Now Add Honey is the new feature from Robyn Butler and Wayne Hope who form Gristmill Productions. The creative duo shed some light on their inspiration for the movie, the writing process, juggling projects and the important take home message for audiences.
Where did inspiration for Now Add Honey come from?
Robyn: I first started thinking about this film as I approached middle age. I was taken aback by the constant conversation - everywhere - about how not to ever look like you’re actually ageing; apparently, if you did, everything was over.
As this was happening to me, meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Britney Spears was having her very public meltdown. As a mother - and as a woman - I was horrified that a girl could be so catastrophically falling off the rails, but when you consider that “the rails” was a childhood career based on a series of sexually exploitative music videos, it actually wasn’t that surprising. I began to think about the absurd correlation between the extreme desire to sexualise girls and the extreme desire to tell women they could no longer be sexual. That thought turned into a movie, in which a middle-aged woman came to be sharing a house with a Hollywood starlet.
Did the script change during filming once you had the full comedic cast on-board?
Wayne: No. I thought Robyn wrote a cracking script with characters that were very well drawn and the making part didn’t need to be a writing part… thank god. I think the actors we cast, many of whom have exceptional comic skills, felt this as well and strived to realise what was on the page. Having said that, what happens when we get someone who we think genuinely has ‘funny bones’ is that the material elevates. I may have read a good line a hundred times but when Angus Sampson says it for the first time, he will imbue it with something so surprising that instantly adds to the script. This was true for many of the cast, who were a really smart, funny and sensitive bunch.
How difficult is it to deliver lines you’ve written – is it something you’re comfortable with now or can it still be a daunting experience?
Robyn: It’s actually much easier, I think to deliver my own lines; I know exactly what the writer intended! The important part is to make sure I render them with as much humour or pathos as I imagined. Wayne is very good at eliciting more from me if needed, because he knows exactly what I’m capable of - and what I’m trying to say in the script.
From Now Add Honey to Upper Middle Bogan and Little Lunch, Gristmill Productions creates such a diverse range of content for a wide range of audiences – how do you go about moving from project to project?
Wayne: The thing Robyn and I work on the most is tone. I find with comic material I can work quite freely if I am confident with the tone. When the three thousand questions a day start at the beginning of production I find I can answer most of them based on what the tone of the show is - which Robyn and have spent months/years talking about. The questions I can’t answer I just say ‘I’ll get back to you’ and then try not to sit next them at lunch for the rest of the shoot.
What do you hope will be the take home messages/feeling for audiences who see Now Add Honey?
Robyn: As well as being funny, the movie is uplifting and optimistic; we really want to leave an audience feeling the impact of that intent, which we have achieved very much in our early screenings. I overheard a woman walking out of the cinema at a CinefestOZ screening last week, saying, ‘I feel better now’. If everyone walks out feeling better than when they walk in, then our work here is done!
Now Add Honey was part of the 2015 AACTA Official Screenings program, which ran from 14 September – 8 October.
Watch the official Now Add Honey trailer.