Q&A with Louise Wadley - Director, All About E
JUNE IS LGBTQ PRIDE MONTH AND THE DECKIE IS SCREENING ALL ABOUT E – A FILM in which the title character is gay, but not what the film is about. We had a chat to the film’s writer and director Louise Wadley.
In a nutshell, what is All About E about?
It’s about courage, learning to accept who you are, and finding your true north.
The character of E is gay, Australian and Lebanese – why was it important for the film’s protagonist to have these elements?
You know, when you turn on the TV or an Aussie film you just don’t see modern Australia. I was fed up with the fact that unless you turned on a reality TV show like The Voice or X-Factor, you never saw the multicultural Australia most of us live in. And if you do those character’s narratives were often defined exclusively by their ethnicity or cultural background. It’s the same with gay stories. Instead of just being a part of who they are, the character’s sexuality is often what the whole story is about – it’s so limiting. And very few films have complex, interesting and nuanced female protagonists. With All About E, I wanted to a make a film for everybody, irrespective of cultural background, age or sexuality; a feel-good story with universal themes about identity, family and belonging, but with a modern day Australian heroine. And I think E is just that.
As a film director, you’ve got two docos and two short films under your belt, what inspired you to make this feature-length romance/drama/comedy?
For me stories are stories, whether documentary or fiction. I really wanted to explore some more interesting themes using the vehicle of a multi-genre comedy that would be accessible to a broad audience. E’s story is something that many different people can relate to. And I got to direct action, comedy and drama, as well as working with children, animals and large crowd scenes. For a low budget feature that is really unusual. It was a great experience even if my producer wanted to kill me sometimes!
Is writing and directing for film something you’re planning on continuing?
Definitely – I have the bug! I don’t think I could stop now.
Is there anything else exciting in the pipeline you can tell us about?
Yes! I love series like Broadchurch and Homeland so I’m developing a long form TV series. I’ve also written a period drama set in England that was a semi-finalist in the Nicholls Script Competition – that’s the Oscars for unproduced screenplays. It needs about $30 million to make, so if you know anyone who has some spare cash...
WHEN FRI 10 & FRI 17 JUN | Click here for the event listing
