The stars of Tomorrow When The War Began swapped Molotov cocktails for alcoholic ones when they celebrated the Queensland premiere of the film at Jupiters Hotel and Casino tonight. Writer/director Stuart Beattie walked the red carpet along with producers Andrew Mason and Michael Boughen, and stars Caitlin Stasey, Lincoln Lewis, Phoebe Tonkin and Andy Ryan, who play guerrilla soldiers in the film. The glitzy premiere launched the start of the Australian International Movie Convention, which is being held at the casino this week.
Beattie said it held special significance to him to hold the premiere at the convention. “It’s great to be back here again, because this is where I first announced that we would making the film last year,” he said. “It’s a real honour to be able to adapt these books and I was grateful for John (Marsden) trusting me with this.” Despite having penned blockbusters such as the Pirates Of The Caribbean trilogy and G.I Joe: Rise Of The Cobra, this is the directorial debut for Beattie.
The film is based on the best-selling series of novels from John Marsden, which follow a group of teenagers who decide to become guerilla soldiers when Australian is invaded. Lincoln Lewis, son of rugby league great Wally Lewis, plays one of the film’s protagonists and said it was `awesome’ to have a premiere in his home state. “I’m so happy to have the premiere not just in Queensland, but on the Goldy where I grew up,” he said. “I’m pretty nervous actually. I was very lucky to be cast in this, I was happy to just audition for it. But all of the reviews we have been getting so far have been really positive.” Lewis said he would be interested in appearing in the film’s sequels, but it would depend on `box office results and audience reaction’.
Former Neighbours actress Caitlin Stasey plays the film’s heroine Ellie Linton and said it was `incredible’ as there are rarely opportunities to play a female action hero. "Every girl wants to feel they can amount to someone of this calibre,” she said. “Most of the action movies are for males, so it’s great to play Ellie and prove that you don’t have to be a romantic heroine to be a heroine.”
More than 1000 people packed Jupiters Theatre to watch the movie, which was introduced by Beattie and the cast and crew. Last week the Hollywood Stock Exchange – an artificial money market which allows punters to trade ‘movie stocks’ and ‘star bonds’ using imaginary dollars, tipped Tomorrow When The War Began as one of the five Australian films likely to gross more than $US20 million each at the US box office.
The film itself was, I'm glad to say, truly fantastic. My full review is coming tomorrow sometime and I'm interviewing Tonkin, Lewis and Beattie in the morning so stay posted for that. Besides speaking to them on the red carpet, I chatted with the cast at the after party tonight and everyone, seriously everyone, is lovely and sincerely passionate about what they are putting out.
Speaking of passionate, you may remember at the start of this year I did and extensive interview with the Spierig Brothers, Peter and Michael. As a massive fan of their work, I saw one of them at the after party tonight (I have no idea which one) and totally made a fool of myself by doing the gushing fan thing. He remembered me, but by then it was too late as I had already exploded into a ball of geekiness and had to apologise and excuse myself. He thought it was funny. Me? Mortifying. AND when I went to leave, who should I get stuck in the elevator with? Both of the bloody Spierig Brothers! I said "I'm sorry for before, I will try to gush from a distance this time" and they laughed. But instead of taking the opportunity to ask about Dark Crystal, what did we talk about? Shoes. And the colour purple. Please excuse me now while I get the shotgun and take myself out the back.