- Title: SPAIN: FILM "THE BANK" IS SCREENED AT THE SAN SEBASTIAN FILM FESTIVAL
- Date: 10th October 2001
- Summary: SAN SEBASTIAN, SPAIN (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS SHOTS OF BEACHFRONT/ HARBOUR (2 SHOTS) VARIOUS STREETS SCENES IN TOWN (5 SHOTS)
- Embargoed: 25th October 2001 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SAN SEBASTIAN, SPAIN
- Country: Spain
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA74VXX1HLU3C8V29CMUS3FQY69
- Story Text: Screenwriters and actors often make the crossover to directing. Somewhat more unusual is when a producer takes up the role. Robert Connolly, one of Australia's most successful producers makes his directorial debut with, "The Bank" which screened at the recent San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain.
According to Robert Connolly, "The Bank" is a modern day thriller about money, corruption and alchemy. The inspiration for Connolly's impressive feature debut as writer/director was to brought to him by a stockbroker friend who came up with the original idea. After burying himself in books on chaos theory, meeting with former bankers and learning about the intricacies of the corporate world, Connolly was ready to turn the idea into a script. He also had the help of his brother Robert, a consumer banking advocate, who was able to tell him the real and often bitter tales of people who'd taken on the banks and big business.
Like the recent works of filmmaker Steven Soderbergh, ("Erin Brockovich" and "Traffic"), "The Bank" is a highly politicised morality tale that taps into the zeitgeist of anti-globalisation and corporate greed. The story centers on Jim Doyle, played by Australian actor David Wenham.
Doyle is a mathematical genius working on a formula that will predict future stock market crashes. Jim's theory captures the imagination of Simon O'Reilly, (Anthony Lapaglia), the tough, greedy, CEO of Centabank. O'Reilly, who's freewheeling management style is under criticism by his Board is looking for the key to turn his luck around. He persuades Jim to come and work for him at Centabank where he can perfect his theory. O'Reilly and the Bank's Board of Directors fall under the spell of his system and the wealth it could generate for them. When a young family threaten their windfall by taking action against Centabank over a failed foreign currency loan, O'Reilly sanctions a dirty tricks campaign.
Wenham, who was most recently seen in Baz Len,....Moulin Rouge, told Reuters at the recent San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain that playing a mathematical genius threw up quite a challenge.
"The character is actually, although he's a relatively straight character is actually quite far removed from myself because I flunked mathematics at school. So it was a bit of a stretch in a way. But also in the fact that he's quite an enigmatic character and he's a character that actually has to conceal quite a lot, which is not as easy as it seems actually. So my way into it I suppose was to make the character in terms of a performance thing, to make him, nothing extraneous on the character I wanted nothing, no superfluous antics. The easy thing and I suppose and the tempting thing was to give, you know, put on funny glasses and make him, make him a nerdy mathematician which is what I didn't want to do", said Wenham.
Wenham came to prominence four years ago when he played Brett Sprague in the award-winning Australian feature, "The Boys". The film showed up Wenham, more well-known for his character parts as a powerful force capable of heading a movie in a leading role.
"Well for somebody like me it's actually much more difficult because I come from probably a background where I've played much more character based roles over a long period of time. Its only over the last few years that I've been given the opportunity to play in inverted commas "straighter roles"
so it is actually, you know, for me more of a challenge and this particular role very much so, because he doesn't reveal very much this particular character or seemingly and he's also the film's protagonist but he's very unusual for a protagonist because he doesn't propel the action or seemingly doesn't propel the action which is unusual, and difficult but also challenging and rewarding", said Wenham.
Having Wenham at the cast helm of "The Boys", Connolly's first feature as a producer alongside John Maynard, no doubt gave him the confidence to cast him in his directorial debut.
"The Boys", which began life as a stage production won a record-breaking 13 Australian Film Institute Awards and 6 Australian Film Critics Circle Awards, including Best Film.
As the real market spirals downwards unpredictably, "The Bank"'s investment in the combined acting talents of Wenham and Tony Award winner, Anthony LaPaglia, seem set to take it on a winning course all the way to the critics, the public and the box office bank.
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