Love and Mortar - Interview with David Parker

Australian film industry veteran David Parker admits he would never direct one of his own scripts. Why? Because he believes a director can bring more to a script than a writer can. And Parker would know – he’s been known to delve in screenwriting, directing and cinematography in his long career.
“Screenwriting is the hardest but probably the most rewarding [out of the three]. To think up a story and then write it into a fully fledged screenplay is the most demanding, wonderful and painful process, but when you pull it off, it’s magic,” Parker said.

Parker is back on the scene promoting his latest project, Love and Mortar, a film about a woman struggling with her son’s illness and her husband’s infidelity. After a chance encounter with an Irish sailor and his son, her life is turned upside down. The film explores a dramatic love story that promises to break all the rules. Parker made Love and Mortar with his Melbourne-based production company Cascade Films, which he started in 1983 with his business partner, Nadia Tass. Together the pair have written and directed a number of award-winning feature films, including Malcolm, Rikky & Pete, The Big Steal and the hilarious Hercules Returns.
“Hercules Returns was an absolute hoot. Des Mangan’s script was outrageous. The result is always funny, sometimes silly but always entertaining. That’s how I like my films, Parker said.
But Love and Mortar seems to break away from this formula. Based on a true story, the film has drama at its core rather than comedy. Yet Parker says there are still light moments, heightened by the journey of the characters.
“There’s definitely less comedy in there than I’m used to, but it’s similar [to my other work] because of its strong, well-developed characters, who are ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.”

Parker has earned a name in the industry developing such characters. His first feature film, Malcolm, won eight AFI awards, numerous international awards and Parker was awarded the Premier’s Literary Award in NSW as well as the Australian Film Critic’s Circle Award for Best Screenplay. In 1991 Parker shot his first feature for Universal Studios in the US and the following year he produced and filmed Stark, the BBC mini-series based on the Ben Elton novel. He’s even worked for Francis Ford Coppola, who tracked him down and asked him to shoot a pilot his TV series The Outsiders. Yet despite all the jet-setting to and fro, Parker prefers to remain in Melbourne.
“We do spend time in the US, but we have always tried to keep our main focus on films that are Australian. We’ve recently done half a dozen high-end movies for TV in North America, but all the time we’ve been developing projects here, using our ill gotten gains from Uncle Sam to keep our Melbourne based operation running smoothly.”

Parker and Tass were approached with the Love and Mortar script by another producer, and optioned the script from the writer – Lyn Renew – whom the film is about. Despite its more sobering tone, Parker says he is still interested in making comedy.
“In fact, we have a comedy in development right now based on a wedding I went where the best man was let out of jail to attend. There were two beefy warders right beside him all night, but they both managed to get drunk and the best man had to drive them back to jail!”

Love and Mortar will be distributed nationally and internationally.