''Flynn'' is an Australian film about the early life of

Errol Flynn Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn (20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959) was an Australian-American actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, frequent partnerships with Olivia ...

, focusing on his time in New Guinea starring

Guy Pearce Guy Edward Pearce (born 5 October 1967) is an Australian actor. Born in Ely, Cambridgeshire in England, and raised in Geelong, Victoria (Australia), Victoria in Australia, he started his career portraying Mike Young (Neighbours), Mike Young in ...

in the title role.Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford University Press, 1996 p64

Plot

A young Errol Flynn leaves Sydney and has various adventures in New Guinea. He returns to Australia and starts acting in movies.

Original Cast

*Paul Cantoni Klaus Reicher *

Rebecca Rigg Rebecca Rigg is an Australian actress. She is known for her roles in television and film. She started out as a child actor in ''Fatty Finn'' (1980), before also being featured in the films ''Hunting'' (1991), ''Spotswood'' (1992) and ''Ellie ...

as Penelope Watts *John Frawley as Headmaster *Jan Friedl as Deidre Watt *Sue Jones as

Elsa Chauvel Elsa Chauvel, (''née'' Elsie May Wilcox; 10 February 1898 – 22 August 1983) was an Australian filmmaker and actress, and the wife and collaborator of film director Charles Chauvel. Elsa Chauvel was a pioneer in Australian film making, best ...

Final Cast

*Guy Pearce as Errol Flynn *

Steven Berkoff Steven Berkoff (born Leslie Steven Berks; 3 August 1937) is an English actor, author, playwright, theatre practitioner and theatre director. As a theatre maker he is recognised for staging work with a heightened performance style eponymously k ...

as Klaus Reicher *

Claudia Karvan Claudia Karvan (born 19 May 1972) is an Australian actress, producer and scriptwriter. As a child actor, she first appeared in the film, '' Molly'' (1983) and followed with an adolescent role in ''High Tide'' (1987). She portrayed a teacher in ...

as Penelope Watts * John Savage as Joe Stromberg *Wendy Matthews as

Nightclub Singer A nightclub act is a production, usually of nightclub music or comedy, designed for performance at a nightclub, a type of drinking establishment, by a nightclub performer such as a nightclub singer or nightclub dancer, whose performance may ...

*William Gluth as Professor Flynn *Nicki Paull as Marelle Flynn *Tim Hughes as James Dickson *Adam May a
First Director

Production

Development

Frank Howson claimed he spent five years writing the script. "It was the hardest script I've ever written," he said. "He rrol Flynnwas such an enigmatic figure." Howson gave the lead role to Guy Pearce, with whom he had previously made two films. Pearce felt he did not look anything like Errol Flynn but his hair was cut and he wore brown contact lenses. "He was a very mixed up-person," Pearce said of Flynn. "Most of the things he did were out of desperation, trying to find himself. He was more like a kid who never grew up."

Original shoot

The movie was originally directed by Brian Kavanagh in 1989 on a budget of $3.5 million. Shooting took place in Melbourne, Cairns and New Guinea and was completed in September, despite the Cairns shoot being delayed by the

1989 Australian pilots' dispute The 1989 Australian pilots' dispute was one of the most expensive and dramatic industrial disputes in Australia's history. It was co-ordinated by the Australian Federation of Air Pilots (AFAP) after a prolonged period of wage suppression, to suppo ...

Re-shoot

At the 1990 Cannes Film Festival, marketing group J and M became interested in distributing the film but thought it needed some re-shooting and some "name" stars. They provided a further $1 million for this to happen. The film was then largely re-shot with Frank Howson stepping in as director, and some different support actors cast. Guy Pearce returned as Errol Flynn, but Rebecca Rigg, Jeff Truman and Paul Steven were replaced by

and John Savage. This caused trouble with Australia's

Actors Equity The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American trade union, labor union representing those who work in live theater, live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage ...

because two Australian actors were replaced with foreign ones.Paul Kalina, 'Father figures', ''The Age'', September 2, 2005
accessed 17 October 2012 New scenes were shot in Melbourne and Fiji, which stood in for New Guinea. The Fijian unit was based out of Lase Lase, about 50 km from Nadi. No Fijian women would agree to go topless, so South African actress

Sandi Schultz Sandra Schultz (born 19 January 1964) is a South African actress, presenter, and fashion designer. Her films include ''Door to Silence'' (1992), '' Assignment'' (2015), '' While You Weren't Looking'' (2015), and '' Call Me Thief'' (2016). On telev ...

was imported to play the role of the chief's daughter. The Fijian men were reluctant to take their underwear off to play New Guinea natives. It was estimated about 40% of the film was reshot.

Release

The movie was screened at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival under the title ''My Forgotten Man'', by which time Howson said he had been working on it for 30 months. He blamed the stress of making it on the breakup of his marriage and business partnership. Howson:

It was like a game of Russian roulette. You actually wondered whether you would finish the film before you went broke. I now know what Coppola must have felt like on ''
Apocalypse Now ''Apocalypse Now'' is a 1979 American epic war film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The screenplay, co-written by Coppola, John Milius and Michael Herr, is loosely based on the 1899 novella ''Heart of Darkness'' by Joseph Conr ...
'' because in the end you just keep throwing money at this thing.

The film was set for release by Village Roadshow but Frank Howson became embroiled in a copyright dispute with his business partner; Roadshow withdrew the film from release seven days before it was scheduled to open. The movie was subsequently released on video and DVD several years later and sold widely around the world. In 2002 Pearce described the film as the worst he had made.Jane Cadzow, 'The Guy next door', ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 30 March 2002
accessed 17 October 2012

Awards

, - , 1993 , ''My Forgotten Man'' ,

AACTA Award The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the film and television industry, ...

BASF Award for Best Original Music Score

Anthony Marinelli Anthony Marinelli (born March 19, 1959) is an American musician, composer and conductor. In his early career, he composed and performed accompaniment on the synthesizer for albums including Michael Jackson's ''Thriller'' (1983). Marinelli has ...

Billy Childs William Edward Childs (born March 8, 1957) is an award-winning American composer, jazz pianist, arranger and conductor from Los Angeles, California, United States. Early life When he was sixteen he attended the Community School of the Performing ...

References

*Tulich, Katherine, "The Making and Re-Making of Flynn", ''Cinema Papers'', May 1991

External links

* * {{Frank Howson Australian biographical films 1996 films Films scored by Anthony Marinelli 1990s English-language films