy Jack took public exception to my long-standing criticisms of the Australian film industry, and of his film. He read some of it out, then followed it by saying "Jim Schembri. F*** you."

This undignified descent into blogspeak - whatever remaining shreds of class the AFI awards had are now gone - reportedly drew a spontaneous round of applause from some in the crowd.

The remark was cut from the "as live" telecast, so nobody outside the Princess Theatre witnessed it. (Bad news for Santo Cilauro, whose follow-up gag made absolutely no sense to the few people at home watching the event on TV.)

That such abuse drew applause reflected an industry comfortable with its insular, anti-audience attitude. Sure, everybody loves a good "Stick it to The Man" moment - but this wasn't that. Gestures of defiance against critics only mean anything if there is something in the criticism to fault.

Australian films have virtually no connection with Australian audiences. That those films are funded by the audience verges on cultural disgrace. The occasional hits - the Muriels, the Priscillas, the Kennys - are invariably one-offs. Now, while taking pot shots at the messenger might make good, mometary sport it doesn't make the message go away - especially when the message is so screamingly obvious.

Sadly, we don't have an industry that can handle the truth. By and large, we don't even have one that can handle critical opinion that differs from what it wants to hear. What we do have - and what was illustrated on Saturday night - was an industry in denial.

Yet lambasting the media for merely reporting the truth has been a major preoccupation for some figures in the film industry, and the appeal is clear. It serves as a diversionary tactic designed to shift focus from the elephant in the room.

And the elephant is getting larger. One recent Australian film provides the perfect case study for the industry's wider woes.

Up for five AFI awards was the period film The Tender Hook, starring A-list actors Hugo Weaving and Rose Byrne. Set in Sydney during the jazz age the film told a meandering tale of gangsters, boxing and romance. It's a film practically nobody has heard of. It's budget: $7 million. Its box office; $40,000.

This Australian equivalent of Heaven's Gate , the catastrophic 1980 Hollywood epic that sunk a studio, received scant media attention and is symbolic of the prevailing mindset that allows ludicrously generous government funding for a film industry that - after 35 years and $1.5 billion - still clearly has almost no idea what it is doing.

There is no doubt that many of those responsible for this dire, desperate situation gleefully applauded Jack's outburst of impotent rage against the cruel truth that continues to stare our national cinema in the face. Not because it would do any good but because it would help distract them from the elephant standing on their toes.

The film component of the AFI Award ceremony on Saturday night was a concert of denial that bordered on farce. The glitter, the glamour, the red carpets, the fans, the paparazzi, the sheer scale of the event simply did not match the borderline relevance Australian cinema has to its audience.

And denial is a powerful emotion. It is the first stage of the grieving process. We can only hope that, in this case, it is a false diagnosis.

An industry that has disrespected its audience for so long simply has to stop kidding itself and accept that drawing on the public purse carries with it the cultural, moral and - dare one say it? - commercial obligation to produce relevent, popular, entertaining films that the public wants to see.

Naturally, after his whining and moaning, Schembri invited comments and stirred the pot, and produced a grand attention-seeking result:

(Special note: the reaction to this piece has been the strongest in the site's history. We apologise for the inevitable delays in publishing some responses due to the enormous volume. The site is now completely updated so further delays are unlikely. More comments are still welcome.)

But those can be left to the record in Trove. 

The Bolter Explodes:

Schembri might have paused for a moment's doubt when he discovered that he had far right commentator, Andrew "the Bolter" Bolt on his side, as noted at Trove here, recycling Schembri's talking points under the header Boo the audience, not the film:

Jim Schembri pointed out in his blog that Australian audiences were giving Australian films the big swerve, despite having been good enough to lavish truckloads of grants on their makers:

After 35 years and an investment of around $1.5 billion taxpayer dollars, Australian cinema still occupies only the very margins of the marketplace - something starkly reflected by the “major” films nominated for this year’s AFI Awards.

Up for best film and best director are The Jammed, The Black Balloon, The Square and Unfinished Sky. These four films had a combined box-office of about $3.9 million…

For a far more disturbing gauge of the film industry’s peril, however, compare that four-film box-office figure against the $7 million budget for the Australian film The Tender Hook, a period film set in Sydney during the jazz age. It’s a film almost nobody has heard of. And no wonder. Its take at the ticket counter? Less than $40,000!

For Schembri, and even big players in the industry, the fault lies precisely where you’d expect - with the filmmakers, and especially the scriptwriters:

A big part of the industy’s malaise has been the prevalence of audience-averse doom-and-gloom themes.... The Black Balloon dealt with a family living with an autistic child. It was the most successful of the crop, taking $1.5 million in five weeks - about the same as what the coarse teen comedy Sex Drive made in two.... (T)he film’s 11 nominations is a triumph of feel-good emotion over good judgment. The film is strewn with glaring inconsistencies, story holes and poor characterisations, yet it is also up for best original screenplay along with the appalling teen flick Hey Hey It’s Esther Blueburger.

Both films demonstrate how the decades-old problem of script development still dogs the industry.

The bloggers explode:

Suddenly a well-meaning, "heart warming", harmless, award-winning film was being held up as an example of all that was wrong with the industry, so naturally others exploded.

There's one set of exchanges worth quoting, in the Eyeswiredopen.blogspot, saved to Trove here, under the header Schember's blog goes into meltdown, posed 10th December 2008:

Jim Schembri, writing about the 2008 AFI Awards in The Age:

"While accepting an award for best original screenplay for The Black Balloon, co-writer Jimmy Jack (aka "Jimmy the Exploder", pictured right) took public exception to my long-standing criticisms of the Australian film industry, and of his film. He read some of it out, then followed it by saying 'Jim Schembri. F*** you'."

Outrage!

This introduced the latest variation on Schembri's usual rant about the failure of the Australian film industry to produce films that people actually want to watch. Followed by a roll of comments from readers - including Eyes Wired Open - so massive that it almost caused a site meltdown (my first comment, filed at 2am, didn't appear until around 2pm the following day - in the meantime I received a polite email from Schembri explaining they were having problems dealing with the huge response).

My first published response on The Age's site :

"Let's put this into some kind of context first, shall we? The guy calls himself Jimmy The Exploder, for eff's sake! Being slighted is part of the job of being a critic. In any case he's just boosted your value to The Age at a time when newspapers are shedding jobs faster than merchant banks. You owe him a quiet little note of thanks, not a public dummy spit."

If you'd read a long way down the list of comments you may have found a telling exchange with Eyes Wired Open that revealed that Schembri's opening paragraph was based on a flagrantly false premise.

Eyes Wired Open: "One important point I'd like clarified Jim: WHICH piece of your writing did Jimmy The Exploder read out at the AFIs? Was it from your review of The Black Balloon? Or was it something you'd written about the state of the industry?

"Because if it's the former, your rant and much of the commentary here is off topic. Since you dismissed a film that many critics AND audiences much admired (I checked out several chat sites at the time and the positive feeling was very clear), you should take anything its award-winning writer said on the chin. It's your right to have a dissenting voice and his voice (I meant "right" - LB) to say up yours.

"If he was pouring cold water on your criticism of the industry as a whole, that's different."

Schembri note: He read from the review, apparently. The issue is how his comment and its response pulled focus on the wider problems facing the industry.

My reply:

"Er no, that's not the issue at all then. The issue is quite clearly and specifically YOUR REVIEW.

Schembri note: That's the issue as far as we're concerned. As journalists we determine our news agendas independently. We don't have it dictated by others, however much they swear or try to distract everybody from the central elephant.

So there you have it. The co-writer of The Black Balloon reads out a section of Schembers' critical review of the film and tells him to get effed - leading to audience applause. Juvenile and not exactly eloquent? Absolutely. But is it indicative of a film industry in total denial of its problems?

Well, what do you think, readers?

In broad outline, I agree with much of Schembri's criticism of the industry, as regular readers of this blog will know. Take Romulus My Father and Little Fish - among the flagship local films of recent years, projects that lured back stars like Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett, and yet both conspicuously lacking the kind of drama that might make an audience feel moved or even involved.

The trouble is that Schembri's possum-stirring has become so lacking in nuance or shade that it now borders on the hysterical and rabble-rousing - obliterating much of his own good work in supporting fine local films like The Jammed, The Square and Not Quite Hollywood.

Reading yesterday's screed and the many replies you could be forgiven for lambasting all three titles as being appalling examples of the kinds of films that the black skivvy-wearing, arty-farty, up-itself, irresponsible film industry continues to produce (I'm not making this up - that's the language repeatedly used by Schembri's most rabid supporters in the readers' comment section - alright, maybe not black-skivvy wearing).

Using Schembri's broad brushstroke rhetoric, it would be easy to characterise these three films as being:

* "depressing" (viz. The Square with its unhappy hero, manipulative heroine and downbeat narrative of failure, The Jammed for confronting head-on the ugly reality of the sex trade and human trafficking);

* "dismissive of the entertainment values that Australians actually want to see" (they all earned a pittance at the box office - including The Jammed);

* "art films" that only the elite cares about (even true of Not Quite Hollywood - essentially a specialist film aimed at cinephiles), and

* "too PC" - viz The Jammed's exploration of a social problem.

So there you have it: the Australian film industry is to be condemned for making PC, elitist art films about depressing subjects - except for when Jim Schembri happens to like the PC, elitist art films about depressing subjects that it's producing.

And there the storm in the Schembri tea cup can rest …while The Black Balloon floated on ...

5. DVD commentary track with director:

These are some of the points made by Elissa Down in her DVD commentary accompanying the film:

• According to Down, being the height of the Australian summer, a lot of the days were pretty hot, and over forty degrees, a little uncomfortable sometimes.

• Just before the minute mark, as Thomas (Rhys Wakefield) unpacks his stuff, Down says that the street they filmed on was the street she first lived on as a child, "a massive coincidence." They shot in Holsworthy, south west Sydney, right near the big army base, and her dad - as for the dad in the film - was in the army, and so this was where she first grew up. She found it a surreal experience, not so much for her because she was a little baby but when her parents came on set, they took a walk into nostalgia …

• That's a cue for Down to explain that the film was based on her family experiences. She had three siblings, including two brothers with autism …with her youngest brother very much like the Charlie character, "so a lot of this is born from the angst, the trials and tribulations of what it was like to grow up in a family that was a little different from other people."

• As the music starts over the head credits, Down notes all the labels and titling of things that appears in the images. She credits the design to Adam from Kingdom of Ludd, with his inspiration his understanding of autism from watching the film, and how Charlie has to sign things, and the way he sees things.

• She adds that the music is from Australian performer Josh Pike, which she was excited about getting, because she wanted that "really nice summer feel" … sort of a bit the same as Our House, a friendly warm vibe to invite everyone in "you're gunna get to know this family, and Michael (Yezerski) and Josh wrote this amazing opening sequence …"

• The house was "owned" by the film for the purpose of the shoot, which gave the film-makers a lot of freedom doing interior and exterior scenes as they liked. Production designer Nicholas McCallum was inspired by going to see Down's family and discovering they were "basically pack rats". While they'd moved endlessly over the years they'd also hung on to all "this stuff", boxing it up and moving it on to the next place. So an inspired "Mac" filled the house with all sorts of amazing paraphernalia, like the top loading VCR, stuff from the '70s and '80s, to suit the film's period, which is set in 1991 …so he filled the house with memorabilia from that time.

• As she runs through the family cast, Down says it was important that the family unit worked and that "you really believed that these people lived together for so many, many years …so I sort of approached it with a rehearsal process that they did a lot of stuff that wasn't going through learning the lines and practising different variations of it, but doing things as a family …"

• She was very lucky to have the production design team dress the house so that she could do the rehearsals in the dressed location. So they did things like have lunch together as a family, with Toni (Collette) cooking for the family, or do crossword puzzles together, play board games, and Charlie would throw a tantrum "and the whole family would just deal with it, and so it was just great to have that space in which to, just for the characters and the actors, just learn how to interact with the family …"

• Down did the same with the two brothers, Luke (Ford) and Rhys (Wakefield), thinking it was very important for them to get to know each other and act like brothers. One of the things she got them to do was to go out into a big shopping centre in Sydney, where they walked around in character for the whole day. "They basically first hand encountered people's prejudices, reactions to them, because not many people recognised Rhys, no one had any idea who Luke was, and just reacted to them like they were two boys …"

• They went bowling together and some boys, recognising he was autistic, went up to Luke and started teasing him. So they found it an amazing experience to live in their characters' skin, and she did the same with Gemma. Down sent her and Rhys on a mission in Fox Studios where the production office was based (the old Sydney Showground). Down dressed them in their school uniforms, and set them the task of breaking into the set of Lurhmann's Australia, which was also filming at the time. They came back with some tea bags and pens, and they stole a golf cart buggy of the kind used at the studio, but no one knew that they were actors. They just saw these two kids in school uniform …

• The same was done with the background tribe of school kids, who went bowling together and had dance offs and swim classes together so they all learned how to interact as friends do.  Then the acting on the day is concentrating on the dynamics in the scene.

• About 7'33" on, Down notes the "absolutely darling yellow Speedos" that poor Rhys was forced to wear. They were courtesy of costume designer Claire Granville, on the basis that the early '90s had throwbacks to the '80s and it was a pretty daggy era. So there were a lot of bright colours, but they also aimed for a timeless feel. While a lot of viewers do get the period feel, they can't quite put their finger on the period. Down contrasts their approach with other period films where there's almost a high fashion approach where everything fits into the period. She wanted it to look more muddied, suggesting if people looked at their house now they'd have many different things from many different periods, "so we wanted this film to feel like this, and I suppose it's when you see things like the tape decks and the Super Nintendos that you really go 'aaahh'…this is what era we're in ..."

• Around the kitchen scene c. 9 mins in, with Toni Collette using signing, Down notes that the form of signing used was called Makaton signing.

• Collette was excited about using it, and used a lot more than had been scripted. (something Collette confirms in her DVD interview). She really wanted to grasp it and learned the signing so quickly, as a way of emphasising the main words in a sentence, as opposed to "normal" signing where you sign every single word … in contrast, using the system, Collette didn't need to sign all the words in between when saying something like "no beer for Charlie".

• Down says it was important to have the Makaton signing in the film because the Charlie character is "an elective mute", and around 50% of people with autism have little or no speech …so she wanted to show the ways in which they communicate.

• Just before the ten minute mark, as the teddy bear turns up, Down says that takes her into the most asked question in relation to the film. Teddybear Rex was actually a real figure within her own family, which her father and mother talked through. She explains with a sigh that when you have people around to your house, and introduce them to the family, and then Rex comes out, "it can be a little embarrassing, but most people love the bear and actually want to have their own Rex, and it's sort of a nice parallel as well because you know you have Charlie who doesn't speak and you have this teddy bear who actually speaks through the parents."

• That leads Down to note that the one thing they felt important was to have and to show a really strong relationship between the parents. During the development of the script there were people advising them at times to break up the family, to make it more dramatic, but she says there are a lot of really strong families out there who really stick together and this was in a way to a tribute to them, and it also highlights Thomas's internal angst that he doesn't fit in. Everyone else is getting along in his family, except for him…

• Just before the eleven minute mark, a Screaming Jets song turns up. Down notes that they didn't have a big music budget, so it was important to pick key iconic period songs which were important to Australia and to her in 1991. So they used Screaming Jets, also Jimmy Barnes, Ratcat and they also used the lead singer Simon Day to sing the song over the end credits. She jokes about being a teenager and hearing the news that Simon Day from Ratcat was going to be singing the end song, "like a school reunion moment I suppose."

• c. 12 mins in, Down notes that the family night scene was actually shot during the day, with the whole house tented in black. Down talks of the ease of shooting this way, while mentioning that it also avoided night loadings and the difficulties of turnaround times in the scheduling.

• Just before 13 minutes, with Collette and Charlie (Luke Ford) in the bathtub in the "dirty little bugger" scene, Down says it was Collette's favourite scene in the film (something Collette confirms in her DVD interview). Down says it was just scripted that she was just giving Charlie a bath, but then working away before they were shooting, and just playing, the little song came out, and by the third take the improvising Collette had produced the operatic "dirty little bugger" ditty, resulting in a moment that is also the favourite scene of many others …

• 13'38", as the army trucks go on the move, Down notes this was shot at the Holsworthy army barracks. The army was supportive of a story about an army family, so the unit was able to shoot on army property and shoot on the rifle range, and used some soldiers in extras in later scenes. Down says soldiers make the best extras.

• Around the 14'05" mark at the swimming pool, Down says it's one of her favourite moments, when Jackie pulls a wedgie out of her swimsuit …she sees it as indicative of teenage sexuality. While there might be some teenagers out there that are really confident, what she remembers of teenage sexuality was the whole awkwardness of it, in your school uniform and the boys in their little school shorts and the girls in the polo shirts and netball skirts, "and there's a real awkwardness to it," so she wanted that to be brought into the film …

• Just before the 15 min mark with another family scene in the house, Down notes the wide view of the house interior. She and DOP Denson Baker really wanted to shoot widescreen, and then ended up on a 2.35:1 ratio, as a way of seeing the whole scope of the house, from a wall on one side to the wall on the other. That's why production designer Nick McCallum had to put stuff everywhere, so they could just shoot and feel like you were claustrophobic inside the house. Charlie was always running through, up and down the frame, and they wanted the movement to encapsulate the chaos, where you felt Charlie was going to run over you, stuff was going to fall down.

• This meant the sound guys had a really tough time because they were often on wide angle lenses of the 9mm or 12mm size, and with the boys in their underpants, they couldn't wear radio mikes… so they'd have microphones hidden behind cornflake packets and the boomswingers would virtually be gaffer taped to the walls so that they could record the sound …

• Post the 16 min mark, when Charlie goes for a run in the streets, Down notes Luke in his hero monkey underpants. She says they actually had a whole range of underpants available, invincible boy undies, monster truck undies. She thinks half the time the guys were shirtless and in Berlin, where the film had its international premiere, she was asked in a q and a as to whether it was her intention to have the boys without their shirts on for most of the film. "Yes, yes it is," she replied.

• She recalls spending a lot of time growing up in Queensland, where it was really hot, and so long as you turned up at the dinner table wearing a shirt, you could walk around wearing your undies to your heart's content. She got Luke to sign his undies and Rhys signed his yellow Speedos for her as souvenirs at the end of the shoot …

• When it comes to the car stunt, c. 17'30", where Charlie has to brake before getting hit by the braking car, Down urges viewers to go back to see the mark that Charlie had to hit in order to make it look like he was about to hit the car - it's a white mark on the road.

• 18'20", as Charlie busts into a stranger's house, which ends up being Jackie's (to take a piss), Down says the scene was in the script from the very first draft. This was something she always actually did as a young girl, fishing her brother out of people's houses and toilets, and make frantic apologies. She still doesn't know to this day why her brother did this, "but it makes great source material for a screenplay, and that's where the inspiration for The Black Balloon came from, was mining all those embarrassing and also frustrating moments for a screenplay … so back in 2002 Jimmy Jack, who I co-wrote the script with, who is now actually Jimmy the Exploder, and to this day I don't know why he's changed his name to that, started writing The Black Balloon …and it was actually first as a telemovie, as this fifty minute screenplay, and some of those elements that are in the film now, like the tampon scene, the poo scene, and the musical scene, were actually in this original draft … it's just been four years of script development to get it into what it is today ..."

• Down adds that many things changed: originally there was a best friend next door that Thomas used to hang out with, Thomas used to be really good at cross country because he was always chasing Charlie, and those things changed and developed into the finished film. She jokes that another thing that developed was Erik Thomson's moustache. He grew it for the film, and he cut his shoulder length long locks to suit the army.

• Meanwhile, Toni Collette had to wear a pregnancy suit and was transformed by the head make-up designer to look like an army wife. Down prefers not to have a lot of make-up, she prefers to see the actor's face, and she thinks her designer did it, especially with Gemma Ward, otherwise known as an international super model. The idea was to keep the make-up clean and simple, so viewers could engage with the characters and their performances.

• Back in the school pool at around the 20'40" mark, Down says they filmed the pool at Richmond, about an hour north of Sydney. They did this, because filming in summer, it was impossible to get a council or school pool to use. It was 43 degrees on the first day of filming, and this scene (with the lifesaver dummies) was shot on the first day. Everyone was dropping like flies and the unit nurse was working overtime keeping cold water rags on people's necks, but they got through it.

• 21'30" and it's back to the house and Toni Collette putting her chocolate sauce on her scrambled eggs. The wide shot of the bedroom was done by having the camera in the cupboards,with the production design team cutting holes in the cupboards and covering them with clothes or with a chest of drawers, so in the reverse shot, you'd see that the cupboard was full of clothes … but then when you were on Collette on the bed, the camera be in the other room, shooting through the hole in the wall and the hole in the cupboards, with the clothes and the chest of drawers removed …

• That's how they were able to shoot in the three main bedrooms… the master bedroom, and Charlie's and Thomas's bedrooms… giving them the ability to get a much wider choice of shots.

• After the 22 min mark, when Jackie turns up and Rhys has to spend much energy getting the excited Charlie out of sight, Down seizes the chance to talk about the amazing amount of work that Luke did, obsessively researching the character of Charlie. Down says he spent a good six months on the character, and he would strap up his arms and legs, and walk the streets of Sydney in character. He perfected the head on the side of his neck look, and as a result suffered a lot of neck pain until his body got used to him walking in this angular way, creating a certain stiffness in his body. Luke would film hours of footage of him as Charlie playing video games, eating etc, and then he and Down would watch it together and help shape that physicality, "so that you would never ever doubt that he wasn't this character …"

• Down says he also spent some time with her brother to really fine tune those mannerisms, and that's where he got the stroking of the face, which Charlie often does, and also the rocking ...

• Down says they also did a lot of physical rehearsal for Rhys and Gemma, doing things like playing Twister, wrestling, doing dance offs, "and that was for them to get really comfortable with each other and to get Gemma out of the fashion world and into the world of Jackie the tomboy …it also allowed Rhys to get comfortable with Gemma, because I think there was a lot of pressure put on him, like 'oooh you get to pash a super model', and I think he was a little star struck … so when you get them in their trakky daks and wrestling on the carpet, it really brings things down to the basics ..."

• Down then goes on to tell a tale of Gemma having a couple of brothers, so when Rhys started out thinking he should be gentle, she was very competitive, and after Down called game on and the first round, the first aid kit had to be called for, because they both drew blood. They were both quite feisty but it was a lot of fun.

• About 25 mins in, Down says that the poo scene is one of her favourites. She always loved being in the audience hearing the reaction to the scene (Charlie playing with the poo on the carpet). At that moment you'd get squeals or sometimes grunts of disgust, and the most asked question she gets, after questions about Rex, concerns what the poo was made of. It was a combination of peanut butter and Nutella mixed with cornflour, so it actually smelled really nice. It looks absolutely disgusting, and you'd start to gag, and you'd feel like you were going to throw up, but then your sense of smell would kick in, and think it smelled pretty nice, "so you'd be quite conflicted."

• Luke told her that both peanut butter and Nutella were his favourite sandwich spreads "and now he cannot eat it anymore …he really suffered for his art"

• At about the 26 minute mark, Down takes time out to talk about the cast, saying that Gemma was the first actor to commit to the show. Down had worked with her back in 2001 on one of her short films, before she was discovered by the fashion world. Gemma always knew about the project and was very excited when she was asked to do a screen test in 2004. They were all unanimous - director, producer and casting director - that she was perfect for Jackie.

• Collette was always their first choice for the role of Maggie Mollison. Aiming for the top, you never know what you'll get, so they sent the script to her and she loved it, and committed to the project immediately. Down recalls getting a phone call from producer Miall when she was out doing her Bronte to Bondi walk, and she was in shock, swearing and screaming. She couldn't believe one of the best actors in the world had committed to the project, and she thinks people were looking at her thinking she'd got the most horrible news in the world because of the way she was carrying on …(her mother went out of control, saying 'yes, Toni Collette's playing me' …)

• When it came to finding the two brothers, they were prepared for a big, exhaustive search, but it turned out to be quite the opposite. Luke Ford was the second guy who came in to audition for Charlie and within ten seconds Down knew he was Charlie.

• Rhys was the last guy they looked at in that first group session. He'd come in on his day off because at the time he was working on a popular TV soap, Home and Away. He rushed in, thought he had no hope because of soap prejudice, but then they had their two brothers, "and it was like … casting is so easy …"

• But they were wrong, because they still hadn't found the father, and they'd been searching for months, at the same time as looking for the brothers. They'd gone through a number of actors and were beginning to worry that they wouldn't find him, and then they noticed Erik Thomson, who was working on a TV travel show, Getaway. He was in Greece at the time, so the script was sent to him by a fax machine in a random Greek pharmacy. He took a taxi and was screen tested straight off the plane from Greece, and Down and Miall were blown away, so that by the time he got back home, he'd got a call from his agent saying they loved him ...

• When it came to the schoolkids on the bus, c. 35 mins, Down said that they decided to go with actors to play the autistic students, because they felt shooting in very hot temperatures with students with autism would be a little cruel. Only actors had the stuff required to shoot through the tough conditions. Later, when it came to the staging of the musical, they used actors who did have autism and ASD, and they would often partner them up so the actors could study the physicality and mannerisms of the people with autism and ASD. 

• The inspiration for the "spastic" bus ("affectionately titled") came from a story Down was told by her mother. All the moms at the autistic centre went on an excursion and they actually got transported there by the autistic centre bus, and they were at the lights and they all decided to be autistic …

• 31'15", as a piece of trivia, Down points out that the two bike riders on either side of the bike rider in the middle were Gemma's brothers.

• 31'50" in, and Down says viewers might have noticed that ninety per cent of the school scenes are set at the pool. This was actually a conscious choice because there's something about scripting scenes in classrooms that makes them start to feel cliched, with students starting to speak in cliches … rulers, pens, 'oh miss' all that. Down reverts to her own experience growing up and doing PE and going for her bronze medallion and doing safety jumps and students towing each other through the water "and it could be such an ordeal if (1) you weren't a strong swimmer, like myself and (2) because you know you're all developing and so you've got swim suits and touching each other quite intimately … we thought this could be a really interesting way of showing the sexual awakening between Jackie and Thomas, but also it's a great representation of Thomas's mindset, because emotionally Thomas is drowning and he needs to get on top of his emotions … and that's why we sort of chose to go with the pool for the scenes at the school …"

• At this point Down points out the K-26s that Thomas is wearing and the Converses that Gemma has, which isn't about the period detailing so much as Down having the same shoe size as Gemma and Toni, and so she got to keep their shoes and as she looks down doing the DVD commentary she's wearing the same pink Converses featured in the film.

• C. 32 mins, and the scene of Thomas trying to get Charlie to speak. Down says this is quite a personal scene for her because she used to spend hours upon hours trying to get her brother to speak again. She would have a bag of chocolates and sit patiently trying to get sounds from his mouth. She wanted to show the mindset that Thomas had, that he could change his brother - if he could get his brother to speak again, then one day he would be normal… "… it's really weird when you have a sibling who doesn't speak because you often sometimes have these dreams of them when they actually speak to you, and it's quite a surreal experience …"

• Just before the 35 min mark, Down suggests that Gemma's pink stack hat and pink Converses and daggy little spokey dokes (wheel bicycle accessory) and her slightly too small bicycle help give her the appearance of a tomboy, because she's shot up and become quite gangly and tall …

• When it comes to Gemma's official first meeting with Charlie (as opposed to his earlier romps), Down says that in earlier drafts Jackie's character used to be a bitch. It took away from the endearing trio, and from the notion that Charlie would end up falling in love with her as well. Gemma liked the idea of her character as a role model for young girls, versus other films where teenage girls would be bitches or party girls having sex or drinking and falling into drugs. Gemma found it appealing that her character was natural and loving, despite having a difficult past, with a later hint that her mother has died.

• Around the 37 min mark, the film moves into the tampon scene, one of Down's favourites, "and yes this is inspired from my life… my brother once came in chewing a tampon, once to my … and my mother's … embarrassment in front of a school friend of mine".

• Down says the staging was intense, and in the energetic wrestling, Luke popped a knee cap, forcing him to wear braces, which in turn Animal Logic had to digitally remove from the images.

• While on the subject of Luke managing to chew on many tampons in style, Down jokingly suggests that tampons are often referred to as her signature item, at least for anyone who has seen her short films, where they regularly made an appearance. She says there were actually a few more tampon moments over various drafts of the script, producer Tristram Miall, "in his infinite wisdom", culled them out, leaving the tampons to just this one brother's girlfriend tampon chewing moment, "and really what could be more embarrassing than that?", adding that she loves Jackie's line that at least it wasn't a used one …

• 39 mins in, there's a big crane shot pulling up to see the trio walking down the road. It was done at end of day …

• That's immediately followed by the supermarket scene, with Down saying that it was the last scene shot for the film. She recalls they wrapped at about 3 am, and it featured a number of references, with producer Tristram Miall appearing in left frame, and Dolly Doctor making an appearance. When Down was growing up, Dolly was an essential teen girl magazine and she claims that the boys always used to grab it off the girls so they could read Dolly Doctor, because it had questions about periods and sex questions, STDs, etc. 

• Setting that aside, Down talks of this kind of experience with her own family, suggesting that it's the most horrible thing that can happen, because people just stare. No one helps, "and you feel so utterly alone." She wanted audiences to feel what it was like to be in this situation, where the most awkward thing is happening and no one actually comes to give you a hand. She notes the absolute physicality of Luke's performance and the way his feet curl up, so in character and not breaking as he's dragged off.

• There's another cameo - it's Down's voice that calls out "Security check out two" in the scene.

• When the family return home and Charlie tosses the chair through the window, Down says that they noticed in the editing process that whenever Charlie got angry in the cut, it took away from the big fight at the end of the film when he beats his brother up. So that became one of the first things they started cutting out - any moments when Thomas showed any excessive anger towards his brother. And so the chair through window scene got tightened, with the fight between the brothers snipped, including the moment when Thomas pushes Charlie into the window's shattered glass.

• c. 42'30" and Down says that they shot the hospital scene at Strickland House in Sydney. (She claims it's haunted and on the location recce getting a shiver up her spine about seeing a disappearing figure).

• After the hospital comes a travelling car scene, which Down says was hard to shoot because they were inside the car, with her and the DOP crammed into the back seat. They'd go up and down the freeway, and could probably get 2 or 3 takes in one length of the freeway. (They had the sound recordist in a car behind, and behind that the camera assistant in a truck). They'd stop, do a camera check, reload and drive down the freeway the other way, and do another whole set of takes. Then in the cutting they had to cut around anything that looked overtly non-period, such as cars. The old car generated a lot of noise, such that they tried to replace the dialogue in post, but it didn't sound right, so they cleaned up the original and kept it.

• c. 45 mins in, in the front yard of the Mollison house, and Down points out the houses on the left and the right. The unit managed to get in both houses. The left hand side house was the cast house, where the cast got to sit and enjoy some air-conditioning, and on the right hand side was the crew house where a lot of the equipment went and the crew could go to the toilet, etc. The owner of the house on the right delayed knocking it down so that the unit could use it.

• When it comes to the Super Nintendo scene, Down talks of the difficulty of getting the period electronic gear, especially new in a box. Also as a result of Thomas smashing it in the film, Down thinks they needed three or four Nintendos to get a good smashing.

• Just after the 46 min mark, with the next pool scene, Down says this was the very first scene they shot for the film, with Rebecca Massey playing the quintessential PE teacher. It's another of Down's favourite scenes, simply showing the growing of the relationship through the staging of a rescue in the pool. She and DOP Baker really wanted to get in close, and the end of the scene when she kisses him, they both smile, a moment that happened quite spontaneously, "so beautiful and sweet."

• Just after 47'36", as the parents enter the hall, Down notes that her own parents have a cameo moment at right of frame (the man in blue and the woman in the blue and white dress right beside the exit doors). She also draws attention to a big blonde guy sitting on the stage (hard to see behind the foreground dance action), saying it's Sean, the character on whom Charlie was based.

• Heading towards the 49 min mark, when the social workers arrive, Down says that anyone growing up with someone with a disability is accustomed to the knocks on the door, inspired by well-meaning or not so well-meaning neighbours who hear the yells and screams that come from the house, and call social services to come and investigate. She likes the way they inquire in a well-meaning way if it's Charlie, as if anyone else would be rocking, with monkey undies and a pair of monkey ears on his head.

• When it comes to the nasty neighbour with the hose (Sarah Woods), Down said they actually had to get special permission to film the scenes with the hose and the sprinklers, because they were shooting in the middle of a drought. As another bit of trivia, Down says that the actor playing the neighbour, Sarah Woods, was actually the sister of an Australian director, Rowan "The Boys" and "Little Fish" Woods …

• c. the 50 min mark, the trio break into the army base, and Down says that they had just one day to shoot all the scenes on the rifle range, so it had to be done very quickly. Having had to go to New York for a campaign that couldn't be rescheduled, Gemma came back as sick as a dog to shoot the rifle range scenes. Down says you can't tell, and you also couldn't tell when Toni came back from the Golden Globes also very sick to resume work. You can hear the coughing and spluttering in the rushes, but in the cut she's glowing and full of life.

• For the obstacle course scenes, Down says they had to shoot 44 shots in two hours because that's all the time they were allowed. They had two cameras, with one camera at one obstacle, the other at another, with director and cast running from one camera to the next, and as they did a quick ten minute shoot, the other camera would be running past them to set up at the next obstacle, "and this is through sand and going uphill and it nearly killed us."

• c. 52 mins, and Down notes that for the waterhole/creek and pool scenes, they used a splash box, which allowed the camera to be semi-submerged, allowing for shots with the camera at water level, without the camera going underwater and needing a diver to operate it. For the waterhole/creek scene, they had two cameras, one onshore and the other on a boat or in a splash box to get a view from the water. Down says it was the most difficult of all the scenes to shoot. While the water looks absolutely beautiful, it was freezing and all the actors were in their underpants. She was only allowed two takes for all the shots she needed because they couldn't let the actors' core temperatures drop too low. There were warm water hoses and warm water gear for use between takes.

• To add to the complications, they had the rain machine, and two days before the shoot, it had rained in Sydney, flooding the creek, so they had to reschedule, with a lot of the banking still wet and quite unstable. It actually worked for them because where the rain towers were set up was on a fire track and they wouldn't have got permission if it had been too dry because it would've been deemed a fire risk. So they needed some rain to shoot the rain scene, but it went over the top and flooded.

• 54 mins in and there's the humpy scene, which was used in the trailer and Down thinks is many viewers' favourite scene. It was actually shot at a number of different locations. The wide shot was filmed at the National Park, but they ended up shooting all the interiors at the house in Holsworthy. They didn't have much wet weather cover because of Toni and Gemma's schedules, so they ended up bringing the humpy to the house, which was an hour away. She chuckles at shooting really intimate scenes in a backyard where you could hear dogs barking, choppers going over the top, and yet the actors managed to stay focussed in the middle of the distracting neighbourhood. Down kept the two poor actors skin wet for the scene, despite it being cold and rainy, just to give them an iridescent glow, which she thinks makes them look like Adam and Eve. She knows they were both nervous about this being the big kiss scene, but thinks everybody likes to watch "a good pash scene." It took three takes and on the third take she didn't call cut, but let it roll longer, with Gemma wondering in her head "when is Elissa gunna call cut? Oh I'll just have to get into it a little bit more …" Down says she knows Rhys got into it, because later he was in a shopping centre and saw a Gemma poster and thought "…and I kissed her." She hastens to add that many wanted to kiss him, and he had his own fan base, and in Berlin there were a group of devoted girls who came to all four screenings and sat up the front to watch him in action. "Every time the kiss moment would come on, they'd all sigh together."

• Down talks about the rehearsals for the kiss scene. What she did was blindfold the pair, and then get them to touch each other, touch their faces, and their skin, "and just have that permission to touch the other person without …feeling that other person looking at you while you're doing it, so you're free to explore their body and their face …"

• After they did that to one another, they then took off the blindfold and did it looking at each other, and she thinks that helped in capturing the moment where they both look at each other …bringing a magic into the moment, aided by Michael Yezerski's score …(Down stays silent for the big kiss and allows the music to swell)

• The aftermath to the kiss scene, with the big storm causing damage in the street, was a blessing. Because it was summer it was looking like a big wet down would be required, but it rained for a couple of days before. Animal Logic did all the film's storm enhancements, but when they came on set for the scene, they said they wouldn't have to do much to evoke the aftermath.

• After the 59 min mark, when Rhys/Thomas invites Gemma/Jackie to his birthday party, Down says she never really noticed what Charlie was doing in the background swinging on the door, and it was only watching the rushes that she picked it up, so she went back to grab a closer shot of Charlie swinging on the door (59'40").

• Near the 60 min mark, Down says she likes the simplicity of the note on the telly saying that the baby has been born, slipping into the story without drama, a change of pace for a family where each day is usually a drama.

• 60'13", Charlie underneath the clothesline pounding away with a wooden spoon in the back yard - Down says it was one of the first of the key images she and DOP Denson Baker worked on - low angle, wide lens, looking up into the sky. It was one of their key reference images. She says that neither she or the DOP could draw to save their lives, so rather than do storyboards, they did photoboards. Denson would come to rehearsals, and locations, especially when blocking the scenes, and take a whole stack of photographs of shots they'd discussed and thought about. Back at the production office, they'd sit at the computer, put on the 2.35 widescreen frame, and select the shots they wanted to use to tell the scene, and then stick that on boards and put it into the folder so everyone could see exactly how the scene was going to be shot. If the actors weren't in the shot, it would be her, the producer, an assistant, etc. and that's how they were able to pre-visualise the whole film.

• 62 mins in, and Down says that while the scene after the bus's departure looks handheld it was actually shot using an Easyrig, designed to lighten the load of the heavy 35mm camera. 

• Whenever Charlie was naughty or distressed, they wouldn't use a tripod, they would get on to the Easyrig to give a handheld sense of energy. After the emotion draining bullying scene at the gates, Down notes that Ngoc Phan, playing the teacher's aide, learned the Makaton system of signing, as did other teachers, so they could be seen communicating with their students. It hadn't been scripted for those characters, but they were all so dedicated they took on the task of learning the signings for filming.

• Around the 64 min mark, after the big fight, with Charlie playing with toy cars, etc, Down says that the montage was constructed in the editing. She and editor Veronika Jenet decided there needed to be a moment to settle down before they moved back into the story, so they pieced together some second unit shots and little moments from scenes they didn't up using, to create a little scene showing Thomas thinking about what had happened at the school gates.

• That's followed by a scene in the shed with a cassette tape, and Down notes it's another scene which originally showed Thomas being angry. When Gemma tells him that his brother is never going to change, it was scripted and filmed that Thomas gets very angry and starts shouting at her, saying she doesn't know what she's talking about, her family life's fantastic, etc. He was really horrible to her, and they ended up cutting that because again it took away from that climactic moment where he shows all his anger and aggression towards Charlie.

• As an aside, Down says it was whole of fun recording Gemma attempting to sing the Ratcat song and doing it badly. She recalls it took them an hour and they used the very last take, "because she managed to miss every note in that moment, and I think we just love Jackie's character more, the very fact that she can't sing …"

• With the cricket scene, Down talks about Simon having a beer in hand while bowling, (failing to note that it's a VB), and then explaining LBW, so there's no need to go there, especially as she gets agitated about him using a real cricket ball, as if that can't be used in back or front yard cricket as much as a tennis ball.

• Then it's on to the birthday party, with the note that the baby, because of time restrictions, was played by one boy and two girls.

• Down says because of coverage requirements it took a whole day to film the scene, where for comparison on other days they might have shot three or four scenes in the same amount of time. There's also the question of food continuity. There was also the attempt by actors to get the other actors to laugh during their close-ups, with Toni Collette throwing in crazy lines, some of which they ended up using in the film, one being "You loved it… couldn't get enough."

• When the birthday cake comes out, Down calls it the key moment in the film. It's Thomas's birthday, his family's attention is on him, he's becoming a man, "but the one thing he hasn't grown up about is that his brother Charlie is never gunna change… and he hasn't dealt with that emotionally …and in contrast, Charlie, who's a little bit older than Thomas, is acting like a child in this sequence by wanting to blow out the candles ..."

• When it comes to the moment when Charlie masturbates over Jackie, Down says it was important to imply it rather than to show it, because she didn't want the audience to be disgusted by Charlie's actions. It is innocent, he doesn't quite understand what he's feeling, "but of course it's going to shock Jackie and it's gunna completely outrage Thomas and bring out all these sub-conscious and conscious thoughts and feelings he's had about his brother to the surface …"

• When it comes to the big family fight scene, Down wavers between laughing and crying at the folly of a family fight, while meditating on the difficulty of blocking it out in small chunks, saying that they spent a whole day filming the sequence, as they did with the dinner scene, with the actors needing to get into the right emotional space where they could perform the actions again and again. For Charlie head-butting the floor, they had to put foam padding under the lino.

• Post fight at the 72 min mark, Down says the scene (as the stitches go in) was very difficult for Luke. He really wanted to encapsulate that sense of child-like crying, while they cheated the actual stitching. It's never seen, just implied …

• Down uses the shot of Thomas holding his baby sister to discuss the way that Charlie's needs are already ahead of hers. "It just highlights what happens in families with special needs children - when they do become teenagers, they still take up this intense amount of time."

• 73 mins in, and the next intense emotional scene happens with Thomas breaking down in the toilet over what had happened that night. Down says from a practical point of view, it's better to do these scenes early in the day, because you don't want the actor obsessing about doing a big moment all through the day. She recalls that Rhys had done his big emotional moment, and then they sent him back to his trailer, and then she realised she needed one more shot, which was the mother's POV when she opens the toilet door, looks down and sees her son. When they called him back, he told Down that he felt like crying to think that he would have to cry again, and he had to put himself back into that moment.

• 74 mins in, as the Neil Finn's song Fall at Your Feet (performed by Glenn Richards) arrives to accompany the melancholy Thomas, Down says she spent a long time with music supervisor Norman Parkhill to find the right song to accompany the moment. He gave them many songs to listen to, and nothing quite felt right. She thought Crowded House's version was fantastic, but the tone didn't quite fit into the tone of the film. Augie March was one of her favourite bands and she loved Glenn Richards' voice, so he agreed to do a cover for the film, a haunting version which suited the moment perfectly.

• Down says that the scene where Thomas and Jackie meet at the gutter outside her house, took her the whole editing process to get the timing right. She wanted the two to come together, but the dialogue never quite fitted and throughout rehearsals she was working with Gemma and Rhys to get the scene to fit. In the editing, she discovered their looks said so much that she really only needed the two lines to sum up exactly how they felt about each other in this moment. ("You scared the shit out of me.""I fucked up.")

• Down says the scene was difficult for Rhys to shoot because he had a whole fan club of neighbourhood kids following him around during the filming. They were actually being kept about fifty metres away, all looking and staring at him as he played the scene. So for him to focus and keep his emotional intensity wasn't an easy thing to do.

• At the end as the camera cranes up above the pair hugging each other, (past the street light), Down notes the music by Michael Yezerski enhancing the emotions …

• That's followed by the night scene, c. 76'30", where the two brothers meet in the street over the car, a scene Down says makes her cry nearly every time she sees it …she says it was a scene that didn't actually read too much on the page, but she suggests that with the actors' performances brought it to a whole new other level …

• Down says that many people ask her what Charlie is specifically signing in this scene. She translates that when he comes up he's signing 'hello', followed by 'I'm good'. Then when he stands up he signs the 'T' sign, which is for Thomas, he says he's good, but then he rubs his knuckles together, and that means 'brother'. She suggests that even if you don't know what the signing means, she says when she's asked viewers and they all come back with the awareness that he's saying that he's sorry, that he loves his brother, "and that's exactly the message that we wanted to come out of this scene".

• To break the mood, there's a sprinkler, and wasting precious Sydney water, and a joke about why Sydney needed a desalination plant 

• 78 mins in as Thomas joins Charlie in the backyard and pretends to be autistic, Down says that when you grow up with an autistic family member, you learn how to do a good impression. She recalls her dad at the kitchen table banging a spoon and doing a pretty good impersonation of her brother, "and this is what I wanted to imbue the film with, is a sense of reverency. We're given permission to laugh at Charlie, you don't need to feel sorry for him, you don't need to pity him, you can just laugh with him and have fun, because how you deal with living a life like this is through humour …"

• Near the 79 min mark and back to the pool for a last time, as Down explains that she actually wanted the school bullies to seem like normal boys. We can get sick and tired of seeing those aggressive, macho teenagers that tease the main character that seems weaker than them: "I wanted them to seem normal, with their own insecurities, and prejudices and just going through their own lives. I wanted them to be boys that you went to school with, or are going to school with …"

• When it comes to the learner driver scene, Down reassures listeners that Rhys did actually have his licence and had to be taught to drive badly by the film's stunt coordinator, with the final jerky halt outside the garage the result of a few rehearsals he had.

• When it comes to the final set piece, Down reminds listeners that they had used actual autistic people alongside actors, which required a long rehearsal period. She says when working with autistic people, you have to be very precise. If you're rehearsing for an hour, don't expect to go 61 minutes. To deal with this, they created a special unit headed by choreographer Claire McCarthy. She enlisted the support of parents and special needs teachers.

• Despite all the rehearsals, no one knew what to expect on the day of filming. 1st AD Mark Turnbull expected the worst, but according to Down the kids exceeded not just their expectations but their parents expectations.

• The script described the musical as an extravaganza of lycra and feathers, so Down slips in a kind word for the frocks department, a real chance for them to shine.

• Backstage comes the big spit fight, and Down says that growing up with her brothers, it was all about the spitting. In pre-production they actually had a bodily fluids meeting to deal with the blood, spit, poo and wee in the film, and to discuss which department looked after what. The head make-up designer ended up looking after the spitting part of it. She and her department made a concoction from what was really a meringue mixture. It then got syringed into the mouths of Luke and Firass (Dirani, who played Charlie's friend Russell). They'd call hold during a take, the make-up team would rush in and syringe in the mix, the actors would take a step back, and then continue on, spitting at each other …

• Down says the problem with the spitting was the collateral damage, with other cast, crew, the DOP etc finding bits of spit on them, and sometimes even in their mouths …but Luke and Firass loved it and egged each other on.

• When it comes to the final big moment of the brothers performing together, Down says that as a bit of trivia, it was originally intended that the musical as scripted was going to be Lloyd Webber's Cats. When they started to investigate, they soon discovered the rights would be too expensive for the film to put on. So Down and producer Miall put their heads together and came up with the concept of Noah's Ark. What she'd liked about Cats was that the big ending was going to be Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer getting up to mischief. By having Noah's Ark, Charlie needed to have another monkey on the boat with him, and what's great about monkeys is they're naughty and they're mischievous …and a great parallel to Charlie, they play with their own poo.

• They went with the concept to composer Michael Yezerski and he wrote two songs to deal with the musical … (and he turns up scoring a cameo, plonking away at the piano).

• Down says they shot the sequence in a beautiful heritage-listed hall in Granville that had been built in the 1920s. They filled it with 200 extras and rounded the crowd size up with friends and family.

• Down says what she loved about the choreography for the final piece was bringing out all the daggy Young Talent Time moves, with the glitter providing the big Rock Eisteddfod moment. The glitter was a big pain, however, because it had to be vacuumed up before the next take.

• When it comes to the final scene, Down says it's a favourite of hers and her co-writer Jimmy the Exploder because it really "encapsulates the whole dramedy of the film", as Thomas pours his heart out to his brother in the bathtub.

6. Interviews/stories:

(a) AFI:

This interview was published in AFC News, March 2008, and could be found at Trove here:

"Elissa Down talks to Effie Rassos about her internationally successful debut feature 'The Black Balloon'"



Australian writer-director Elissa Down is best known for her innovative and engaging short films including Pink Pyjamas (2001) and the 2004 Tropfest finalist Summer Angst. The Black Balloon, Elissa's directorial feature film debut starring Rhys Wakefield, Gemma Ward, Luke Ford, Erik Thomson and Toni Collette, was released nationally on 6 March. The film has already had an auspicious start with its success at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, opening the Generation 14plus program and going on to win the Crystal Bear for the Best Feature-length film. The AFC's Effie Rassos spoke to Elissa about the film's development and production just before she set off for Berlin.



Effie Rassos: The Black Balloon is based upon your own experiences growing up with autistic brothers. Could you talk a little about the challenges (and the benefits) of bringing such a personal story to the screen?


Elissa Down: When I was first tackling the script there was maybe a subconscious and then conscious moment where I thought, "How much do I want to show this is my story?" And then while the script was going through Aurora [the NSWFTO's script development workshop], I remember speaking to Jane Campion who said, "Don't worry what people think". And she was absolutely right. It was from that point on that everything was up for grabs! That was a turning point for me because I said to myself, "I've got nothing to hide, just say how you feel and go for it."


ER: You received AFC development funding for the film. How did this contribute to realising the film?


ED: Basically Jimmy Jack [aka Jimmy the Exploder] and I wrote this script firstly as a 50-minute script for the Family Matters Initiative [a joint production initiative between SBS Independent, Screen Tasmania, Showtime Australia] that was running a few years ago. At the time they loved the script but they didn't want me attached as the director. So we withdrew the script and then we put it into the AFC who were just amazing. It was because of the AFC support we were able to convert the script from a 50-minute short feature into a feature film and start that journey.


ER: While this is your first feature, there seems to be a sense of thematic continuity from your short films and their concern with adolescence. What is it about this transitional time that interests you?


ED: I suppose being a young filmmaker adolescence is probably the most traumatic incident I've had so far! I haven't had children, I haven't been married, so I haven't had those things to draw on and I write what resonates with me. It's quite interesting because I've also got my other slate of projects that are getting a bit broader because the scope is a little bit bigger in the feature film format. I had a few restrictions on my short films because a lot of them were made on the smell of an oily rag.


ER: Is there a certain kind of mind shift that has to happen when you're thinking about moving from short films to features?


ED: No, no. It was quite funny because I've done 10 short films and so I'd been waiting to do my feature or working towards it, so when it happened I thought it was about time! I knew that from a physical standpoint that features take longer so I had to be physically ready. It's like you're running a marathon rather than a sprint. And I was so used to, in all my short films, doing so much of it myself, that often Tristram [Miall, the film's producer] would say, "We have people to do that Elissa!" [Laughs] On my shorts I often had the producer hat on as well, so you're shooting but also worrying about this and that and doing 20 things at once. It was nice to be able to focus all my energy on directing.


ER: In The Black Balloon you had the chance to work with high-profile actors as well as relative newcomers. Does your directorial approach differ when you're working with actors with diverse levels of experience?


ED: I think with actors it doesn't matter what level they're at, because each actor is unique and has their own approach. So as a director, no matter on what film, you're dealing with actors with different approaches. And having worked with Gemma Ward [on Pink Pyjamas] before I sort of knew our process together. Just by meeting people and knowing of their work I knew what I had to be for them. Someone like Luke Ford, who was almost obsessive, he's a director's dream as an actor. He was doing so much amazing research - he would film himself for hours in character. My support for him was centred on the sort of autism of the character and really being that safety net for him, to take his character as far as he goes. He could really make bold choices because he knew that he would be supported if he did something that wasn't quite within the scope of the character.


With Rhys Wakefield, this was his first feature and after doing television he needed support because he's got an amazing emotional arc and some massive emotional scenes in the film. When Toni Collette came into the rehearsal room, we had a fully dressed set, and so a lot of my rehearsals were dealing with the relationships. So the first thing Toni did was just let Charlie [Luke Ford's character] put on his undies and his socks and his shoes and get him dressed, give him his medicine, brush his hair, and just have a day-in-the-life. They had barbeques together, played games and cards together, to get a real sense of how the family operates, and physically move and physically interact, because the minute you see them on the screen you believe that they're a family.


We just wanted that sense that you're not watching actors. I want people to get swept up and think they are a family. You know someone like Maggie, you know someone like Simon; this is a married couple. What I'm really proud of is the depiction of the parents because they're real. They have their problems, they're not saints, they're just real. So when an audience come across a story that is a little different, that has some unusual and new things like autism, it's good to be able to cling to something familiar like the parents.


ER: You can also say that about Charlie's autism - the film doesn't judge, pity or saint him…


ED: His autism just is. That's who he is and that's what I wanted to show. Obviously it's going to make you think - and I hope make you laugh and cry - but it's not like we should bring out the violins for poor Charlie. He does have autism but he's also a very wilful character who loves his life. Even though there are a lot of things that he can't do, there are also a lot of things that he can do. And that's what I wanted to show - that my experience of growing up was a little different. There's a lot of laughter and a lot of joy but there are also a lot of tears and frustration. And I just wanted to show this is how it is.


ER: Finally, congratulations on The Black Balloon's selection into Berlin. How do you think screening at a high-profile international film festival will showcase the film?


ED: We are so excited about going to Berlin and also being opening night for Generation 14plus. It gives us a really good arena to show the film to people overseas, have an audience see it and hopefully get very excited and laugh and cry, and also to encourage other distributors around the world to snap it up. It's also a great opportunity because if it goes well over in Berlin it comes back here. If we look at some of our past successful films like Muriel's Wedding, Strictly Ballroom and The Piano, they had a great overseas platform at Cannes. And everyone got really excited, so they came in to their local release with this fantastic buzz.


The Black Balloon was released nationally on 6 March.

(b) ABC:

This At the Movies interview could be found on the WM here:

David Stratton speaks with Director, Elissa Down, actors Rhys Wakefield and Luke Ford.

The Black Balloon Interview

DAVID: Elissa, how much of the film is based on your own experiences?


ELISSA DOWN: Well, I'd say mostly the emotions of the film are, are sort of based, especially the character of Thomas, of the sort of resentment, the love, the embarrassment, you know, all that is very much how I felt growing up.
And, a lot of the incidents that happened, like running down the street in the underpants, you know, that was me chasing my brother.


So a lot of the stuff that did happen like the shopping tantrum happened to me, but we've just reworked it in a new form for the film.


DAVID: I imagine one of the problems with a film like this is that people say, "Oh, audiences won't want to see a film about autism," and, and so on and so on. But, you imbue the film with such humour and such generosity. How difficult was it to get all that humour and that spirit into it?

ELISSA DOWN: Well, the thing approaching the film is I wanted it to be representative of what it was like for me and, like, growing up, it was insanely funny at times.


I mean, you know, when your brother is running down the street with his underpants it is very, very funny and even when you are chasing you are sort of at the same time going, "This must look hysterical".


And, so I wanted to show what it was like and I mean there were times when we were going through the development that some people were advising us to break up the parents and it was like, I think, I just wanted to be so truthful to the experience of show the laughter, the tears, the joys, everything because life is basically like that.


DAVID: In some ways he's a very frustrated character. Because, as he keeps saying, he just wants to be normal.


RHYS WAKEFIELD: Yeah, yeah, oh, totally frustrated. There's so much bottling up in him and, and it just comes to an explosive surface and to understand that frustration, we took the character out and I really understood just the general public's reaction to Luke who was playing Charlie out in the street.


DAVID: You, in a sense, are, are the substitute for Elissa in the film. Did you, did you sort of feel that you were kind of taking her place?


RHYS WAKEFIELD: Yeah, definitely. There was a little bit of pressure to try and, you know, live up to it and really credit her and her experience and just play it accurately.
But, yeah, ultimately, I was playing Elissa. So, it was, it was cool to have a director that you were playing. It was so insightful to really nut out and understand the aspect of it.


DAVID: So how actually did you research it?


LUKE FORD: Well, primarily, you know, there's a fine line for actors in research. You know, a lot of the time I believe that actors do too much research.


I mean, an actor should always know a little bit more than his character but, you know, I didn't want to, I only wanted to research the physical and the mental side of autism. I didn't want to know how it started. I didn't want to know how, you know, what you could do about it. You know, that's more for someone that's going to play a doctor of autism, not an autistic kid.


So, I tried, I tried to just capitalise on the physical and the mental side and finding the clues in the research of how I could find my way into my character strapping my legs for the physical rigidness of autism, the stiffness, just they always seem a little bit more robotic in emotion and so, I walked in the street with that, and then the mental side of research just the way of communicating without really, you know, without any form of dialogue.


ELISSA DOWN: I've lived with this for so many years and, so, in a way, I provided the safety net for him to go, "Okay, I'm doing what is correct and in character" and then allowed him to take it to such a level because I think a lot of people when they auditioned for Charlie played a condition instead of a character.


And so, we had that beautiful balance of getting the condition and the character working fantastically together and he spent a lot of time with my brother, Sean, whom the character is based off and got those things that really clicked into place.

(c) The Los Angeles Times:

This story could be found posted on a blog, saved to Trove here, or directly here.

It was by Susan King and ran in the LA Times on 30th November 2008, under the header For director, it’s personal:

Throughout her childhood, Australian filmmaker Elissa Down was constantly running after her youngest brother, Sean, who is autistic, suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and is a selective mute.

“He would run down the street in his underpants, and I’d pull him out of toilets in people’s homes,” says Down. “He played in his pooh. He chewed tampons. And of course, I got frustrated, I got angry. I wished he was normal. I wished I had a different family.”

Sean, who is now 26, was the inspiration for her first feature film, “The Black Balloon,” which opens Friday.

The heartwarming drama, which won best feature film at the Berlin International Film Festival, in the Generation 14plus section, revolves around Thomas (Rhys Wakefield), a 16-year-old who has moved all around Australia because his father is in the army.

The family has just relocated into a new home in suburban Sydney. And it doesn’t take long for his oldest brother, Charlie (Luke Ford), who is autistic, has ADHD and is mute, to cause him embarrassment and draw catty remarks from the neighbors who don’t understand autism.

Toni Collette plays their mother, who is dealing with a difficult pregnancy, and model Gemma Ward plays Thomas’ beautiful girlfriend, who wants to befriend Charlie.

In real life, Down has three younger brothers, the eldest of whom also is autistic. But she doesn’t like to talk much about him or reveal his name, because “he doesn’t like to know that people talk about his autism,” she says. “He’s very intelligent. He is like the ‘Rain Man’ character.”

Brother Sean, she says, was initially diagnosed with ADHD as a child. “It’s when they put him on Ritalin they discovered he was autistic, because all of his behaviors slowed down,” Down says. “They noticed there was a repetitive nature to it.”

Though the movie is semiautobiographical, Down didn’t want “Black Balloon” to be a memoir of her life. “It would seem a bit movie of the week,” she explains. “We wanted to rework the story and the plot and the characters to fit into a movie structure and to make it entertaining for an audience.”

The majority of the response to the film has been overwhelmingly positive, Down says: “Most people love it and laugh and cry.” So she was shocked to learn that some moviegoers have walked out angry.

“It’s because some of them realize they were the kid who threw the chocolate milk at the autistic bus or the neighbor [who made rude comments]. Or they say, ‘If I was the father, I would have walked out on the family.’ I didn’t realize the film would make people feel guilty, even though it’s an uplifting story about love and acceptance and family.”

Down says it wasn’t difficult to watch a version of her life unfold during the filming.

“I see this as a film now, because all of that emotional stuff came out in the writing -- to tell a story honestly from the heart,” she says. “But by the time I got to the directing stage, it was a film and characters.”

Save for Ford. “I would find myself calling him Sean,” she admits. “Luke was so eerily like my brother. My grandma saw a picture of Luke in the paper and thought it was Sean!”

All three of Down’s brothers still live at home, with the middle one helping her parents take care of Sean and the older sibling.

“What I am seeing with my brothers is they are getting more into their autistic shell,” she says. “The older one doesn’t leave the house. Sean will still go out and do stuff. But I think they miss the social interaction they used to get in school.”

-- 

For the record

DEC. 7, 2008 12 AM PT

Elissa Down: The caption for a photograph in the Indie Eye column last Sunday of filmmaker Elissa Down and actor Rhys Wakefield noted that Down said it was difficult watching a version of her life unfold while making her film “The Black Balloon.” In fact, as the column reported, she said it was not difficult.

(d) Urban Cinefile:

The Urban Cinefile interview could be found at Trove here, and ran under the header Making 'em Laugh … and Cry:

Flying home triumphant from the Berlin Film Festival, The Black Balloon writer/director Elissa Down pays tribute to those who helped her with the making of her debut feature, which seems to make everybody laugh and cry, she tells Andrew L. Urban.


Elissa Down is suffering ‘jet lurgie’ as she is thrown into a media scrum after flying back from the Berlinale, where her debut feature, The Black Balloon, won the Crystal Bear in the Generation 14plus section. The pre-release publicity tour involves lots of talking and as we discuss the film, she is thinking of the premiere a few hours away – and the incessant ear ache. Still, the pain is soothed by the euphoria of the Crystal Bear and the “amazing, insane” response of the Berlin festival crowd.


“When we landed in Berlin we were picked up by the festival people who were saying “You sold out in three minutes.” The sellout reference was not a condemnation of the filmmaker but a reference to the zealous patrons who stormed the box office. “They had to bring in emergency seating and still people were turned away,” she says, excitement hiding the rattly throat.


The triumph is not Elissa’s alone, as she is quick to point out. “I’ve made 10 shorts but I knew this was going to be a marathon by comparison, and I knew I had to have a strong team to support me, and I did … many very experienced people as well as talented newcomers.”

"little survival tips"

She also knew she had to look after herself physically, so she stocked her cupboard with “vitamins and aspirins”. Other filmmakers had given her little survival tips, too, like “getting a massage every week, getting someone to do your washing, tips like that…”


But the most important tip came from Jane Campion, in her role as mentor for the AURORA script programme which helped Elissa and her co-writer Jimmy The Exploder polish the script. Being based on her own family’s experiences with two autistic brothers, she had found the writing challenging. “I was holding back … putting up a wall. Until Jane told me to let it all out: who cares what people think, she said. That helped free me up and everything I felt could go into it.”


Thomas (Rhys Wakefield) and his family move to a new home and he has to start at a new school, all he wants is to fit in. When his pregnant mother (Toni Collette) has to take things easy, his father Simon (Erik Thomson) puts him in charge of his autistic older brother Charlie (Luke Ford). Thomas, with the help of his new girlfriend Jackie (Gemma Ward), faces his biggest challenge yet. Charlie’s unusual antics take Thomas on an emotional journey that causes his pent-up frustrations about his brother to pour out.
Elissa had to make a decision about revealing aspects her own life.

“I figured you’re either going to write it or not. No point being half arsed about it. I wanted people to come away feeling they’d had a terrific insight into the world of autism. I wanted to make them laugh and cry.”

In Berlin, where the film was screened without German subtitles, Elissa was thrilled to hear the audience laugh and cry in all the right places. But the laughing and crying had begun much earlier, when Elissa approached producer Tristram Miall (Strictly Ballroom, Looking for Alibrandi). Says Miall: “I was moved by the script’s warmth and humanity, and intrigued by how it made me laugh and cry.”

"a powerful story"

I have three younger brothers, two of which have autism - so growing up was very eventful, crazy, funny and sometimes very sad. I always thought it would be a powerful story to tell.”


The character of Charlie is based on Elissa’s youngest brother Sean, who not only has autism but also has ADHD and is an elective mute. “He was the bane of my existence growing up just like Charlie is to Thomas. Many elements in the film really did happen to us - I did have to chase him down the street and get him out of other people’s houses and toilets and we would have to struggle to get him to take his medicine.
“

When people talk about autism they often reference Rainman – which is one aspect of autism – and my other brother is very much like that but autism covers so many different facets” she continued.


“Sean is very different and we had the added frustration of him being an elective mute. He was so naughty and so full of life and we always thought he would be a great character for a film. That coupled with growing up in an army family - always moving and having to settle into a new community and a new school, with a slightly unusual family, was solid ground for an interesting story.”


Published: March 6, 2008

(e) The Age:

This profile ran in The Age on 7th March 2008, under the header Auteur's autism artistry, WM here, to coincide with the film's domestic release:

The Black Balloon recounts its creator's growing pangs. By Stephanie Bunbury.

When Elissa Down first showed her film The Black Balloon to her family, her brother Sean seemed to be enjoying it hugely. There was Luke Ford, the actor who had been hanging out with the Down family for a while and had become Sean's great mate, making the sorts of signs and noises Sean made. And there he was, running down the street in his underpants, pursued by the other bloke who played the brother; it was just like the time Elissa pursued him around the neighbourhood!

"He's laughing like anything," remembers Elissa. "He thinks Luke is just hysterical, probably thinking 'he's just like me; this is all good!' But then there's the scene where Tom picks up his Super Nintendo and threatens to break it." She makes a Sean noise of horror and fear. "And then it all happens and he was rocking; he was really upset. And that was interesting, because a lot of people are reacting to that scene with horror. I found it fascinating he had the same reaction as everyone else."

Elissa Down grew up with three brothers, two of whom are autistic. One is autistic in the Rain Man mould, "very intelligent, very smart and does that parrot talk"; but Sean stopped talking in childhood, cries and giggles like a small child and, rather problematically given that he is much taller and stronger than anyone else in the family, throws tantrums. But the Down family, Ford assures me, is "the least dysfunctional family you'll see, because they all love each other. And they find a way to communicate."

Autistic people are commonly understood to be cut off from others, even incapable of feeling. "They are emotional," says Down firmly, "but on their own terms and in their own way. Even when I brought home girls from school, the girls Sean would like he would touch or give a little tap. Which means he likes you and wants you to hit him back."

Toni Collette plays Charlie's mother with enormous warmth and as a tower of strength. At her first rehearsal, when all the young cast were holding their breaths lest they fall foul of this Oscar-nominated actress in their midst, Down asked her to dress Charlie, get his shoes on and brush his hair. "And they just got into a domestic routine and practised having a relationship. That is how we approached everything. And that is one of the strengths of the film, that pretty quickly you go 'Right, this is a family.' "

But it wasn't easy, she says, to feel the love full-time when she was growing up. "It is really hard to be the sibling of someone with special needs," she says. "It's a conflict within yourself, because you love them dearly and you would beat up anyone who called them names but at the same time you are embarrassed about them; you'd quite like to beat them up."

Inevitably, that child — or, in her family, those children — soaks up most of the parental attention. But you're growing up, too; you want them to worry about you. "And you always have to control your personality. If they're chucking a tantrum, you can't do anything because you have control and they don't. After a while that gets quite frustrating. And I really wanted to show that; the day-to-day living, the negotiations, those feelings that are really indescribable because they are a mixture of many, many emotions."

Even though The Black Balloon was a version of her own story it wasn't easy to write. At first, she thinks, she "put a wall up" around things she didn't want to mention. Charlie's brother, Tom, is no angel; he knows he has to look out for his brother but he resents it. He's making shy gestures towards his first potential girlfriend — played by model Gemma Ward, who worked with Down in an earlier short film before she made it big on magazine covers — but there's his weird brother, always in the way.

"Maybe it was subconscious," she says, "but I think there was a part of me that was going: 'Oh, no, maybe people will start to analyse me; maybe they'll make judgements.' " Without realising, she was whitewashing the past — telling her own story without really telling it. At which point, luckily, she met Jane Campion, director of The Piano and In The Cut.

"She was lovely. She took me under her wing," says Down. "She watched my short films and invited me over to see her storyboards; she is just an amazingly generous filmmaker. I was telling her about The Black Balloon and she said, 'Oh, who cares what people think? Who cares?' And the way she said it — and her being Jane, I suppose — meant that at that point I said 'Yeah, who cares?' And from then on, everything was up for grabs, every feeling and thing I'd ever felt."

Rhys Wakefield, who plays Tom, then faced the challenge of playing out that inner conflict. "That was definitely one of the biggest challenges, trying to find the line between that malicious character whose experiences people couldn't share and wouldn't laugh at and, you know, becoming too soft. I wanted everyone to feel it was completely justified when I smashed the Nintendo, you know. It is a testament to Elissa, who really guided me; we worked the character out in the rehearsal process. And it seems to work in all: people laugh at the right moments and seem to be upset at the right moments."

It was extraordinary to see reactions to the film at the Berlin Film Festival, where it won a Crystal Bear for best film in the program for teenagers. That it was shown in English without subtitles and with Australian accents made no difference: Down says audiences laughed and cried in exactly the same spots as preview audiences in Australia. The funny thing, she says, is that many queried those mood swings — one moment family drama, one moment romantic comedy — when she was making the film.

"And I was just like, well, I'm going to follow it; that's all you can do," she says. "There are many moments in the film when you're laughing and then you just stop. You know there is a moment in life when you laugh, maybe because someone has fallen over and then you stop because, oh-oh, they're hurt. As people, we know how to do that. And there were things like that all the time in our family, where people were fighting and it was actually quite comical and disturbing at the same time."

Even when she was chasing Sean down the street in his underpants, she says, part of her brain could see that it would be pretty funny to anyone watching.

And so it proves. "I don't know if that is me having that director's switch even as a young kid," she says. "But there is that bit that is always watching and going 'You'll use this one day.' " Although her next film, she says, won't be about her family. "I've done that. Most people do that at the end and I did it at the beginning. I've got it out of the way."

(f) The Beat:

Lieu Pham did a profile of the film for street magazine Beat, #1105, 5th March 2008, saved to Trove here. He ended the profile with a one paragraph pitch for the film:

There's a real risk of running earnest when a film attempts to address a serious subject such as autism. Directed by Elissa Down, the Australian film The Black Balloon is a tale of growing up as an awkward teenager in the suburbs and accepting your family including your older autistic brother. The journey of the protagonist Thomas (Rhys Wakefield) follows a familiar plotline trajectory of new kid at school trying to fit in, a difficult experience exacerbated by his autistic brother Charlie (Luke Ford) embarrassing him at every opportunity.

Perhaps it is Down's own childhood experiences growing up with two autistic brothers which lends legitimacy to the script. Incidents in the film, such as Charlie running down the street in his underpants with his brother Thomas chasing after him and the shopping centre tantrum, intersect with the Director's own life. "There's a saying, write what you know," explains director Elissa Down, who admits that the film parallels much of her childhood. "I have three brothers, two of which have autism," she says. "The journey of Thomas, the main character, mirrors the emotional journey that many siblings and I went through growing up with a special needs child."

Like many other Australian films, The Black Balloon's budget was quite restrictive. Luckily for Down, she was able to recruit Academy Award-winning Toni Collette and a talented young cast of actors including model Gemma Ward. "I worked with her [Gemma] in 2001 on Pink Pyjamas," Down recounts. "She was this lanky tomboy girl who wanted to run away and go to NIDA and she was this natural actor. While I wrote this script, she got famous, bless her cotton socks! Luckily for me she was still interested in doing this film". Enticing Toni Collette to the project was simply a matter of Down sending her a script. A week later, Collette agreed to the role based only on what she had read. "We were really excited!", says Down. "She was a number one choice and she said yes and that was crazy."

Much of the film is drawn from Down's own personal experiences growing up with autistic brothers. "You love and hate them equally. You are embarrassed by them and fiercely protective of them, frustrated and delighted by them. It's an absolute rollercoaster ride," explains Down. As an army brat, Thomas has been relocated again which means moving home and trying to fit in at a new school. When Thomas' pregnant mother (played by Toni Collette) is confined to her bed, he and his dad (Erik Thomson) are left with the responsibility of looking after autistic Charlie. Through much frustration, Thomas is confronted with his own resentment towards his brother and, with the help with his girlfriend (Gemma Ward), deals with many of his repressed issues.

Set in the '90s, The Black Balloon is a nostalgic treat. Visually, the film is punctuated by stylistic references to the era. Gemma Ward's character wears overalls and Converse shoes while the family buys a Nintendo console as a treat for Charlie. Down admits it was a difficult to make Ward look daggy. "You can't make a supermodel like Gemma look bad, and she absolutely loved the denim overalls, the cutoffs, the pink Converses!"

The Black Balloon also manages to capture the vivid and bright colours of Australia. "I chose to shoot it with a lot of bright colours to capture that sense of suburbia. You know, Queensland has that bright fluoro light feel to it."

Shot over six weeks in 40-degree heat, it wasn't always pleasant. "It was tough," recalls Down. "Everyone was troopers and they buckled down." Having worked with Gemma Ward before, Down says there was a real naturalness about the whole process. "When we were rehearsing, I got Gemma Ward and Rhys Wakefield to do some wrestling so that they could get to know each other," she explains. "Rhys thought he should be gentle with Gemma, but he had no idea that Gemma has two younger brothers, and she fights to win. When we started wrestling, she did some kung fu moves on him and started charging at him. We had to bring in the person with the first aid kit as they were both covered in bruises at the end of it."

On February 15, The Black Balloon took out Berlin's Crystal Bear award. "We were rapt. There were all these films around the world, so many were good and we won. It hasn't really sunk in. When we arrived at the airport, we were told that our film which was being shown on opening night, had sold out in three minutes. "There were people sitting on the floor, at the back, on the emergency seats," says Down incredulously. "This was an audience where English was the second language, there were only subtitles but they were laughing at all the right spots. It was amazing!" The award spurred on a serious of promotional activity and Down is now doing what she calls "the meetings". 

"The meetings," she explains, "is what you do after a movie. So many people want to talk to you. There are a number of projects I want to work on but I have to promote the release of the film and there's also a lot of interest in Berlin now, You have to do that kind of stuff, chase that, do all "the meetings".

The Black Balloon is a great example of the kind of work being produced by our home-grown talent. It beautifully conveys the cultural nuances of Australia and tackles the challenging subject of autism. Furthermore, it has achieved the difficult balance of telling a story of this neurological disorder with warmth and genuineness without being tacky. Emotionally charged scenes are juxtaposed by humorous moments, making The Black Balloon accessible, appealing and funny.

(g) Mama Mia website:

Mama Mia ran a story which was only incidentally about the film, but does give some feel for the teen vibe surrounding it (Trove here). It ran on 31st March 2015, and began with the author identified as "Carla GS" (there is only one Carla identified in the film's tail credits, a Carla Gee who appeared at Thomas' school):

"I stood next to a supermodel and it’s immortalised forever on film. And I still love my body."

I was a 25-year-old actress, wearing an unflattering one-piece, and I was standing next to Australia’s most famous supermodel at the time. I was playing a 15-year-old schoolgirl, in what would become the biggest Australian film of the following year. I was the fittest and “healthiest” I had ever been in my life, and I still felt fat.

Welcome to my life in 2007, when I was a small-time actress in an Australian film called The Black Balloon. It was the year I forced myself to become super-fit and “healthy”, only to realise that it wasn’t really worth it at all.

The film was Gemma Ward’s feature film debut, and at the time, she was one of the most in-demand models in the world. I remember flicking through RUSSH magazine with her while we were on set, and she would see herself on several of the pages and talk about what it was like to walk for Hermes, or pose for Calvin Klein. She was even more beautiful in real life.

Even though I had auditioned three times to secure my role, I still had to attend a swimming test, as several of my scenes were set at the local pool. I failed the test. The truth was out that I was unfit and not at all athletic.

The director took me aside and said, in a friendly manner, “Carla, basically, you’re fucked. You need to practice your swimming, or you’re out of the film.” She honestly meant this in a nice way, and I appreciated her frankness.

I got home to find that my agent had forwarded me an email from one of the producers, which also expressed concern about my lack of athletic abilities. I really was fucked.

I set about transforming myself into the fittest person I had ever been.

I started visiting the local pool several times a week, and I swam laps. I joined a gym for the first time, and worked out constantly. I am ashamed to say that I missed several important family events, just so that I could go to the gym.

I certainly didn’t starve myself, but I did make subtle changes to my diet which always left me ever-so-slightly hungry. I remember eating carrot sticks for a snack, instead of my usual muffin. I felt hungry and desperate afterwards, and began to realise how horrible it was to be body and weight-focussed.

I exercised like crazy because I was scared to lose the opportunity of a lifetime. After a failed career in graphic design, and a dead-end job working at David Jones, I really needed this big break.

But, deep down, I was also trying to look fit and skinny because I had to stand next to a supermodel, and I knew the moment would be immortalised on film. I worried that I would be relegated to chubby gnome status for the rest of my life.

After months of training and rehearsals, I was finally standing in my rightful spot next to Gemma, laughing and preening for the camera while sucking in my gut. I was also trying SO hard to become Gemma’s best friend forever.

For the record, Gemma was awesome, interesting and smart, and she gave me the nickname “Google”, because I kept telling everyone weird facts. This was both mortifying and the best thing ever.

Almost a year later, I was invited to a special cast and crew screening at Fox Studios. As I saw myself on the big screen, I had a realisation about my body. To my surprise, in the film, I looked exactly as I always had. I didn’t look fatter or skinnier. I didn’t look particularly fit. I looked the same as I had before undertaking my over-the-top exercise regime and carrot stick thing.

I had worked out like a maniac, to keep my own insecurities at bay. The effects on my body were negligible. All I felt was hungry and tired, and I had the distinct feeling that it wasn’t worth it.

These days, I look back at the film, and I see a girl who was skinny and beautiful and didn’t realise it. My body has changed dramatically since then, as I’ve been pregnant, given birth and I breastfed my daughter. I know now that I didn’t need to suck my tummy in, back in 2007.

Since then, I’ve had a more moderate approach to exercise and diet. And, obviously, I am so proud to have had a small role in an Australian film which was significant for its portrayal of autism.

In the years since The Black Balloon, Gemma’s struggles with her weight were chronicled in the tabloids, often with cruel headlines. I realise now that I had objectified her, and used her as an excuse for my insecurities. It’s pointless to compare ourselves to others, because as my story proves, our bodies are constantly changing, and they have multiple uses, whether you are a supermodel or a normal person.

And, after all these years, I’m pretty sure that Gemma and I still have a chance of being best friends.

The magazine then couldn't resist the opportunity: "Let's take a trip through Gemma Ward's iconic magazine covers…", which rather undercut what had gone before.

7. Press Kit:

Production

Shot over 29 days in the height of the Australian summer in early 2007, The Black Balloon was the brainchild of writer/director Elissa Down. 

Inspired by her own experiences growing up in an army family with two brothers with autism, Down co-wrote the script with sometime collaborator Jimmy The Exploder (Five Guys Named Moe). Given that this was their first feature film, they wanted to secure the expertise of one of Australia’s leading and most highly regarded producers. When they rang Tristram Miall (Strictly Ballroom, Looking for Alibrandi) he was in semi retirement, standing in a paddock, tending cows. 

Says producer Tristram Miall “I was moved by the script’s warmth and humanity, and intrigued by how it made me laugh and cry.”

“I think there is something very exciting about young talented people who want to prove themselves and have a particular story that is close to them” he continued.

In 2002 the NSW Film and Television Office launched a new initiative - the Aurora Development Scheme - an intensive script workshop giving writers an opportunity to work with leading filmmakers, in honing their work and preparing their script for screen. In 2004, The Black Balloon was accepted into Aurora and the result is a loving and original look at the difficulties of growing up - especially with the constant moves required as an army child, coupled with the added elements of autism.

Set in the early 90s, The Black Balloon is a story about fitting in, discovering love and accepting your family. When Thomas (played by Rhys Wakefield) moves with his family to a new home - he has to start a new school and once again try to fit in. When his pregnant mother (Toni Collette) is forced to take things easy, he is put in charge of his autistic older brother Charlie (played by Luke Ford). With the help of his new girlfriend Jackie (Gemma Ward) Thomas faces his biggest challenge yet. 

Charlie’s unusual antics take Thomas on an emotional journey that causes his pent-up frustrations to pour out in a story that is funny, confronting and absolutely heart-warming.

The script was inspired by Down’s own family: “I got the inspiration for The Black Balloon because I have three younger brothers, two of which have autism - so growing up was very eventful, crazy, funny and sometimes very sad. I always thought it would be a powerful story to tell.”

The character of Charlie is based on Elissa’s youngest brother Sean, who not only has autism but also has ADHD and is an elective mute. “He was the bane of my existence growing up just like Charlie is to Thomas. Many elements in the film really did happen to us - I did have to chase him down the street and get him out of other people’s houses and toilets and we would have to struggle to get him to take his medicine.

“When people talk about autism they often reference Rainman - which is one aspect of autism - and my other brother is very much like that but autism covers so many different facets” she continued.

“Sean is very different and we had the added frustration of him being an elective mute. He was so naughty and so full of life and we always thought he would be a great character for a film. That coupled with growing up in an army family - always moving and having to settle into a new community and a new school, with a slightly unusual family, was solid ground for an interesting story.”

Icon’s Sally Chesher had seen Elissa’s Tropfest film, Summer Angst and upon reading the script of The Black Balloon expressed interest in the project. With Icon’s subsequent commitment to the film she became one of the executive producers.

With the script finally in place it was paramount to find exactly the right people to play the lead roles. The script was given to Toni Collette who committed to the role of Maggie immediately. 

“When I read the script I loved it - it was so beautiful and so intimately domestic and Australian” said Collette.

“The story itself is about the imbalance of focus and attention because there is a lot more my role of Maggie has to do for Charlie. However, like any good mother she ultimately loves both her kids so much that she would do anything for them.”

On the researching the part Collette added “I think that with any great script you can do as much research as you want but the essence will be in the script, and Elissa has written such a gorgeous story that a lot of it is already in there. 

“There are moments in shooting this film which are indescribable. You really engage with what is going on and I think that is what makes it real and so special” she continued.

In casting Simon, Down was looking for a solid rock - the provider for the family “Simon needed to be a military man - very masculine and very physical” she says.

Actor Erik Thomson was not daunted by the fact that the family was fairly autobiographical “if you need an insight into the world you need look no further than your director to understand what it felt like - because she has travelled that journey” he said.

“From a father’s point of view it doesn’t matter whether your child has autism or not, you are a father first and foremost - and Simon sees himself as the provider and the protector. He doesn’t really know too much about what goes on and how to handle Charlie - that is left to the mother and he is there to provide the stability and the shell around the family” says Thomson.

In preparation for the role Thomson not only spent time in an army barracks to get an understanding of the culture, but he also grew his own moustache. He also met with Down’s parents and spoke at length with Elissa’s father to better understand parenting a child with autism: “The child that is perceived as ‘normal’ often gets pushed aside. At the end of The Black Balloon Simon realises he has been marginalising Thomas, just as Thomas comes to terms with the fact that his older brother is never going to change. It is a small journey but a big shift of acceptance of the situation.”

Having worked together previously on a short film Pink Pyjamas, the role of Jackie was written by Down with Gemma Ward in mind. 

Down describes Jackie as a bit of a tomboy - “Jackie is the girl who is always taller than all the boys so she is struggling to get a boyfriend - she beats the boys at sport so she is very much the girl who boys like to have as a mate. She has had a loss in the family so she has that need for love and the family unit. She is very much a kid who stands out in her world. She and Thomas are attracted to each other because they are both people who don’t fit in.”

“Having worked with Gemma before, she was the first person cast. She is such a lovely, naturally talented and beautiful person - and when we were writing the script Jimmy and I agreed that she would be great for this role” continued Down.

Describing The Black Balloon as a truly inspirational film Ward says: “I have been involved with it from early on. Elissa sent me a copy of the script as it was being developed - I have seen it through a lot of changes.

Continues Ward: “The Black Balloon is the story of love through all the family dramas that bring you closer. It is about acceptance and dealing with change.” 

When researching for the role as Jackie, Ward turned to her father who is a doctor. “When I first read the script I asked a lot of questions and he gave me many articles to read. I also read the book The Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night-time about a boy with autism - and that gave me a good understanding of how everything is systematic in their world.”

About her character Ward says: “Jackie is funny and crazy ... she is very free - I see a lot of myself in Jackie, I was very similar to her when I was 13 or 14. She has this easy confidence about herself - she is not afraid to make fun of herself or find humour in all situations in life. She is a radiant bright light with a beautiful naivety.”

Next the search was on to find the two brothers. Casting director Nikki Barrett who was involved since development says: “When you read a script, the character that leaps out as impossible, is often the most simple to cast” Luke Ford was the second person they auditioned and within five seconds they knew they had found their Charlie.

“When I read the script I realised that this was a character that I would never be offered again - one of those beautifully mentally and physically demanding characters” says Ford. 

Initially Ford only had a general knowledge about autism - drawing reference from films like Rainman and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? - however even before he auditioned he began his research:

“I didn’t research ‘what is autism’, as it was not relevant to my character. I wanted to know more about the physical and mental elements that my character was and was not capable of - for instance the rigidness, the lack of eye contact and the lost world.”

Ford didn’t just prepare for the character mentally, but also physically by strapping his legs to develop rigidness and stiffness. “I wanted to understand the general physical side of autism. I knew that once I started working with Sean that I could start working with the personality.”

Ford spent a lot of time with Sean and over the course of the production the two became great friends. Many of the physicalities of Charlie are Sean’s attributes - the way he plays with his face, the way he reacts to things, and the energy between him and anyone else around him. 

“From Sean I learnt to communicate physically with my hands and not use eye contact” says Ford. “Spending so much time with him I was able to really see the personality and the boundaries of autism that I could use.” 

Elissa Down was amazed at the amount of research Ford had done: “Luke is such a dedicated and committed actor. Between the first audition and the call back he had done even more research and he walked in in-character. His dedication was just amazing and there were times in rehearsals and on set where I would go to call him Sean and not Charlie, he was so convincing.” 

“Sean was a beautiful boy - people would fall in love with him and his personality. Luke’s Charlie is the same - he is so naughty and cheeky and he is oblivious to the destruction he creates around him” she continued.

When it came to casting the role of sixteen year old Thomas they were looking for someone who was still boyish but who was on the verge of becoming a man. The role was a challenge to cast as the actor had to have sensitivity, be someone teenagers would admire but who parents would want to have as their son.

When Rhys Wakefield walked into the audition he embodied all of those elements. “Rhys was a beautiful surprise and in so many ways I think he is Thomas” says Down. The character of Thomas had to be sensitive and aware “he is a contradiction. He would never allow anyone to hurt his brother but he has such a deep resentment of him - so he is very conflicted.” 

Wakefield added “Thomas’ internal struggle with the hardships that come with having an older brother with autism has meant that he has bottled up his emotions over a number of years. The film follows the character as those emotions come to the surface - which happens in quite an explosive manner.”

“The Black Balloon is a metaphor for a ‘different’ childhood filled with moments of chaos, joy and sadness for what may have been,” Down continued.

To Rhys The Black Balloon is a suburban epic - “an epic struggle with adolescence and being overshadowed by a brother with autism” he says. “The script has a real raw emotional quality. It is a heart-wrenching, feel-good film.” 

Once cast, director Elissa Down took this one step further. “I thought it was very important in the rehearsal process to take it to the streets and for Thomas and Charlie and Jackie and Thomas to do some road-testing of their characters in public.” 

Rhys as Thomas had to take out Charlie and spend a whole day in public dealing with the stares and the acute awareness of people looking at you. Says Wakefield: “We went to see Aragon because Charlie was into that genre. In the movies it’s intense - dark and quiet. And Charlie was being loud - constantly moaning and groaning. And the audience reaction was insane. I kept shrinking into nothing. The audience was so young, no one understood what was going on. Then Charlie got hungry and I had to give him a lolly. We stayed until the very end of the credits, hoping the audience would have all gone, and then we snuck out.”

Adds Down: It was such an insightful process because you can feel anger brewing up inside you over people’s reactions which I think comes out of ignorance.” Their performances are a testament to the work that they did.

The road testing of characters did not end there. “You have such a finite time for rehearsals and I thought that the quickest way for Gemma and Rhys to get to know each other and to break down the whole ‘supermodel and the soap star’ was to wrestle, play twister and have dance offs” says Down. “They were dressed in tracksuits with cushions on the floor - and initially Rhys thought ‘oh, I will be quite gentle with her’ but Gemma (who has two younger brothers) went in wholeheartedly. The first aid kit came in soon after.” 

“I also set them a task to go around the other production offices at Fox and steal things - paperclips, tea bags and pens etc - which they did. They ended up trying to get away with a golf cart and got locked on an air bridge for 45 minutes and had to sweet talk their way out.” They became fast friends.

Says Ward: “I loved working with Rhys. We had so much fun - sneaking around Fox Studios and being kids together. He was so easy to get along with.”

Central to the success of the film was co-writer/director Elissa Down. Not only was it essentially her story but she brought so much knowledge, understanding and sensitivity to the project. 

Known for successfully taking on first time feature writer/directors producer Tristram Miall says “You have to work out at the outset whether the person can really deliver the vision that they articulate, and not everyone can do that, but there is no question about people like Elissa or Baz Luhrmann.”

Toni Collette said “Elissa is passionate, full of energy, focused and so much fun on set. She obviously knows her characters so well that the moment you ask her a question the world collapses in and she concentrates just on you and the what you are trying to approach. With Elissa there is no pretence. She has a bit of grit with a poetic nature, as well the vision - it is exciting to work with her.”

Rhys Wakefield agrees “Working with Elissa Down is great - she knows what she wants - essentially I am playing out her life which makes it so insightful as a story. She knows what she wants and she knows how to get it from me.”

Joining the international cast and local talent was a passionate and dedicated crew. “Six weeks is not a long time to shoot a film” said Producer Tristram Miall. “So line producer Sally Ayre-Smith and I assembled a team that mixed experience with an energy to match that of Elissa and cinematographer Denson Baker. With people like first assistant director Mark Turnbull and film editor Veronika Jenet ASE (The Piano, Rabbit Proof Fence), Elissa knew she had the support to realise her creative ambition.”

The look of the film was a very important component. Although both from Western Australia, Down and cinematographer Denson Baker ACS knew each other only by reputation. Says Down “I really wanted someone who I could collaborate with and create something a little interesting and a little different.”

When they met there was a synergy of minds “Elissa is a very passionate filmmaker and a great story teller. She is very experienced and having acted herself she knows how to work with actors” says Baker.

Keeping faithful to the script Down and Baker planned to shoot The Black Balloon as an epic suburban tale. “We wanted to use the super 35 and use the whole width of the frame, and have a frame within a frame. We also wanted to take the film outside and have some really big vistas - which we did in the scenes at the creek, the school pool and the army barracks” says Down. “We really wanted to push and make it look different.”

Says Baker “We wanted the film have the Australian summer feel to it, with lots of warmth. A tale of this nature could be portrayed as dark and gritty but we wanted it to be uplifting.”

Shot on the fringes of Western and Southern Sydney the ability of the production to secure an army house was central to the film’s success. 

“We were very fortunate to find a location that we were able to have complete access to” says Baker, “we were able to not only remove walls, but cut holes in them to create camera ports. We wanted to give the audience the feel of actually being in the house” he continued.

When production designer Nick McCallum came on board he brought years of experience to the set. “One of the first things Nick did was visit my parents” says Down, “and when he walked into the house he said ‘he got the keys to the silver cabinet’. He basically transposed my parents’ house to the set.”

McCallum’s attention to detail was extraordinary. The Mollison house was created with such care and clutter it was a treasure trove to walk into. “My dad collects dragons, my mum collects bears and one of my brothers collects Egyptology and fairies” says Down. “So basically the production design team went to town and recreated that whole world.” 

The cast were grateful to have that level of detail to rehearse in. “Being able to rehearse in a fully dressed house gave them a sense of who these people are and their space” says Down. 

The design team had the task of recreating the world of the early 1990s through the fashion of the day, the cars and the paraphernalia. Probably their greatest challenge was creating the Afloat! concert complete with hundreds of dressed extras and the trappings of a school hall concert. 

Another element central to the success of the film is the score. The score for The Black Balloon features an eclectic range of world instruments which composer Michael Yezerski then combined with a String Orchestra and electronics, to create a signature sound for the film. Michael wrote four songs for the film which were performed by some of Australia’s best vocal talents including David Campbell, Josh Pyke (who co-wrote one of the songs), Simon Day and Bert Labonte. Augie March’s Glenn Richards also performed a cover of Crowded House’s Fall at your Feet for a key moment in the film.

But ultimately the success of the film lies in its truthfulness, irreverence and its heart.

The Black Balloon is a universal story. It takes the audience on a journey with a family that may seem on the surface unusual, even dysfunctional; but in reality they cope with life with great insight, understanding, and humour.

Cast biographies

RHYS WAKEFIELD - is Thomas

At just 19 years old Rhys Wakefield has already become a household name for his role as Lucas in Channel 7’s high rating Home and Away. 

Nominated for the 2006 Best New Talent Logie Award, Rhys is a graduate of Sydney’s McDonald College School of Performing Arts where he won the Acting Scholarship.

LUKE FORD - is Charlie 

Luke Ford is one of Australia’s most promising actors Luke Ford with extensive television credits including All Saints, Stingers, McLeod’s Daughters and Headland. 

On film Luke played the lead role of Ned Burke in Kokoda and appeared in Junction Boys. Since completing his role of Charlie in The Black Balloon, Luke has been cast as the lead role of Alex in the upcoming Universal feature Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor directed by Rob Cohen and set for release in 2008.

GEMMA WARD - is Jackie

Prior to commencing her career as one of the world’s leading international models, Gemma Ward appeared in the short film Pink Pyjamas written and directed by The Black Balloon’s Elissa Down and shot in Perth in 2001. 

Since then Gemma has graced the catwalks and covers of the world’s leading magazines. At 16 years of age Gemma was the youngest model in history to appear on the cover of American Vogue and was the first model to ever appear on the cover of Teen Vogue. Her big break came when she was booked exclusively to appear in Prada’s spring 2002 runway show in Milan. In the autumn 2004 show season alone, Gemma walked down an astonishing 52 international designer catwalks. 

In addition to Gemma’s modelling success, she was featured in John Mayer’s music video Daughters and more recently made her feature debut opposite Liv Tyler in the suspense thriller The Strangers, set for release in late 2007. 

ERIK THOMSON - is Simon 

With an outstanding career in film and television, Erik Thomson has an extensive list of credits including Wildside, The Alice, Getaway and MDA, however it was for his Logie Award winning performance as Mitch Stevens on All Saints that he became one of our most recognised and admired actors. 

On film Erik received the 2004 AFI Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his outstanding role as Richard in the multi-award winning Somersault directed by Cate Shortland, and has appeared in the features Man Janson and South Pacific Pictures’ Be Very Afraid. 

In theatre Erik has appeared in over 20 productions including The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Twelve Angry Men, All My Sons and Othello.

TONI COLLETTE - is Maggie

Renowned for the range and depth of her performances, Collette first tasted international stardom following her poignant performance as the hapless ‘Muriel Heslop’ in PJ Hogan’s 1994 comic-drama Muriel’s Wedding for which she received both a Golden Globe nomination and an Australian Film Institute Award (AFI) for Best Actress. 

In subsequent years, Collette has shone in myriad feature films. She also flexed her theatrical talents by starring as ‘Queenie’ alongside Eartha Kitt in the feted Broadway production of The Wild Party, receiving a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by A Leading Actress in a Musical and the Theatre World Award for Outstanding New Performance in a Broadway Production.

In 1999 Collette garnered rave reviews and an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of a mother faced with her son’s paranormal powers in The Sixth Sense. Directed by M Night Shyamalan and co-starring Bruce Willis, The Sixth Sense was a box office phenomenon and further evidence of Collette’s remarkable ability to totally inhabit a role.

Collette also co-starred with Samuel L Jackson in the 2000 remake of Shaft and received her second AFI Award (as Best Supporting Actress) for her unvarnished turn in The Boys, directed by Rowan Woods.

Collette played opposite Hugh Grant in About a Boy for Universal Pictures, for which she was nominated for a BAFTA and starred alongside Ben Affleck in Changing Lanes for Paramount. Other feature credits include Velvet Goldmine, Emma, Cosi, Hotel Splendide, 8 1/2 Women, Lilian’s Story and Spotswood.

In 2002 Collette headed a cast that included Bryan Brown, John Goodman and Sam Neill in David Caesar’s crime caper Dirty Deeds. For her role in Stephen Daldry’s The Hours, Collette won the 2002 Boston Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress of the Year. Her moving performance in the Australian feature Japanese Story earnt Collette an AFI Award for Best Actress in 2003. 

Collette has continued to add to her growing list of diverse local and international film credits including the Universal comedy Connie and Carla, the smash hit In Her Shoes opposite Cameron Diaz and Shirley MacLaine, Like Minds, opposite fellow Australian, Richard Roxburgh, the Oscar nominated comedy Little Miss Sunshine (she earned both BAFTA and a Golden Globe nominations for her performance), The Night Listener , Dead Girl, Evening and most recently the soon to be released Hey Hey Its Esther Blueburger.

Crew biographies

ELISSA DOWN - WRITER/DIRECTOR

Born and raised in Australia, Elissa Down‘s interest in film-making reared it’s head at bedtime, when she would direct her mother’s delivery on the giant’s voice in Jack and the Beanstalk. Even Elissa’s grade two teacher labelled her a “storyteller” on her report card. All through school Elissa loved performing, writing, art and sport. Having a father in the army meant Elissa had an education across the country. 

After completing a Bachelor of Arts degree at Curtin University (Perth), Elissa’s “go-get-’em approach” racked up a substantial body of work. Both in 1999 and 2000 Elissa was nominated for Young Filmmaker of the year at the Western Australian Screen Awards. 

Her major short works comprise of a number of acclaimed films: Ladybirds, Summer Angst, The Cherry Orchard, Her Outback, The Bathers, HMAS Unicorn and Samantha Stewart, aged fourteen and Pink Pyjamas in which Gemma Ward appeared in her first on screen role.

Elissa’s films have screened at numerous festivals including Tampere, Locarno, Montecatini, San Francisco Indie, St Kilda, Brisbane, Women on Women, and Tropfest. These shorts have also screened theatrically or been broadcast nationally or overseas. 

TRISTRAM MIALL - PRODUCER

Tristram Miall is one of Australia’s most highly regarded and multi-award winning producers.

With numerous credits to his name Tristram has produced award winning documentaries Cane Toads, Bingo, Bridesmaids and Braces, Watch The Watch and Gumshoe; the television mini-series The Challenge as well as the docudrama Custody and the tele-movie Malpractice.

In 1992 Tristram Miall produced the Australian and international box office hit, Strictly Ballroom starring Paul Mercurio, Tara Morice and Barry Otto which won 8 AFI Awards (including Best Film), 3 BAFTA Awards and was also nominated for a Golden Globe.

Since then he has produced the features Billy’s Holiday and Children of the Revolution starring Judy Davis, Sam Neill and Murray F Abraham. 

In 1998 he executive produced A Little Bit of Soul starring Geoffrey Rush David Wenham and Frances O’Connor and in 2000 Tristram executive produced the multi-award winning feature Looking for Alibrandi which won the AFI Award for Best Film as well as AFI’s for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress for Pia Miranda and Greta Scacchi respectively.

DENSON BAKER ACS - DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

A graduate of the Australian Film Radio and Television School, multi award winning cinematographer, Denson Baker has numerous credits to his name.

He began his career shooting short films and in 2002 won the AFI Award for Best Cinematography in a Non Feature for the short film Jack directed by Matt Limpus.

Since then he has shot numerous features and short films including Deck Dogz directed by Steve Pasvolsky. His other credits include the documentaries The Life of Michael Hutchens, Kanyini and Naked on the Inside. 

Denson is also a highly sought after director/cinematographer for commercials and music videos having shot the videos for Diesel Live at the Vanguard, Jimmy Barnes and Mahalia Barnes and Paul Mac - as well as Groove Terminator, The Sleepy Jackson, Kisschassy and Ash Hanson.

JIMMY THE EXPLODER - WRITER

Jimmy Jack (aka Jimmy the Exploder) wrote The Black Balloon with director Elissa Down and also co-produced. 

The Perth filmmaker began his career as a writer/producer of internationally acclaimed shorts, such as HMAS Unicorn, The Bathers and Phaid. These ScreenWest funded films secured theatrical exhibition and won prizes at festivals including Dubrovnik, Winnipeg and Locarno. He was also selected by the Australian Film Commission to attend the Rotterdam Lab at Cinemart.

This is Jimmy's second feature. His debut Five Guys Named Moe (which he wrote and directed) will be released early next year.

Jimmy is currently writing his next directorial project The Zombies: Sex, Brains & Rock 'n' Roll.

VERONICA JENET ASE - EDITOR (sic, Veronika)

Academy Award nominated Veronica Jenet is one of Australia’s most respected film editors. She has numerous multi-award winning credits to her name including Ray Quint’s Bastard Boys starring Jack Thompson and Colin Friels, Love’s Brother directed by Jan Sardi and the internationally acclaimed and AFI Award winning Rabbit Proof Fence directed by Phil Noyce.

Her other credits include Jane Campion’s Holy Smoke starring Kate Winslet and Harvey Keitel and Anthony Bowman’s Paperback Hero starring Hugh Jackman and Claudia Karvan. 

In 1999 Jenet received the AFI Award for best Achievement in Editing of a Non-feature with the documentary feature Hephzibah directed by Curtis Levy.

Prior to that Jenet edited Jane Campion’s The Portrait of a Lady starring Nicole Kidman and John Malkovich and the television mini series Naked directed by Neil Armfield.

Jenet received Academy Award, BAFTA and ACE nominations for Film Editing for her work on Jane Campion’s The Piano starring Holly Hunter and Harvey Keitel. The film won the Palme D’Or at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival and 3 Oscars, as well as 2 BAFTAs and 10 AFI’s including Best Achievement in Editing for Jenet.

Prior to her work on The Piano Jenet edited both Jane Campion’s previous films An Angel at My Table which won Best Film at the 1997 Sydney Film Festival and Sweetie which was invited to compete at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival.

NICK McCALLUM - PRODUCTION DESIGNER

One of Australia’s most highly regarded production designers, Nick McCallum has an extraordinary list of credits including in television Monarch Cove, Answered By Fire, Small Claims and the miniseries The Potato Factory.

In Film he received AFI Award nominations for his production design on Jonathan Teplitzky’s Getting Square, Bill Bennett’s In a Savage Land and most recently Kokoda. His other credits include The Nugget and Clara Law’s The Goddess of 1967.

Prior to that Nick’s other credits include Travelling North, Bodyline, Razorback and Dingo.

MICHAEL YEZERSKI - COMPOSER

Multi-award-winning Michael Yezerski is fast establishing himself as one of Australia’s premier young composers. With major credits to his name and a host of industry awards, he was recently referred to by both the Australian Chamber Orchestra and if Mag as one of the “rising stars” of Australian composition. 

Michael has composed the score for two new Australian feature films, The Black Balloon and Newcastle, both set for release in 2008. He has also provided additional music for the features Kenny and Suburban Mayhem. In 2008 he will also collaborate with Richard Tognetti and Lyn Williams on The Red Tree for string orchestra and choir, working with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Gondwana Voices Children’s Choir.

Michael studied under world renowned composers Peter Sculthorpe and Ross Edwards at the University of Sydney, graduating with first class honours. Michael then graduated with distinction in audio technology from the Australian Institute of Music and completed film music studies at the prestigious AFTRS. 

Yezerski has received numerous awards including Gold Medals at the 2004 and 2006 Park City International Film Music Festivals (USA); the inaugural APRA Professional Development Award, Best Classical Artist at the 2004 MusicOz Awards (where he also received a nomination for Best World Music Artist), APRA-AGSC Australian Screen Music Awards Best Dramatic Short Film Score in 2002 and the inaugural AFTRS Critics Circle Music Prize. Michael was the leading nominee at the 2006 APRA Australian Screen Music Awards and picked up the award for Best Song Composed for the Screen.

NIKKI BARRETT - CASTING DIRECTOR

One of Australia’s leading Casting Directors Nikki Barrett has cast some of the leading film and television projects of recent times.

Most recently Barrett was the Casting Director on Baz Luhrmann’s epic Australia starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman set for release in 2008. She is also responsible for the casting of upcoming features Elise directed by James Bogle, The Eternity Man directed by Julian Temple and Daybreakers directed by the Spierig Brothers.

Prior to that Barrett cast the recently released Clubland starring Brenda Blethyn as well as the animated feature 9.99, Candy directed by Neil Armfield and the acclaimed historical feature Kokoda starring The Black Balloon’s Luke Ford. 

Prior to that her credits include Khoa Do’s debut feature Footy Legends, John Hillcoat’s The Proposition and Cate Shortland’s Somersault. 

8. Co-writer Jimmy the Exploder:

As the name suggests, Jimmy the Exploder led something of an explosive life.

This first piece, WM here, is relatively straight, concerning the scripting of the film.

Wotnews.com:

We ask Jimmy Jack a.k.a Jimmy the Exploder, the co-writer of Australian indie hit The Black Balloon, to talk about the film and what’s next for him. The Black Balloon is set in Queensland in 1992. However, local film heads know it also has strong WA connections.

Director Elissa Down spent her formative filmmaking years here, actor Gemma Ward did children’s television series and co-writer Jimmy The Exploder developed his craft in Perth. Currently, Jack is artist-in-residence at a café in Murray Lane, Perth, and this was the location for the interview. Before The Black Balloon , Jack wrote, co-produced and acted in the short HMAS Unicorn (2001) which Down directed.

He also produced the award-winning short Fade which was directed by Chris Frey. He is proud of both films. Jack and Down began writing The Black Balloon in 2001.

“The Black Balloon process and The Aurora (Script Workshop) in particular taught me how to write. Aurora was where we got hammered by all the advisors on that. It was a long, long process.” The Exploder credits the input from a whole team of people for getting the script right.

“Kelly Lefever was the script editor. We also had a creative producer (Tristram Miall) and script consultant Duncan Thompson. Duncan is very smart.

He would always talk about what scenes get into his gut rather than structure and building the dilemma. He’s magic, I think.” Surprisingly, Jack doesn’t paint the usual tale of adversity when describing the film’s genesis. “Our process was relatively hassle free.

It happened quickly – we never had any impediments whatsoever. We applied for funding and got it. So it was a smooth six years.” Then a moment of reflection.

“One every six years,” he says, “God.” At the time of the Interview the Film had already premiered at Berlin and won a Crystal Bear. Jack had also been at the recent Sydney Premiere. As he explained, “The Screening in Sydney was a little bit different because for photography reasons they wanted to hold it at Dendy Opera Quays.

Who Weekly were doing the after party. There was the Harbour Bridge and Opera House in the background for the photographs. No one was interested in anything but (actor) Gemma Ward.

It was nuts, they tried to rip her apart.” He goes on to draw a picture of him, the director and the other cast members holding off a pack of photographers, “They were screaming at her so she would look at them and they could get some sort of photo. She was brilliant. And you could tell in that situation why she was a star.

Rhys (Wakefield) the main actor in the film hated it. The other guys were feeling really uncomfortable as well. She was the one who in that circumstance said, ‘Okay guys look over here,’ It was like she was directing the photo shoot herself.” 

The Exploder does have other projects on the go.

One is a zombie rockumentary he’s working on with producer James Grandison. Titled Zombie: Sex, Brains And Rock n’ Roll , the story is about a dissatisfied Zombie who wants to improve and decides to pursue a musical career. As Jack explains, “At the start he can’t talk so he has to take speech therapy, then he has singing lessons and learns to play musical instruments.

He forms an all-zombie rock band and they struggle while they’re ascending the Rock n’ Roll ladder. They’re struggling not to eat their groupies. They don’t want to be outed.

They start looking like Andy Warhol. Their faces are falling apart but they have to wear wigs and makeup, to try and look normal. Their manager has to make excuses – No – they’re just drug addicts.” Jack’s other project is more personal.

“My dad grew up on a dairy farm in Victoria, he was one of four sons and there was a fatality, one of the sons was killed and he was meant to be taking over the farm.” The project has been gestating for some time. Jack has interviewed family members to create a fuller picture of events. “At the moment its called Archimedes Screw,” he says, “ But it’s only recently that I felt it was something I could do now – I’ve got a bit of confidence after how The Black Balloon is performing.

I think I could handle a drama of that intensity.” Jack has been researching Archimedes Screw with a series of interviews. “I’ve been doing it over the last few years- because it’s my family members and it was a pretty difficult period. I started off with my grandparents – I’d interview my grandmother at the same time every Monday night.

She wouldn’t be tell me things like, ‘In June of 1969 this happened’. She’d be giving me great stuff like, ‘I remember he sat on the bed, and he said this word to me that he’d never said before, he said Mama’. “She would say stuff with really useful specific details – the colour of the dress someone was wearing or the fabric – which as a screenwriter is really great.

Then I would interview someone like my Uncle and he was much more “this happened and this happened.” Jack admits he has more research to do. “I’ve built up over four interview subjects but I’m yet to interview the main protagonists which are my Mum and Dad. They’re a little bit more hesitant – this is a period of their lives they’re not comfortable with.

So I’ve had to go around (laughs) and get everyone else first. But I know my Mum in particular since seeing The Black Balloon is more comfortable to participate in this.” He is still debating whether or not to go with the title Archimedes Screw . “The farmer was a smart, inventive guy.

He wasn’t happy with the government issue dairy designs, so he designed himself his own herringbone dairy and people would pay him to do theirs. At one stage he devised an irrigation scheme for the farm which would work better and basically need no pumps and run water uphill with this Archimedes screw device. There’ll be a line of dialogue from someone else – he’s trying to fight gravity.

That’s the metaphor in the film. It’s a Prometheus sort of thing. I really do see it like a family epic.

A tragedy. A Greek tragedy sort of.” Finally, we just had to ask, How did the writer formerly known as Jimmy Jack come to be credited as Jimmy The Exploder? That incendiary three-part moniker has been provoking questions from all who see THE BLACK BALLOON. “I don’t want people to think it’s an intelligent choice,” he says laughing.

“If you do something ridiculous like changing your name – especially to Jimmy The Exploder – any other risks you take seem more normal.” Jimmy the Exploder is also overseeing the completion Five Guys Called Moe , a no-budget feature set in a Mr Whippy Van. So he has quite a bit on his plate, currently. However, he is clear about his goals, “My main priority now is working with James Grandison and getting ZOMBIE right.” An excerpt of this article appears in The FTI News Vol 12, Number 1, May 2008.

ABC story, take 1:

The Jimmy the Exploder story got a little darker in 2019, with Joanna Menagh's report posted on the ABC website on 1st February 2019 under the header The Black Balloon filmmaker Daniel Houghton, aka Jimmy Jack, facing jail for abusing girlfriend (ABC here):

An award-winning Australian filmmaker is facing a possible jail term over what a Perth judge described as "disgraceful" and "astonishing" conduct towards his former girlfriend and police who were called when he would not let her leave his house.

Key points:

• Daniel Houghton faced court convicted of five charges including deprivation of liberty
• He grabbed his girlfriend by her arms and threw her onto his bed during the incident
• His lawyer said he was "extremely embarrassed" about what he had done

Daniel Houghton, who also goes by the names Jimmy Jack and Jimmy the Exploder, was previously best known for his work on the 2008 Australian film The Black Balloon, which starred Toni Collette, Erik Thomson and Gemma Ward.

That same year Houghton, 39, and the film's co-writer and director, Elissa Down, took out the Australian Film Institute Award for best original screenplay, along with several prestigious international awards.

More than a decade later, Houghton found himself in the dock of WA's District Court today after being convicted of five charges including deprivation of liberty, disorderly conduct, obstructing police and breaching his bail conditions.

Stand-off at parents' house

The offences stemmed from an incident in January 2017 when, after having an argument with his then 20-year-old girlfriend, Houghton refused to let her leave his bedroom at his parents' Applecross home.

The court was told the ordeal lasted 15 to 25 minutes, during which time Houghton grabbed the woman by the arms, pushed her onto the bed, threw her bag against a wall and started pulling out his own hair.

The woman managed to text her mother who called police, and when two officers arrived at the house, Houghton became agressive towards them, demanding to know what the victim was saying and telling the police to leave the property.

He also recorded them on his phone.

At one point he sat in the middle of the driveway to stop the officers removing his partner's car, and when he repeatedly refused to calm down, he was placed in handcuffs and put in the back of a police van.

Prosecutor Gabrielle Clarke said Houghton then started to yell and kick the sides of the van before becoming what she described as "passive resistant" at the Fremantle police station.

He refused to answer questions and had to be carried by four officers into a cell.

Houghton was later released on bail with a condition he not contact the woman, but three weeks later he approached her and one of her friends at a pub in Northbridge.

Houghton was 'out of control', judge says

Defence lawyer Wendy Hughes said Houghton was "extremely embarrassed and ashamed" about what he had done, and had since sought psychological counselling which he was continuing, along with completing an anger management course.

She said Houghton had been working in the United States, but his convictions meant it could be unlikely he would get a visa to return to the country.

Houghton also won a Crystal Bear award at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2008.

Judge Ronald Birmingham said the recording Houghton made of what happened with the police "showed a person well and truly out of control".

"I was amazed at the patience showed by the police officers, given his behaviour at the time and the way he spoke to them. They went above and beyond the call of duty," he said.

"For him to be tasered would not have been remarkable. The police officers really were quite exceptional."

Judge Birmingham described Houghton's conduct as unacceptable, saying he was "a 40-year-old man going out with a 20-year-old woman [who] behaved disgracefully".

"He's had considerable success in life with Black Balloon, it's deserving of credit … but to behave as he did with that background is astonishing," he said.

Houghton wiped away tears as Judge Birmingham told him that the "default position" would usually be an immediate term of imprisonment, but he said there were factors which he had to consider before determining whether the term could be suspended.

Houghton was released on bail and will be sentenced at the end of next month.

Posted 1 Feb 2019

The West Australian:

The West Australian also ran with a report by Elle Farcic, posted on 1st February 2019,  under the header Perth filmmaker ‘Jimmy the Exploder’ facing jail time over ‘disgraceful’ rampage (here, paywall affected):

Perth screenwriter Daniel Houghton – also known as Jimmy the Exploder — has been warned he is facing possible jail time over a “disgraceful” incident involving his former partner.

Houghton, 39, refused to let his then partner leave his parent’s Applecross home in January 2017 after they got into an argument over text messages.

After blocking in the 21-year-old’s car, Houghton yelled at the woman in a bedroom, pulled out his hair, threw things against the wall, grabbed the victim by the arms and pushed her around the room.

The woman contacted her mother by phone and asked her to call police, but when officers arrived Houghton’s rampage continued.

He sat behind his partner’s car so the officers could not drive it away and recorded himself on his iPhone as he behaved aggressively towards the police.

Houghton’s belligerent behaviour continued when he was put in the back of a police van. When he was driven to Fremantle police station, four officers had to carry him inside.

Filmmaker Daniel Houghton (Jimmy Jack) covers his face after a previous court appearance. Credit: The West Australian, Sharon Smith.

The filmmaker was found guilty of deprivation of liberty after a trial in September and he pleaded guilty to aggravated unlawful assault, obstructing a public officer, disorderly conduct and two counts of breaching protective bail conditions.

During a sentencing hearing in the District Court this morning, defence lawyer Wendy Hughes said Houghton’s loss of control had caused him great embarrassment.

She told the court Houghton had taken part in an anger management course and was seeing a clinical psychologist to address his behaviour.

Ms Hughes said she had told Houghton to prepare himself for the fact that he may not be able to get visas to work overseas in the future.

Houghton breached his bail in February 2017, when he approached the victim and touched her at a Northbridge venue then sent her friend a text message that was meant for her.

District Court Judge Ronald Birmingham said Houghton had considerable success in his life but had “behaved disgracefully” towards a woman who was almost half his age.

“That he behaved in the way that he did against that background is astonishing,” he said.

Judge Birmingham described the actions of the police who arrested Houghton as “exceptional”, saying they went “above and beyond the call the duty”.

“I was amazed at the patience shown by the police officers given his behaviour at the time,” he said.

Judge Birmingham adjourned the sentencing until later this month, warning Houghton he should be in no doubt that he was facing possible jail time.

He told the court anything other than a jail term would be exceptional but said it was something he would consider.

Houghton also goes by the nom de plume Jimmy Jack.

He is best known for his work on the award-winning 2008 film The Black Balloon, which starred Aussie actors Rhys Wakefield, Luke Ford, Toni Collette, Erik Thomson and Gemma Ward.

ABC story, take II:

Joanna Menagh returned to the story on 29th March, 2019, updated the same day, posted to the ABC website under the header Filmmaker Daniel Houghton receives 18-month suspended jail sentence for abusing girlfriend (here):

An award-winning Australian filmmaker has avoided being sent to jail for what was described as the "terrifying" and "deplorable" treatment of his former girlfriend and the two police officers who were called to help her.

Key points:

• Daniel Houghton, AKA Jimmy the Exploder, received an 18-month suspended jail sentence
• Houghton was previously best known for his work on the 2008 film "The Black Balloon"
• Houghton was fined $5,000, with his former girlfriend to receive $3,500 as compensation

Daniel Houghton, who also goes by the names Jimmy Jack and Jimmy the Exploder, was convicted of a string of charges including deprivation of liberty, obstructing police and disorderly conduct arising from an incident at his family's home in the Perth suburb of Applecross in January 2017.

Houghton, who was previously best known for his work on the 2008 film The Black Balloon, had detained his then-21-year-old girlfriend against her will after they argued about him receiving text messages from other women.

The District Court was told that over a period of about 15 to 25 minutes Houghton refused to let the woman leave his bedroom and he grabbed her arms, pushed her onto a bed, threw her bag against a wall and started pulling out his own hair.

The judge accepted that Houghton had taken steps to rehabilitate himself.

The woman managed to send a text to her mother, who called police, and when they arrived, Houghton became aggressive towards them, demanding to know what the victim was saying and telling the officers to leave the property.

He then started recording events on his phone and at one point sat in the middle of the driveway to stop the officers removing the woman's car.

When he repeatedly refused to calm down, he was handcuffed and put in the back of a police van.

'Frightening' behaviour compared to temper tantrum

Houghton also admitted breaching the conditions of his bail not to contact the woman, with the court hearing three weeks later he approached her and one of her friends at a Northbridge hotel.

Judge Ronald Birmingham said Houghton had violently and forcefully detained a vulnerable young woman who must have been terrified by his "frightening and irrational" behaviour.

Houghton, who was previously best known for his work on the 2008 film The Black Balloon.

The judge praised the two police officers who attended the incident, saying he was in admiration of the patience they showed in the face of Houghton's abuse.

"Each of the officers displayed commendable restraint in the face of what was the most unpleasant abuse," he said.

He also described Houghton's Jimmy the Exploder nickname as "appropriate", comparing his behaviour to a temper tantrum.

Houghton took steps to rehabilitate, judge says

But Judge Birmingham accepted that since being convicted, Houghton had taken steps to rehabilitate himself, including receiving counselling for anger management and alcohol issues.

Houghton also wrote a letter of apology to the police officers and Judge Birmingham accepted that he was ashamed of what he had done.

He described Houghton as "a very capable and successful person", noting that he had won an award and received much acclaim for his work on The Black Balloon, which starred Toni Collette, Erik Thomson and Gemma Ward.

Judge Birmingham sentenced Houghton to 18 months in jail, but ordered that the term be suspended.

He also fined him a total of $5,000 of which $3,500 will be paid to his former girlfriend as compensation.

Houghton is now subject to lifetime violence restraining order preventing him from contacting the woman in any way.

Posted 29 Mar 2019, updated 29 Mar 2019

7 News:

Seven News also reported on the outcome on 29th March 2019 under the header WA filmmaker 'Jimmy the Exploder' avoids jail after violent rampage (here):

An award-winning Australian filmmaker who had a violent "temper tantrum" towards his model ex-girlfriend, then became aggressive towards Perth police, has been spared an immediate prison sentence.

Daniel Houghton, also known as Jimmy The Exploder or Jimmy Jack, was convicted of offences including deprivation of liberty, aggravated common assault, obstructing police and disorderly behaviour stemming from an incident at an Applecross home in January 2017.

The Black Balloon filmmaker, then aged 39, detained his 21-year-old girlfriend after they argued about him receiving text messages from other women, the West Australian District Court heard on Friday.

He refused to let the woman leave for about 20 minutes and during his "temper tantrum" grabbed her arms, repeatedly pushed her, threw her bag against a wall and pulled out his own hair.

"Quite naturally, (she) was frightened by your behaviour," Judge Ronald Birmingham said.

"She was crying and told you she wanted to leave, that she didn't feel safe."

The woman managed to send a text message to her mother, telling her Houghton was "banging on the walls and pushing" her.

Her mother called police but Houghton was aggressive towards the officers and told them to leave.

He then started recording on his phone and sat in the middle of the driveway to stop the officers removing the victim's car before he was finally arrested.

Judge Birmingham said Houghton's nickname Jimmy The Exploder was "appropriate in the circumstances".

"It was a violent, forcible detention of a vulnerable young girl who was terrified by your conduct towards her," he said.

Judge Birmingham said he admired the patience of the police officers.

"Each of the officers ... displayed commendable restraint in the face of what was most unpleasant abuse," he said.

He also noted Houghton had since apologised to the police officers and was ashamed.

"You do not only regret your actions but regret the extent to which you hurt the complainant by your actions," he said.

Houghton was sentenced to 18 months in prison, wholly suspended, and fined including an order that he pay $3500 to his ex-girlfriend.

Encore Magazine:

Before all that, there was this 2010 saga in local trade paper Encore Magazine, with assorted comments attached (Trove here):

Dispute over Webfest finalist project

Writer/producer Jimmy Jack (The Black Balloon) has published an open letter about an ongoing copyright dispute with the other creators of the Movie Extra Webfest-nominated project Henry & Aaron’s Web Series.

In response, Henry Ingliss has told Encore that, along with co-creator Aaron McCann, he has taken “considerable steps to address Jimmy Jacks’ claims and ensure they can make the warranty they hold all rights”.

According to Jimmy Jack, he remains a producer in the project Catching Up! With Henry & Aaron, on which he worked with Ingliss and McCann last year. A “disagreement between the parties” made them withdraw it from ScreenWest’s T-Vis scheme. In his words, “the copyright in the project remains unsolved”, and the project “cannot be considered before this dispute is settled”.

In the letter, Jimmy Jack requested Henry & Aaron’s Web Series to be withdrawn from the competition. On Wednesday, Encore reproduced the letter in its entirety; it can still be found on Jimmy Jack’s blog.

In response, Ingliss said that “they take these matters very seriously”.

“It is a condition of entry that all Movie Extra Webfest entrants are the sole owner(s) of their projects as per the Terms & Conditions  [...] We have discussed with Jimmy Jack to try to resolve his concerns and we have sought detailed legal advice.

“This is clearly very concerning to us as we have spent a lot of time trying to resolve it and Jimmy Jack’s ongoing public comments do consume a lot of our time, resources and energy. Quite probably, it does affect the perceptions of us and the show, which we think is unwarranted given both the facts and what we’ve tried to do about it, but is most likely exactly what Jimmy Jack hopes for,” said Ingliss.

Encore has contacted Jimmy Jack for further comment, and he responded: “I stand by every word of my letter”. We also asked Ingliss and McCann to provide further details about this dispute, but we were told “we aren’t sure Encore is the right place for us to air all the details”.

November 17th, 2010 at 1:32 pm

Comments

Aaron McCann

17 Nov 10


As the “creative” involved in this “dispute” i can say right now that the above letter from Mr. Jack is a fabrication concocted by himself in a desperate attempt to gain further press and notoriety. I would be happy to clear up this dispute publically as Mr. Jack already knows our stance on this matter, but refuses to understand simple logic or even read legal copy. 
We have always and will always own the chain of title and all intellectual property rights to the series, and always have. Mr. Jack is simply a disgruntled former employee making outrageous claims just as he did whilst “writing” The Black Balloon. 
Mr. Jack over the years has become a serial pest and his continued annoyance on this subject is just a desperate plight for attention. There are, to date, a variety of legal cases against the man in question, which I’m sure further fact checking will surface. 
If a full legal rebuttal is required with full legal documentation proving, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Mr. Jack has NO CLAIM to make, I will gladly provide these to Encore if asked directly. 
Mr. Jack’s outlandish claims only soil his already shattered public reputation as on more then one occasion he has been told DIRECTLY that he has NO claim to title, but persists to be an annoyance to up the hits on his blog.
 - Aaron McCann


Maziar Lahooti


17 Nov 10


I know both parties involved here really well. And can say for a fact that there is no copyright dispute. It has been handled legally and Henry and Aaron have repeatedly had to provide said legal documents over and over.
 Henry and Aaron are hard working independent perth film makers who are giving everything they got to try and get this TV show off the ground. 
I find it disgusting that someone I used to respect would sink this low and try actively claim creative claim over work he has never had anything to do with other then a failed funding round he was brought in at the last minute for.
 This work belongs to Henry and Aaron and these repeated attempts to claim any kind of ownership over their work is something akin to plagiarism in my book. 
Encore, you should be deeply ashamed for posting this without doing any kind of basic fact checking. It’s hard enough being an independent film maker as it is without people getting in your way purely because they don’t like you and want to bully themselves into a credit on someone else’s work. 
Truly, disgusting.



Maziar Lahooti


17 Nov 10


I would also like to add. The webseries being pitched here for movie extra webfest. Did not exist in any way shape or form at all. Not even an outline of it existed at the time Jimmy claims. All that existed then was an episode of Henry and Aaron called “The Yarrissing”
http://www.funnyordie.com/vide.....-yarissing
Which was written and shot and pretty much edited before Jimmy even re entered the Perth scene.
Again. There is no regret in anything Jimmy is doing. He is having fun. He is enjoying actively trying to prevent people with talent getting an opportunity.
It’s a real shame Jimmy. Gonna be awkward next time I see ya.


Miguel


17 Nov 10


Maziar, the fact is that the open letter has been published. As for Henry and Aaron, they’ve been contacted for comment. What’s there to be ashamed of? We are reporting on what someone has said publicly, and willing to report what the other side has to say!


maziar lahooti


17 Nov 10


What is there to be ashamed of? Just by posting this without checking the facts first you jeopardize Henry And Aaron’s place in the competition. It’s like accusing someone of rape before a wedding without doing ANY kind of research as to if the claims are founded or not. Which if you had done, you would know that they HAVE been resolved, time and time again.
 This article serves one purpose. Two actually. Attention for Jimmy. And jeopardizing two young film makers potential career making opportunity.
 All legal documents already exist as Aaron has stated and if you wanted them all you had to do was contact him before you posted this.
 Do not even pretend to try and get any kind of moral high ground on this.
 Again, Sad and pathetic.


maziar lahooti


17 Nov 10


In journalism, one tends to try and get both sides of the story before posting the article. In a gossip mag however, what you have done would be perfectly acceptable and reasonable.


jim


17 Nov 10


This isn’t the same Jimmy Jack who told old Mister Schembri to get F$%Ked at the AFI awards a few years back is it? Poor old Jimmy, the old sting in the tail, seems to keep biting that poor fella..Maziar…I think you might need a xanax or two..maybe three…the rape analogy was pretty thin…I think you’ve been watching too much of The Office..or not enough, I’m not sure, but the xanax shoud work a treat.


Aaron McCann


17 Nov 10


I am the Aaron of the Henry & Aaron in question and have YET to receive any form of contact from Encore over this matter.
 In my last response before I am shut down through legality. I am not ashamed of making this show. Nor the content in it. I have said what i had to say. My email has been attached to this post and any and all responses will be dealt with on legal terms.
 I only feel pity and sadness towards Mr. Jack for his claims.
 Miguel I have not personally been contacted…. I have checked all my emails today and have yet to receive anything from Encore…. even in my junk mail. If you would like to contact me I can put you through to both myself and Henry Inglis, our publicist and our lawyer for further comment on this matter which is quickly becoming more of an annoyance than we would like.
 we appreciate that everyone has the right to report what is stated, though I feel that too quicky people will report without the full facts. I am not angry at this post, it just highlights the errors there within.
please feel free to contact me, although legally we are at a stand-still with Mr. jack and further comments will only add fuel to the fire. 
Maziar, I do appreciate the defense, as a filmmaker I admire and respect your words defiantly heard on my part though the above “open letter” will be dealt with legally through due process.


Brett Cullen


17 Nov 10


Dear Encore,


Regrettably I write to inform you of an on-going legal dispute between myself and Mr. The Exploder regarding copyright and ownership of the open letter published on this very page. 
I have repeatedly and on an on-going basis pursed the matter with Mr. The Exploder and yet he continues to claim ownership of the open letter, ignoring my substantial and wise legal counsel. The lack of communication between myself and the parties of Mr The Exploder indicates a lack of personal responsibility or perhaps a blatant disregard for my intellectual property. Or even perhaps that we have never, in fact met. 
Clearly this open letter is not his work and I would suggest you check your facts before continuing to publicise this outrageous and obviously false claim.
 To expand, I was very probably in the same city at the time said open letter was written and have made it very clear that this positions me as complete and total copyright owner regardless of any other input from Mr The Exploder. To give further evidence, I also own a keyboard and, on occasion and in front of witnesses, explode [this is the subject of a concurrent ongoing legal battle with Mr The Exploder]. The evidence is irrefutable and I challenge the public to say otherwise. 
Encore you should be deeply ashamed you didn’t spend any time fact checking at all. If you had this very public and vicious dispute might have revealed itself to you, avoiding you dissapointment, public ridicule and no doubt journalistic impotency. 
I’m in no mood for your shennanigins Encore, I’m a very important man with very important things to do. Also I have a blog. 
I suggest you forward this letter to everyone you know in a desperate attempt to gain back the credibility you once had and make it clear that chain-of-title of this open letter is in ongoing dispute. 
SIncerely,
 Brett The Original Exploder Cullen


jim


17 Nov 10


I suggest all interested parties, combustible and non combustible (Jimmy the Exploder? I mean seriously) switch to self implode. Encore, when you pull yourself out of the deep deep shame you must all feel, maybe hit Mr Lahooti up for some of his Xanax. Dudes, welcome to the biz! Soak it up and learn to love it.


Miguel


17 Nov 10


Aaron, we sent a message to the contact email available at 
http://www.henryandaaron.com/
Please advise if you didn’t receive the message around 3pm on 17/11/2010.


Maziar Lahooti


17 Nov 10


I see you hit a winner with the Xanax line, Jim. Happy to comply to all interest parties.
-Maz


P.S
 Make sure you write that down Jim. Could come in handy when you run out of ad hominem arguments next.


maziar lahooti


17 Nov 10


And Miguel. Mate. 3 pm is still two hours after the article was posted. Kind of late to be doing fact checking AFTER you publish something don’t you think?
 Anyways. I’ve been told to not comment anymore so I’m done.
 - Maz


Jim


23 Nov 10


Like I said Maziar….soak it up!!


Perth Now:

And for good measure there was this story in Perth Now, published 18th March 2010, updated 23rd March 2010, in Trove here under the header Justin Burford and Jimmy Jack 'bitter enemies':

END OF FASHION: Frontman Justin Burford

A war of words has been unleashed between Perth music group End of Fashion's frontman Justin Burford and co-writer of The Black Balloon - Jimmy Jack.

Jack posted a blog entitled “Obituary for End of Fashion”.  In it he states that Burford: “was even thinking of giving performing up entirely. Maybe getting into music management. It could be for the best because Burford is as short in the talent department as he is in stature.”


It has been reported that Burford confronted the screenwriter cum man-about-town after the blog was posted this week.


Burford went one step further however, contacting all of his and Jack’s mutual friends on social networking site Facebook.  In his email he said:
 “I implore you to wash yourself clean of this (Jimmy Jack) man. Sever all ties and associations with him immediately. Give yourselves and your community the respect you deserve. Believe me, this is not an association you want to keep. He will stain you too."

The saga continues…

9. Study Guide:

The saga did indeed continue, but it's time that the few remaining film students who survived ancient gossip to reach this point must now revert to studying the film ... with  the film's study guide, which could at time of writing be found in pdf form by googling, but is presented here in page format, click on to enlarge: