StalkHer

“It's a very hard film to put your finger on in a genre kind of way. We're calling this an inappropriate romantic thriller, but it's a comedy, it's a who-done-it, it's a psychodrama...” Jarratt pauses, as he tries to find the way to best describe StalkHer. “It is those clashes that happen in a small space. When people are warring against each other in a house. There are a lot of levels going on.” 

“Passion is complicated,” adds Fairfax. “It says the battle of the sexes is always there and always will be.”

This new Australian film about a stalker that falls prey to someone he didn't quiet suspect, forced both actors had to plumb some deep, dark territory of the human psyche. “I don't think for either of us it is difficult,” says Fairfax. “We haven't had simple 'tripping along the Yellow Brick Road' lives for either of us. We've both been to the dark side, and it was quiet nice to explore that in a safe environment.”

For Jarratt, best known of late for Wolf Creek, this is familiar ground. “Actors love playing complex, nihilistic, negative, nasty bastards, because there are so many levels,” he says. “Playing someone who has their act together, is a great husband, and a good father – you would just go to sleep watching a movie like that. Movies are about conflict, that's why violence works on film, as Tarantino often says. We made an interesting film. That's what keeps them entertained.” 

That meant that his character spent a lot of the film tied to a chair. “That was hard. To be so verbose all the time, there was a lot going on. Couldn't move towards her, couldn't move back. Just stuck in the one place, with my face doing all the work. It was a great challenge. Of course, it's very hard to get to a monitor tied to a chair. Probably the worst choice for a directorial debut.”

Just because it is his first time credited, doesn't mean Jarratt didn't have a lot of experience to fall back on. “It wasn't the first time I've sat in the director's chair. Over the years 50% of the directors I've worked with couldn't direct a duck to water if it was dying of thirst. So it's nothing new, I knew what to do. I've been working with directors for 41 years.” As for what he prefers -  acting, directing, producing, or writing - well, the answer is fairly straight forward. “I love acting, you can shove all the other stuff.”

Originally published by X-Press Magazine