AN INTERVIEW WITH HARRISON GILBERTSON
April 18th 2010 18:24
Held Tuesday 6th April 2010 at Intercontinental Hotel, Sydney
Harrison Gilbertson as Frank Tiffin, in Beneath Hill 60
PREAMBLE BEFORE THE INTERVIEW
On the way to the screening....
The day started okay, but rain prevented me from walking all the way in, to view the last screening of Beneath Hill 60. So I grabbed a cab, and chatted animatedly with the charming African Australian gentleman driver, as we proceeded to Paramount’s theatrette.
Minutes early, I had time to get a small carrot cake and a cappuccino from the cafe next door. Then, rushing to Paramount, I spilled some of cappuccino on my lovely brogue leather shoes, and jacket, things weren't going well.
Settled in my seat, I calmed down and readied myself; note pad, pen, bottle of water, cake, cappuccino...
As I contemplated my shoes and jacket, certain ‘personalities’ entered the theatrette. I refuse to call them ‘stars’, what nonsense! Stars are actors, who appear in lead and support roles in successful films, who have basked in the sunshine of critical and public admiration of their talents. No one I had to suffer listening to that morning, before the film started, fitted that description.
Yet they swaggered in, brayed and bayed for attention, as if they were the ultimate doyens of theatrical society. No, I am not referring to anyone to do with the film I’m reviewing, but peripheral players in the entertainment industry, stupefied by their overblown self-esteem, while being underinflated with talent. Yet, they get high paid gigs on TV and radio.
A thought then occurred to me; I might be secretly jealous. Underneath my subliminal seething and sneering, there was a craven fool lusting for the life they have; being paid lots of money for doing very little, apart from cracking a few jokes and being ‘blokey’.
That annoyed me.
However, because of this inflicted brooding mood, I was immensely relieved when the opening credits began and the loudmouthed ‘un-intelligentsia’, had to shut their moron maws!
The film begins...
My mood was quickly assuaged by the look of the film opening before me, and gradually, as we began exploring the trenches, tunnels and atmosphere of the Western Front, memories of my childhood came flooding back, dormant for 46 years or so; memories of when I played in my grandfather’s garden, wearing his Captain’s hat, his helmet, or his slouch hat, his weather proof rubberised cape, which also served as a ground sheet, his water bottle and his gas mask. My grandfather served at the Western Front, in the Battle of the Somme, among others, and he was awarded the Military Cross.
So, by this revelation, I declare my personal (and favourable) prejudice, towards the film.
The props in this film started the memory flashes, like salvoes detonating my concentration, and they wouldn’t stop. The designers had done a masterful job. My review of this film was generally favourable, mainly because of the skill of the Production Design, by Clayton Jauncey, and the Costume Design, by Ian Sparke, and the other technical effects, which enriched the look of this film, raising it to an international standard.
I had my reservations about the script, which failed to engage me with the plight of individual characters, saving for a couple of them, whose contribution, although drawing more empathy from me than that of other characters, were still under-drawn in their inter-relationships, in the context of living through the hell we know as, the Western Front.
One of those actors, Harrison Gilbertson, I interviewed.
Harrison Gilbetson played the character Frank Tiffin; in the original script he is identified as being 19 years of age, Gilbertson is actually only 16. As there is no overt reference to his age, (that I remember) it was not a distraction and actually worked well, because many enlisters lied about their age, (as did my father in WW2), to get into the fight for freedom, for King and country, just not our country!
When Gilbertson walked into the room, where I waited to interview him, I was immediately amazed by how much younger he looked, compared to the Tiffin character he played in the film.
THE INTERVIEW
[Note: Some of the questions and answers have had to be edited, for clarification purposes. Some of these clarifications appear in brackets. I have ensured that all alterations have not changed the intent and meaning of the questions and answers.]
Q:
I read you stated that the role you played in “Blessed” (Edit Note: “Blessed”; Aust. film, 2009 release, Gilbertson appeared in) affected you deeply. In “Beneath Hill 60”, you played Frank Tiffin, who is sent straight to the Western Front, how did this role affect you?
HG:
“It’s something you kind of think about, you know, while learning about the war. What would it be like to be in the war, how s**t that would be. It was a real emotional experience as well. It was a big learning curve too, working in a confined space, normally on a set you can say, ‘look, it’s not working’ I need to walk away (Edit Note: take a break), but you’ve got twenty crew that have to stay there, (Edit Note: when in the tunnel) and they can’t take a break, so you stay there and deal with it. Emotionally, just thinking that kind of stuff happens...” (Edit Note: about what the miners went through in the war).
Q:
So how did you prepare for your role of Tiffin, did you read up about the actual character?
HG:
“Tiffin was eighteen in the script.”
Q:
Was he an actual person or was he an amalgamation?
HG:
“He was real but the character story is a little bit, umm, I think all of the stories, I mean not everyone had a diary, I don’t think. There was a young guy Tiffin who made Woodward the box.”
Edit Note: the small box was a gift Tiffin gave Woodward. Tiffin, a miner, wanted to be a carpenter, like his dad)
HG:
“So I think they (Edit Note: presume Hartley-Sims & Roach) created the character around that. When I read the script, I thought I’d probably be too young for it, (Edit Note: Gilbertson was 15 years old when the film was shot) because Tiffin is 19, (presume: in early script draft) but (when) I went in (Edit Note: for audition) I said, I’d do the character as a 16 year old, and I think that’s the character I’ve kind of got, a sixteen year old, then me and Jeremy work-shopped the audition, and so we went from there, which was really cool.“
Q:
You’re a young actor, you’ve got a big career ahead of you; what techniques do you use to get into the nature of the character?
HG:
“Umm, from my own experiences. There are obviously some actors who are method or have a process of how to do it, every actor I’ve worked with has been different in what they do, so, I like to be myself, while I’m filming. I like to remain myself, but I also do a lot of, what I call ‘quiet working’, you know, where I’m lying in bed, or I’m on the set, and I’ve got down time, I just sort of mull over what I’m doing the next day, and what scene I’m about to do, and where I’m at and where I’ve come from, where I’m going, the relationship with other characters.”
Q:
Yes, it’s important for your character, as there wasn’t a lot of dialogue, which people might think is easy, but it’s not, it’s actually a lot harder. So, how did you approach that, the subtle emotional expressions? Did you practise that, or did you just feel it?
HG:
“Feel it. When he (Edit Note: Tiffin) is giving the box over for instance, he is embarrassed he has made the box, but he is also very proud he made the box, so there is all of this stuff you can be thinking about, and I think there is also an element of where, sometimes you find yourself in a scene and you’re actually thinking, ‘oh shit, what is going on here?’ and you’re thinking personally, you know. I think it’s relating to the scene and if you’re in that space, like if you’re in that place and you’re working with the other actor and you’re working with your environment, then those thoughts kind of come and that reads on your face. I think one of the worst things, from my own viewing of movies, is when an actor tries to do that kind of, you know, ‘I’ve got my angry face’ , ‘I’ve got my happy face’..”
Q:
Histrionic...
HG:
“(laughs) Yeah! Like, if your mum just dies, in a film, and you think, how would I feel if my mum died? And you are thinking, my mum just died, and that just comes and it’s all, I think, by natural acting, (which) is regarded as the best. Whether it’s method, or not method, if you’re natural you know, you just let yourself kind of go with it.”
Q:
Did you know much about the First World War?
HG:
”I was actually studying it in history (Editor Note: Gilbertson was studying WW1 at time of shooting, for schoolwork) but nobody knew about these tunnels... we were learning a lot about Gallipoli and Passchendaele.”
(Edit Note: The Third Battle of Ypres, launched on 31 July 1917, continued until the fall of Passchendaele village on 6 November.)
Q:
What do you see is the importance of this film?
HG:
“I think a big element of it is that this is an untold story. These guys went and did all this stuff and really hard stuff. And sometimes, it was a tough day on set, and yet, you had coffee and everything going up (Edit Note: film crew delivering food and drink in the tunnel). But, what these guys went through, (Edit Note: WW1 Tunnellers) I mean, the set we were in was really confined, and Ross Thomas (Executive Producer) said the real things were not even, like that’s luxurious tunnelling, compared to the tunnels they were in.”
Q:
So how did they do it? Did they just have a hole in the wall for the camera lens?
HG:
“They had a big shed they hired out, and they built all these tunnels inside of it.”
Q:
So they had removable side walls, for the camera?
HG:
“The tunnels were made so that one tunnel was 50 metres long, another one was like, four metres long, but they could take them apart so the camera could get in there. Often, they had the camera crew, if it was facing, (Edit Note: when camera is directly facing the actor, not side on, e.g. for Close Up, or BCU, shot) a lot of Jeremy’s stuff was facing, so that’s why you couldn’t say, I need to go out (Edit Note: take a break) because you had all these camera crew, and that was tough as well, because obviously a whole bunch of blokes spent hours inside the tunnel, it gets pretty um, a lot of swearing!”
(we both laugh)
HG:
”So, it was pretty intense stuff we were doing.”
Q:
What do you think your role would be saying to the youth of today, in the light of Australia’s current position? (Regarding our armed forces serving overseas)
(Edit Note: Gilbertson’s response unclear, inaudible on tape)
Q:
A sense of pride?
HG:
“Yes, a sense of pride, but also how lucky we are. Like on Facebook™, all these girls and guys writing how tough their life is, because they can’t rent the DVD they want.”
(we both laugh)
HG:
“Hopefully it shows, like in “Blessed”, that there are a lot of people in worse situations, doing worse things. But it also gave me a lot of pride to think that there are people out there who have that inside of them; to able to do that, who, basically, have the possibility of dying any day.”
Q:
Ian Sparke went to great trouble with the costume design, and all the other detail, the props and things. (Edit Note: historical accuracy) Did you utilize all that, to help you develop your character?
(Gilbertson explains in length that he does not rely on personal props, or costumes, to help him find the character he is playing, he is more cerebral in his approach, contemplative, but admits that, once the costume is on, “that’s kind of when the day starts as well.”
Gilbertson also referenced live theatre, which he said does demand a more physically overt presentation of character, HG: “...because you are using that space...”whereas film is requires more subtlety, which he prefers. One prop, that male actors usually love, Gilbertson has reservations about.)
HG:
“...holding a gun, I’ve never fired a gun and I don’t like weapons, it’s not my personality.”
(Gilbertson then elaborated about the boot camp the cast were made to endure, as preparation for filming in the trenches.)
HG:
“So all that stuff, the boot camp we did, and that was another, back on what you were saying about character, the boot camp was a big thing. A few of us, in the end all of us, were in character, and Brendan was shooting with Bella (Edit Note: Bella Heathcote who played Marjorie Waddell, Woodward’s sweetheart) and the other guys and we spent the night in the trench, slept in horrific (circumstances) and there was random raids, so you’d be asleep and all of a sudden you would hear a bell ringing, gun firing and there’d be German extras on the other side.”
HG:
“There was a couple of really beautiful moments for me; Billy Bacon, Mark Coles-Smith plays, we were kind of building a relationship because there was a lot of scenes in the original script where there was this connection between Billy Bacon and Tiffin. Billy Bacon was looking after him a bit. I was asleep and being a stupid 16 year old, I put my blanket underneath me and just slept on top of it and I was shivering like mad and he took off his blanket and put it on top of me and there were all of these moments, we didn’t acknowledge it that well, we just had all these moments. At the end of the football game (Edit Note: a scene in the film) we were all about to go home and Ross Thomas brought out these rum bottles he has, with the tunnellers’ names on them...”
(Edit Note: Thomas had them made to raise funds for a memorial bronze plaque, dedicated to the miners serving in WW1, to be erected in Townsville.)
HG:
“...and we all had a glass of rum as the sun was coming down. There were just all of these moments, they just kind of make you think, you know, a lot of people died, and that’s a really important thing.”
Q:
Right at the end of the film we find out, after all that effort, it’s re-taken (Hill 60) several months later. So what do you feel that says about the Australian effort? Was it all a waste of time, because the Germans took it back a few months later?
HG:
“Well, I think it was a big push and I think that is why it’s shocking it hasn’t been said before, they made this massive push, then Passchendaele and it all went shit-shape again. I think that war in general is a waste of time, I think personally. I think the soldiers are incredibly brave, and heroic, I think the government is just stupid, if there is a war on. Anyway, it’s just power and politics and people, I think there is a lot more to the world than fighting over a piece of land. I’m kind of a bit of a Kumbayah kind of guy.”
Q:
So what have you got coming up next?
HG:
“I’ve got a couple of films coming up, actually one comes out next week, “Accidents Happen”, and I shot a film in America, which will probably premier later this year, or the next. Got a few things waiting, coming up. I’m going to America on Friday for a few days to see a film I did, which I am very excited about.”
Q:
What’s that called?
HG:
“What’s wrong with Virginia?” Jennifer Connolly and Ed Harrison are in it, and a whole heap of really cool actors, so I am really looking forward to it.”
Q:
So you are going to keep steering towards film and not theatre anymore?
HG:
“When I was a kid I did theatre, I didn’t have any option, coming from Adelaide, Adelaide’s a great place...”
Q:
I came from Adelaide...it’s a great place to come from! (I laughed, Gilbertson didn’t)
HG:
“So, I was in theatre and that was the only option. (Gilbertson’s father is a stage director, who got him interested in acting). But film I love, and its subtlety, I love being subtle.”
(Gilbertson then expounded upon the subtlety theme, using an analogy with fine art; the more subtle the working of the paint the more it grabs ones attention.)
HG:
“I just hope to keep learning my craft and in ten years, I’ll be doing the same stuff.”
Q:
I’m sure you will....
So endeth the conversation.
One last thought; another reason I was attracted to this film, my father was an exploration geologist, of some note. He worked with miners, at various times. He also mapped, geologically, a large chunk of Australia, much of his work was studied in University Geology courses, which I found out one day by chance, when a graduate told me. Dad never would have; like his war service, little was spoken of it; the trauma all these brave men and women suffered, during these dreadful world wars, affected them deeply all their lives, and that of their families.
It is for these reasons, that I say, all descendants of ANZACS, and others who live in our region, particularly the youth, should see this film, and maybe, that might stimulate them to research it more for themselves, and maybe, one of you out there, will create another film about the heroic deeds of our forebears.
If we keep reminding ourselves about why we fought these wars, and the terrible sacrifices that were made, it may just help us snap out of our collective apathy, and avoid more of them in the future. Well, I can hope.
Lest we all forget....
Harrison Gilbertson Filmography:
1. What's Wrong with Virginia (2010) (post-production) as Emmett.
2. Beneath Hill 60 (2010) as Frank Tiffin.
3. Blessed (2009) as Daniel.
4. Accidents Happen (2009) as Billy Conway.
5. Australian Rules (2002) as Greggy
IMAGE CREDIT: Production Photograph; copyright presumed that of the production company and/or the distributors, Paramount Pictures, All Rights Reserved.
Fair USE RATIONALE: Image used for illustration of film being reviewed only, low resolution quality and not meant for reproduction.
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Mountain Fog
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
I will post the link of yours to the interview onto the Hill60 FB page - it gets lots of readers. I got comments from Mark Coles Smith, Alex and some of the production team on my review - was very cool.
Comment by Matt Shea
Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
tanx matey, and especially for the link, I am touched, (and also 'touched' in the head of course, hehe!)
cheers
fog
Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
tanx muchly indeed old top!
cheers
fog