Peter Weir Interview

He says in the early 1970's in Australia the idea of making a film from a book was a very foreign idea. He says he was gripped by the novel and the fact that it was an unsolved mystery. He then talks about when he meant Joan Lindsay to discuss making the film.

Journalists came after the film to search all the records but could find nothing which indicated that the events in the movie actually happened as shown. He says that since the mystery did not have an actual solution it was somewhat of a dangerous commercial enterprise.

He says some of the rock formations look like faces. He talks about the financial arrangements and about Martindale Hall. Rachael Roberts was not originally picked to be Mrs. Applelyard but the woman that was got sick and had to withdraw.

There was a problem casting the girls since the ones he first saw were too worldly, too sophisticated. He also talks about the gym scene where Irma comes back and the girls turn on her. He says that you can then see how awful a crowd can be.

He says Miranda was not like the other girls, that she knew things the other girls did not know. He adds that for the girls locked up at the age they were and in a basically desolate place they could get crushes on another girl and that there was a sort of sexual energy there.

He talks about the music and a 'signature sound.'