Monarto is 'Thunderstruck'

ANYONE who has seen the Australian movie Thunderstruck may not have noticed the piece of local history which features in the true-blue comedy.

The South Australian Film Corporation movie, which stars Steven Curry of The Castle and The Nugget, focuses on four AC/DC fans who set off from Perth on a road trip destined for Bon Scott's grave in Victoria, where they plan to scatter the ashes of their friend.

During the journey the quartet passes through a fictitious town between Ceduna and Perth called Mount Arthur, where they attend a country wedding.

However the quaint little hall that plays host to the ceremony is none other than the Monarto Hall.

Filming on the scene took place in May last year and with the movie opening in cinemas around Australia last month, the hall will now become a piece of celluloid history.

AS an actor who always wanted to be a musician, playing a wannabe rock'n'roll star in Thunderstruck was a dream come true for Damon Gameau.

"I started playing the drums when I was eight and was always running around my room playing guitar," the 28-year-old actor says, displaying a fine air guitar riff.

"I always dreamed of being a rock star. Being able to try it in a film kind of

allows me to have that experience in a weird way.

"That's the joy of acting - you get these circumstances that are beyond reality and it's a gift, an absolute gift ... it's such a fantastic job for that reason."

Gameau is munching on a counter meal of schnitzel and chips at an inner-city Sydney pub and talking about his latest role in Thunderstruck - an Australian comedy about a group of AC/DC fans who drive across the country to scatter their mate's ashes over Bon Scott's memorial plaque in Perth. Scott was the wild front man of AC/DC who died in 1980.

With his dark, curly hair, striking blue eyes, navy blue velvet jacket and thick, woollen scarf, Gameau looks more Dr Who than Sonny, the twentysomething guitarist who is the heart of the close-knit group of mates in Thunderstruck.

The main actors, all in their mid to late 20s, are an interesting mix. Gameau made his film debut in The Tracker, straight out of Sydney's National Institute of Dramatic Art. Stephen Curry is the most familiar face for his work in The Wog Boy and the ABC's critically acclaimed series Changi. Callan Mulvey is best known for the ABC high school drama Heartbreak High. And Ryan Johnson, who first starred in the teenage drama Head Start, has just completed a small role in the Sydney-made Hollywood sequel to The Mask, Son of Mask.

Most of the actors could play an instrument before but they had to learn new ones for their roles. Curry, a guitarist, learned to play drums; Gameau, a drummer, had to learn guitar.

He stunned the cast and crew when he arrived for the first day of the shoot already knowing how to play the AC/DC classic Long Way to the Top.

The song features in the film's climactic scene where the men, in character as a cover band, play at Bon Scott's memorial in front of 2000 real-life AC/DC fans. The actor describes the scene as "every boy's fantasy".

The four actors became mates during the three-month shoot last year, which took them across the country from Sydney to Perth. Before filming began, they went on a road trip with director Darren Ashton along the south coast of Western Australia. It was meant to be a bonding experience to help them understand their roles.

As blokes do, they gave each other nicknames - Gameau, the only actor in the group to attend the nation's leading theatre school, became known as Mr NIDA.

"Yeah, I got stirred," he laughs. "They would be like: 'Mr NIDA - have you done your Method?' But it was all in jest and all part of that boys' rapport we had from day one. We did have a lot of fun together and it's no coincidence that is translated onto the screen."

Despite the obvious fun-factor attached to the film, Gameau almost turned down his role.

When he was asked to audition he had just completed 12 months working with Rolf de Heer on The Tracker. Gameau played The Follower, alongside Gary Sweet and the enigmatic David Gulpilil, who won an AFI award for his leading role. The critical acclaim the film attracted was one thing, but most important for the young actor was his introduction to the world of serious film-making.

He had worked with his favourite director, and had travelled to the Venice Film Festival where The Tracker received a standing ovation from the 2000-strong audience which included some of Gameau's idols - Harrison Ford, Sean Penn and John Malkovich.

He also formed a firm friendship with Gulpilil, and stayed in Arnhem Land with him and his family.

By the time of the Thunderstruck audition, Gameau was suffering a rather bad case of inflated ego. He's the first to admit it.

"To be really honest, I was really righteous and I had this kind of arrogance," he says. "I thought: 'I've done it, I've reached this peak. I've just done this really beautiful story, and now" - he affects a tone of mock disappointment - "I'm being offered this Aussie comedy."

But when he did his research about AC/DC and realised how important they were to millions of fans, he changed his mind.

"I thought: 'Who am I to judge? There are people out there just as devoted and blindly fanatical about this band as they are about Aboriginal culture, so who am I to choose what is more important?

"So once I got into it, I found it was a much harder shoot than The Tracker. It was my first experience in a lead role and it was a comedy, but I was playing the straight man."

De Heer cast Gameau in The Tracker after a friend recommended the actor on the back of an Adelaide performance in Equus - his first stage job after graduating from NIDA in 1999.

The Adelaide-based director asked Gameau (who was born in Adelaide but moved to Sydney to study) to send him a tape - not an audition tape, as such, but one that showed his personality. The director cast him immediately.

"He was very green, like the character," De Heer says. "And because The Tracker was shot mainly in sequence, we watched how Damon [and his character] developed as the film went on.

"He's a great joy to work with because he's passionate and communicative and he'll give everything - and he's a very good actor.

"He's capable of playing a very broad range of characters, I believe. I think he could be good at comedy and good at starring roles and roles that are a bit transforming."

Gameau, in turn, says he learned a lot from the director, whom he first came to admire when studying Bad Boy Bubby at university.

"What I hoped to bring to [Thunderstruck] were the things I learned from The Tracker about honesty, and to bring that to a very light-hearted comedy and give it a bit of balance."

Since the Thunderstruck shoot finished last year Gameau has been to the US and Europe for auditions - so far unsuccessful - for roles which could have put him alongside Jude Law, Matt Damon and Al Pacino.

He plans to move overseas later this year, simply because there is more work for young male actors there.

It means he won't have to work as a security guard or be on the dole, as he has been the past few months.

"There are down times when things are not happening which is pretty difficult," he says. "But when you get a job it's really up and you just feel so happy and elated."

Asked if he feels that way now, as Thunderstruck premieres around the country, Gameau's eyes light up.

"Oh yeah, absolutely," he grins. He looks like he's about to play air guitar again.

Thunderstruck opens nationally on Thursday 20th May 2004 in Australia.

Source www.theaustralian.news.com.au

THUNDERSTRUCK PREMIERE
The Bon Scott related film Thunderstruck is to be premiered in Perth and Sydney.

INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE
PERTH – THURSDAY MAY 13
Be at Hoyts Cinema City (580 Hay St) from 7.30pm!

You can also join in the after party fun at Metro City where an AC/DC cover band will be playing. Tickets can be purchased prior through Metro City – 18+ Venue (nightclub).

SYDNEY PREMIERE - SUNDAY MAY 16
Be at the George St Cinema Complex (505 George St, Sydney) from 6pm!

Scheduled to appear at the premieres are
The Cast – Ryan Johnson, Callan Mulvey, Stephen Curry, Damon Gameau
The Crew – Darren Ashton (Director)

www.thunderstruckthemovie.com

They had several meetings with the Fremantle Cemetery, where the band's former lead singer, Bon Scott, is buried, to stage a key concert scene -- and the cemetery agreed.

The movie is about five hardcore AC/DC fans who pledge to bury their best friend next to Bon Scott's grave.

We're told the producers had to "buy out" burials for the day of shooting, but as there were still people being cremated, the entire cast and crew (including 2000 AC/DC fans who were extras) stopped and bowed their head when processions went by.

Scott's mother and brother also had to approve shooting at the singer's grave.

Huge numbers of AC/DC fans visit the grave each year -- so many that the cemetery has a special map.

Filming took a day and a half, with the WA Police Pipe Band pitching in on the concert's final song, It's a Long Way to the Top.

Thunderstruck, which stars Stephen Curry and Kestie Morassi, will be released on May 20.

www.heraldsun.news.com.au

The Sunday Times

Source http://murraybridge.yourguide.com.au

Special thanks to Veronica Lawrence

Special thanks to Veronica Lawrence

News regarding the Australia film Thunderstruck
Casting has begun for the AC/DC Road Movie "Thunderstruck". The most prominent actor to be cast is Stephen Curry ("The Castle"). Newcomer, Jason Gann, star of the short film "Wilfred", has also won a part.
Source www.moviehole.net

Thunderstruck the film gets funding.

The Film Finance Corporation Australia (FFC) has agreed to invest in a feature film (Thunderstruck) about the adventures of a group of friends who make a pact on the greatest night of their lives - the 1991 Sydney concert of rock band AC/DC.

The friends make a promise that if one of them dies before they are forty , they they will bury his body next to the grave of their idol, singer Bon Scott.

Further details relating to this planned Darren Ashton directed film can be found at
www.ffc.gov.au/

According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald (www.smh.com.au) the production company has secured the rights to use the tracks "Thunderstruck" , "TNT" and "It's long way to the Top" in the movie.