Recently TOM Magazine’s Brendan Dousi sat down with Nathan Phillips, star of new Aussie Sci-Fi Thriller ‘These Final Hours’, to discuss his experiences both shooting the film and bringing it to audiences around the globe.
TOM Magazine: So, I saw the movie last night and I’m not ashamed to say that I cried at least three times.
Nathan Phillips: Hey mate, I was in the movie and I bloody cried too!
TOM Magazine: Yeah, it was such an effective film.
Nathan Phillips: Yeah, my mates saw it with me last night and I got to really enjoy it. I’d only seen it twice. There was once at the Melbourne International Film Festival which kind of had too much going on to really get into it and also at Cannes and that was too surreal also. Being jetlagged and everything and being at basically Disneyland for film makers. Last night was such a beautiful experience to share it with the crew at Village (Roadshow Studios), my agent and just a few friends and really getting immersed in the film and getting to see the character and world that Zak (Hilditch) pulled off. Yay for Zak and Liz (Kearney), his Producer, who really pulled it off.
TOM Magazine: You pulled it off too.
Nathan Phillips: (laughs) I’m one of the elements. But yeah, it was really cool seeing all of the elements coming out. The humour really came out and to just hear people ‘get it’. I hadn’t seen it properly with an Australian audience before, so the punter got it. And when it finished everyone was silent and it’s just like “Oh, they’re feeling it!” It’s nice that people are getting something out of the movie, that’s all I could ever wish for with this film, because I think it does permeate conversation that allows there to be a discussion about, “Hey mate, how would you spend your final hours?” Not to be morbid or melancholic about it, but we are essentially dying right now. So why don’t we focus more of the ‘living’ that we’re doing right now? That’s why right now we could get into a huge philosophical discussion, an existential cluster of ideas and thoughts and feelings but then comes that simple thing of; at the end of the day, how do you spend your final hours on earth? That’s essentially the script, the premise. But to allow that humour to come out of it, the Australian humour the very Australian nonchalant, “Oh, I’m just going to do a puzzle.” Those different ways, “I’m going to get some budgie-smugglers on and do every drug possible to mankind and get lost in some hedonistic world.” This film shows you the colours, the spectrum, of choices. So yeah, I just really enjoyed watching it last night. It was very warming.
TOM Magazine: How did you come about starring in ‘These Final Hours’? Were you approached or did you audition at all?
Nathan Phillips: Yeah, yeah, I had to ‘dance monkey, dance’ that kind of thing. But, you know, it was just such a great script that I think any actor who is in my age group and respective look, there’s so many actors in that category, would go for it. I was very fortunate to get the script and then audition and Zak straight away knew it was me. So that allowed a lot of trust. I had three months of preparation and there was a sort of ‘courting’ process between me and Zak. It was just lovely to get inside his head. Being the writer/director he had such ownership over the story, the characters and the world. I could just throw anything at him and he’d always have something to give back and it was just a real timely thing, there’s a huge synchronicity in life and I’m a big believer in that. I was very fortuitous in that regard because I was living in Northern California on a farm doing completely the opposite to the Hollywood lifestyle because I needed that time. So, when the script came up I was really, myself, thinking that I spend my time more preciously than my money, it’s more important to me, you can’t get your time back. But maybe you do when you die, I don’t know. That’s why the film just works for me as a storyteller, to want to be a part of such a big question, a big story. And then it’s Australian, it’s our backyard. The story itself, the theme of it is universal. To reach an audience at Cannes and get a standing ovation, to be at the Melbourne International Film Festival and now to be gracing the cinema screens across Australia… It’s very, like I said, warming. It’s good to be a part of something you’re proud of because people get something from it. They get bang for their buck too, we don’t want to rip anyone off and people work hard for their money, I want people to be stoked that they went to the cinema and they took a loved one or a mate.
TOM Magazine: Is that something you look for in a script? Something that raises questions?
Nathan Phillips: I’d like to say that, some stories afford this but then some are just pure entertainment. But, I think we need these films just as much as we need our Rom-Coms. People love getting on rollercoaster rides; make another ‘Wolf Creek’. Then make great films like ‘Balibo’ and ‘Australian Rules’. I’ve been very lucky to do quite a range of work. I think, getting older, you want to do movies that speak to people, speak to yourself and speak of yourself. It’s probably why Keanu Reeves did Siddhartha (Little Buddha), I’m sure he did that for a reason because he’s a big fan of Buddhism and that world. Some of us will blend our own personal lives into our work. Mel Gibson, he did ‘Passion of the Christ’. The Spierig Brothers, they love Sci-Fi, that’s their thing. This director (Zak Hilditch), his thing is smart genre films. This is his homage to that. For me as an actor, as an artist performing this role, it’s a dream role. It’s such a huge arc, such a playground of emotion. This road eventually leads to redemption, but by George, this guy has so many unredeeming qualities, will he even get there? To do that with the script was really fun, to not judge the Character of James, because he’s such a tool! It’s just great, we can all to relate to it because we’re all mortal.
TOM Magazine: They say as an actor to never work with children or animals. Your main co-star was child actress Angourie Rice playing the character of Rose, what was your experience with her like?
Nathan Phillips: Just like the beach she’s named after she is just beautiful. She is such a wonderful ray of sunshine and to be around a bubbly, happy kid was such a joy. We sometimes forget as adults, because our innocence gets lost or sometimes gets taken unfortunately, she was a constant reminder of life and living, that we’re all kids at heart and we should remain at that childlike nature in some regard because it’s important. It’s really important for us to remember that this rug can be pulled out from under our feet at any second. Being around her son set, it did hurt the pocket because there was a swear-jar on set, but it made me more aware and much more present with the way I spoke, the way I was conducting myself on set and the paternal side of me came out a bit. I was like, “You don’t need to see those bums and those naughty things that those kids are doing, let’s just go back outside…” So that’s great to have that come out naturally. She really left an impression on me, it was lovely. We got to share Cannes together; I mean, look at that! That’s a dream forevery artist, actor and filmmaker. I was like, “Dude, your first movie! I’ve been doing this for fifteen years and I’m just getting here! I’m so proud of you. Don’t forget me when you’re famous, please.”
TOM Magazine: Was there anything as an actor you used to personalise yourself with Rose? Did you draw from any personal experience?
Nathan Phillips: We had a great rehearsal process, so everything kind of drew from there. You just spend every second you can together, and that was really important for the rest of the cast as well. It was very serendipitous; I do like telling this little anecdote. The last day of filming, I’d have a swim every morning before work just to freshen up. Why not, you’re in West Aus, the oceans beautiful…a bit sharky. At sunset/night my swim was a quick one, I’ll tell you that. On the very last day of filming a pink rose floated up to me from the ocean in perfect condition, that’s insane!
TOM Magazine: That’s a good omen.
Nathan Phillips: A very good omen. She really was my Rose. So yeah, that was one of those magic little moments sticking with me forever.
TOM Magazine: What was the filming process actually like? Probably a good tribute to the post-production team that it looked so gruelling all the time, but was it actually quite hot when you were filming?
Nathan Phillips: It wasn’t the hottest summer, thankfully. But it was definitely on the verge of summer, October/November, but it was more gruelling because it was a very physically demanding role. I definitely enjoyed my sleep. I did get a massage after those fight scenes because I did get knocked around quite a bit. They were brutal. Everyone stepped it up, we didn’t have much time to fuss over things. The magic of filmmaking, you know? The special effects… The first week we did that shot of me and Jess (De Gouw) looking at the ocean with the catastrophic wall of fire coming, I was like, “God, I don’t know if this is going to be a good movie nor not…” It was pretty tacky, if people could see how we actually did that, it’s like we were 16 year old kids making a home video. It felt so intimate and small and weird. But in the end it blew me away, because it could have sucked but it didn’t! Even in the edit, there’s a whole dream sequence that didn’t make the cut which could have suggested that it was all a dream. But, he chose not to go down that road. Imagine that as an ending too, it could have cheapened it, but we’ll never know because that’s not the cut. It’s always interesting for me to come to this point of the process, to see the cut and see what it did become and sharing it with an audience and seeing what they’re taking from it. Everyone can relate to it, it’s such an intense story and Australian. It doesn’t look like an Australian film, it’s got this polish, it’s very global. Let’s just wait and see if Aussies take to it.
TOM Magazine: What was your relationship with Zak Hilditch like on set?
Nathan Phillips: Very honest. He is one of the most laid back people, we are complete opposites, but that works. I could sit here and we could get all existential and philosophical about it and about the semiotics in the film and all this film stuff, but he’s like, “Nah mate, she pretty much just wants to do a puzzle, ey?” So, that simplicity just made the set so amazing. He was so comfortable there, it’s West Aus, it’s his home. He was working with his producing partner and working with friends, you know, he created an atmosphere that was very family-like and he trusted his actors. All the other actors he cast I became great friends with, Sarah Snook is incredible in this. That role, she just blows it out of the water for such a small role. She wanted that role because she could see what she could do with it. So, kudos to Zak because he allowed our characters to breathe and he trusted us. That’s what you want from your director, you know? Trust.
TOM Magazine: Before I go, just one question I always like to finish on; what’s your favourite movie?
Nathan Phillips: Well, I just saw ‘Edge of Tomorrow’, that’s one film that jumps out at me. I watched that film two or three times because it’s an incredible script. I loved it, I thought the acting was perfect. Everything was just so polished. And a classic film, probably because I watched it recently, is ‘Gallipoli’. Oh, and a movie I saw recently that was incredible was ‘The Rocket’. I’m also looking forward to seeing ‘Charlie’s Country’, I’ve heard good things and really looking forward to seeing Sarah Snook in ‘Predestination’, that sounds like it’s going to be a really good movie.
TOM Magazine: Thank you so much for talking with us today, Nathan.
Nathan Phillips: Thank you, my pleasure.
