BY MARK MAWSTON
Luc
Roeg is the son of seminal director Nicolas Roeg. He appeared in his father’s
last narrative film as a cinematographer, and first as a solo director, the
much-lauded Walkabout, which received
a newly-restored release through Second Sight recently. Nic Roeg began his
career as a camera operator on such titles as Cubby Broccoli’s pre-Bond production
The Trials of Oscar Wilde and the
infamous Dr. Blood’s Coffin before
becoming cinematographer on films such as Dr. Crippen and Nothing but
the Best. He was one of the many hands behind the camera on the unofficial
1967 Bond entry Casino Royale. (Then
again, who wasn’t?) Roeg senior also worked with such luminaries as François Truffaut (on the Ray Bradbury adaptation Fahrenheit 451), Richard Lester (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Petulia) and John Schlesinger (Far from the Madding Crowd). However, it
was his work on Rogers Corman’s The
Masque of the Red Death that really set the template for his otherworldly
visuals that would later be seen in such masterpieces as Performance (co-directed with Donald Cammell), Don’t Look Now and The Man
Who Fell to Earth. Walkabout was
held up while Performance was
completed (although that film was so unclassifiable that its distributor Warner Bros. let it sit on the shelf
for two years) so that by the time Walkabout
was filmed Roeg was seen as a veteran. It was also a family affair in the sense
that Roeg cast his son Lucien John in the key part of the White Boy, after the
delay had left Luc’s brother Nicolas too old for the part. This is where we
take it up with Luc.
MM:
Walkabout
is seen as one of, if not the, quintessential Australian New Wave films. Yet, when
it went to Cannes, it was as the UK rather than an Australian entry as they had
already chosen theirs. Do you
see it as a British or Australian film, or indeed a crossover of the two?
LR:
I’d have to say both. I know that’s sitting on the fence a bit but the reason I
say that is because Nic was very much a 100% British filmmaker. He lived a good
life here and never emigrated to Hollywood but he made a lot of his films on
location in foreign
countries. That may have made him less of a ‘British’ filmmaker but Walkabout wouldn’t have been Walkabout without Australia itself so,
although that sounds strange, to answer your question, it simply couldn’t be
anything else but British and Australian as it has the landscape,
culture and David [Gulpilil – the Aboriginal co-star of the film] that make it
what it is.
MM:
Yes, I agree and Australia is one of the key stars of the film, to be honest. I
lived in Australia for a short time and travelled to the territories where you
filmed it so it’s fascinating
for me to see this film again on this new transfer. The first time I saw this
film I was 12 years old and it was on a TV which my grandfather built a
magnified screen onto so the image doubled in size! It was magical then but
magical in a different way now as I’ve visited the landscape I fell in love with
on that ‘big’ screen.
LR:
That’s wonderful.
MM:
You probably had the greatest ever ‘take your kids to work day’ when your father
chose you to star in the film. I know the film was held up while your father
finished Performance which, although
it suited Jenny Agutter better in the fact that she was 16 rather than 14, it
meant your older brother Nico was a little too old to play the young boy’s part,
which went to you. Do you ever talk about how different things could have been,
even though I’m sure it was a lot of hard work?
LR:
I agree with you on the ‘bring your kids to work’ day (laughs). Regarding the
role, we don’t really talk about it. Walkabout
was very much a personal experience for all of us, for all the family. My
brother was there with us when we were making the film, as was my eldest
brother, so we were all together. I don’t think anyone felt like they were
missing out. If anything I kind of felt that I had to go to work while they had
a great time hanging out in the Australian
Outback and bunking off any tutorage
they were supposed to be having!
MM:
I can see that. Did the fact that the film was shot chronologically help at
such a young age, so it seemed more like a real journey? More of an adventure
than hard graft?
LR:
It did seem like an adventure at the time, although there was a work element to
it. It was scripted and there were lines to learn on top of the travelling and
moving around. It was all essential. You don’t have any expectations at that
age of how things should be or could be, they just happen. So to be in that
natural environment and to be surrounded by those that matter was important. It
was a small unit and a tiny cast as well obviously, just myself, David and
Jenny [Agutter] so the whole experience was very personal and shared between us,
so yes, I’d say adventure first and the hard work followed.
MM:
I’ve spoken to a lot of actors over the years and they said they found it very
difficult to be taken out of their home environment for months at a time to
make a movie but as you said, you were with your family which would have been a
very different experience than a lot of child actors would have had.
LR:
Yes and having Nic photograph it took another layer away from the camera and me,
and kept it very personal from that point of view. Jenny was a very young woman
and she had to leave home in order to make it, and although she too became part
of the family it would have been hard for her.
MM:
Yes. Over the years Jenny had some criticism
for her pragmatic approach to the role but that’s exactly how a ‘proper English
girl’ would act. Very matter of fact and stoic. I think she’s marvellous in the role, a very steady figure for
your character, and she was the right age, 16 rather than the 14 her character
was in the book. I did laugh when Jenny said she was very excited at the time
because originally Apple Films were set to produce it and she thought that she’d
get to meet The Beatles. Obviously that didn’t happen but did your father ever
say why?
LR:
I never really interrogated Nic about that when I was old enough to
understand that. I’m not sure of the specific reasons behind it and at the time
I just wasn’t aware of it, understandably.
MM:
One of the most memorable scenes was when David covers your back in wild boar’s
blood in order to soothe your sunburn. I understand this wasn’t scripted. Were
there many more situations like that, filmed on the spur of the moment?
LR:
Other than that moment I can’t really think of one. I know that everyone on the
set was very upset about the death of the wart hog which had been struck by one
of our vehicles as everyone, by that time, was very much in tune with the way
David thought and how he respected the wildlife. People got very upset and it
had coincided with this terrible sunburn I’d got but David showed, in his way,
that we could take some of the essence of the beast and use it for good. Bar
that I can’t really think of any scene that just came to pass. Other than that,
Nic had an eye. He could just capture things without making an effort to do so.