I Love You Too is the debut screenplay from seasoned comedian and performer Peter Hellier and the directorial feature debut of actor/director Daina Reid. Billed as a romantic buddy movie, Helliar stars alongside Brendan Cowell, Peter Dinklage and Yvonne Strahovski.
Reid admits that there was a particular moment when she knew she wanted to direct. “It's so daggy,” she says, “but I wanted to be a director since I saw Star Wars as a child!”
It was a revelation that led her first to acting before shifting gears via a series of directors' attachments followed by consistent work in directing television. Along the way she worked with Peter Helliar and producers Laura Waters and Yael Bergman, who form the independent production company, Princess Pictures (We Can Be Heroes, Summer Heights High).
“I always knew Pete was funny,” says Reid. “Pete—I hope he forgives me, I'm sure he will—is not ashamed of his suburban sensibility, and neither am I. Even though we are sophisticated, Australia is a very suburban place and it is the 'suburbaness' of the story that is truthful for an Australian audience.” For Reid, this sensibility is not forced, nor is it about “taking the Mickey”. Rather, I Love You Too walks “a fine line between comedy and more emotional stuff.” It's what attracted her to the script.
“I wanted to see more of that,” Reid says, recalling the extensive scripting period. “Poor Peter. We made him made him rewrite each draft. We wrote copious notes. We would send him away again and each time it would be better. Then he would surprise us with something completely new. It really was finding itself.”
Helliar himself admits that his writing process surprises people. “People think that I probably concentrate on the comedy first,” he says. “But the opposite is true.” He initially focussed on the story and premise and knew “the comedy will come.” For him, “comedy comes from the situations, characters and dialogue. The drama and the emotion of the story is the important thing.”
Helliar talks passionately about writing and is proud of the ensemble of characters he was able to create. In I Love You Too, the cast of characters include a sweet but immature thirty-year-old, Jim (Cowell), who finds himself losing his long-term girlfriend, Alice (Strahovski), because he cannot commit to her, or even say “I love you”. It is a chance meeting with a talented American photographer, Charlie (Dinklage), which sets him on the path of maturity. Left on the wayside is his best friend and side-kick, Blake (played by Helliar).
On Blake ('The Blake-inator'), Helliar says that he “subconsciously wrote the role” with himself in mind but admits to developing cold feet about his ability to pull it off. “At first I didn't think I should be in it,” he says, but was then told the film wouldn't be made without him in it.
In preparing for the role Hellair worked with drama coaches Greg Saunders and Greg Stone. Of Blake he says, “I think of the character and try to be true to what he might be going through. Blake is waiting for his best friend to come back. I think of Blake and Jim as a love story with Blake as the other woman.”
I Love You Too is the first time Helliar has written “romantic jokes” and admits they are hard to do. At the same time, he insists that the film is “as close to me as I've ever done. It's good for me to show this side. I must be the only person in the world who is writing romantic comedies and hosting a footy show at the same time!”
For Reid, who believes her own mix of experiences in both comedy and drama allows her “to bridge the world” of romantic comedy, casting was a question of finding actors who could perform “both as a straight person and as a joker”. She says, the “tone of the film was the most important part to achieve as a director. It had to be played at a certain level. This included the acting style, with its focus on emotional truth and the pitch of the performance, as well as the look of the film.” Reid says the performances relied on “withholding emotion and not giving too much away.”
Reid cites the production team, including editor Ken Sallows (Chopper, Crackerjack, Malcom) and director of photography Ellery Ryan (Van Dieman's Land, Angel Baby, Spotswood), as “an evolution”. She says that as a first timer she was “keen to surround myself with veterans” and together with Ryan, set about “inventing a style for an Australian romantic comedy”. The pair set about “creating a look of an international city. We just went for it,” she says.
Reid views I Love You Too as an ambitious film. She says, “Throughout production the team were saying 'don't call it a little film. Let's not think of it like that. Let's be truthful to the story'.” For Helliar it was about finding a team of people who “took the project on with the same amount of gusto and love as I had.”
