EVENT: What About Sal? A QnA with John Jarratt & Gerard O'Dwyer

In conversation with John Jarratt and Gerard O'Dwyer

“Rarely do you get the opportunity…to meet a filmstar on your horror “Mount Rushmore”…but here I stood with invitation in hand, to sit with the gods on Mt Olympus…”

Set the Scene:

It’s difficult to express in words the utter malfunction occurring in my brain as I entered the cinema doors to the QnA screening of What About Sal? (2024), a film advertised as a sweet family drama, only to be greeted on entry by none other than Australian screen legend and director John Jarrett himself. Rarely do you get the opportunity as a film fan to meet those on your “Mount Rushmore”, and rarer still for those whose horror icons are closer to deities than mere screen legends. And yet there I stood with a home grown Robert Englund, Brad Dorif or Kane Hooder, and he was greeting me at the door. Forget Rushmore, for $14.50 I stood with an invitation in hand to sit with the gods on Mt Olympus. Bargain.

To put it simply: as a child this man scared the shit out of me. Jarratt doesn’t know this, but I assume it’s a sentiment not unfamiliar, and probably very clear from the look on my face. As a former-8-year-old turned 20-something afflicted with an incurable, life long love for horror due in large part to Jarratt’s incomparable portrayal of Mick Taylor in Wolf Creek (2005) and a questionable lack of censorship on my parents part, I was in awe. With a short handshake and a mumble of thanks-its-great-to-meet-you, I barely get much out besides a nod of my head. Making my way to the bar to get myself the necessary tools to ask for a photo, I observe the unassuming, shaggy haired, bespectacled Jarratt as he greets, jokes, corrals and shuffles new comers like a lively court jester towards the cinema to take their seats.

I get some joy revisiting the same internal rollercoaster appear on the faces of those just arriving as they realise the murderous monster of movie nights past is currently their door greeter, and usher to boot. These observations lasts only a short while as Jarratt approaches me (oh god) and asks what I’m drinking. Better prepared this time, we have a short discussion about the film and of course of my appreciation for his former outback killer role. I am cognisant that Jarratt wrote, starred in and directed What About Sal? and these days he probably has more to say about that. It is there that he is approached by cinema staff with a beer to which he responds “Not mine, I don’t drink. Too old to fight”. Olympus man, Olympus.

This conversation is broken by the entrance of lead actor Gerard O’Dwyer who becomes the cause of much fanfare, as the embrace between Jarratt and O’Dwyer beams genuine love between the two, and one I hope is reflected in the film about to play. With the cast assembled, the lobby-loitering stragglers like myself in congregation with the stars of the film head for the cinema. Sensing some lethargy, Jarratt sarcastically asks if I’m watching the film tonight. I nod. What unfolds becomes a treasured memory, as a mean Mick Taylor smile emerges, accompanied with a guttural “you better get the fuck in there then”. I am nothing short of thrilled. Olympus, I mumble.

Jarratt and O’Dwyer take the centre stage, with Jarratt providing a slapstick Elvis impression, entertaining the room as the last few patrons take their seats. Jarratt identifies the last few coming in “Oh no rush, just a hundred or so people waiting on you its all good”. With a short introduction and a thank you, Jarratt slyly suggests that he asks nothing more than that you have a box of tissues with you. With that, the lights dim and we are treated to What About Sal?

This piece is dedicated to the QnA experience of the showing, and if you want my review you can find it here:

What About Sal? Love, loss and faith: John Jarratt's new film tugs at the heartstrings.

Read on for a recount of the post-show QnA.

QnA:

“We are what we are in life, and we deserve to be treated like anybody else…everyone wants to make a difference if given a chance. Please, never put anyone down. Just treat them as equal…”

As the credits roll on What About Sal? and applause begins to taper off, Jarrat and O’Dwyer take centre stage. After a quick thank you, Jarratt asks for questions:

Where did the idea for the film come from?

John Jarratt (JJ): I was at a Rugby League game with a friend, actually you know the guy that was going to skin me alive in the film? He's actually a very good friend of mine. He just played himself. He's not an actor. So we were at a Rabbitohs V Manly game, and I go for South Sydney of course. We beat the crap out of Manly and we were in the stands with this Downs Syndrome man who was about Gerards age. He was there with his mum who was in her 70’s I would say. Every time we scored a try this guy went crazy. We had an afternoon of pure exuberance, and walking back after I said to myself, I wonder what would happen if she died and then he had nobody. And I thought, that’s a bloody good idea for a film. I thought, my god we would need a good Downs Syndrome actor, or just a good actor full stop. I knew this guy who won Tropfest in 2009 (pointing to O’Dwyer), as best actor…and who gave you..

Jarrat turns to O’Dwyer

JJ:…:Who gave you $3000 again?

Gerard O’Dwyer (GO): Nicole Kidman sponsored me $3,000.

(applause)

JJ: Nicole paid him $3,000. Yeah, so that was great, and I knew he could do it. And so I wrote the bare bones of the script in my head, and then I went and saw him and his mum. And we had a discussion about it, actually why don’t you tell them all about that.

GO: Thank you, JJ. Yeah, so like what John said, when I first met John, John had a two-man show at Riverside Theatre in Parramatta. He had a meeting with my mother. And I've known John since McCleods Daughters, but he left that show in 2005. Had a meeting with my mother, and then John said to my mother, “Hey, Mrs. Anne, all the while, would you like your son to be in my next film?” And she said, why not?

(laughter)

No, no, no, she did. She did. Because it's an opportunity, and you should never say no to an opportunity like that. And that's how I met John, and I knew I loved him, and I still do.

(applause).

John, I was wondering, who taught you how to sing those songs?

JJ: Who taught me to sing the songs? I just got a natural, fabulous singing voice. I was born with it. My mother and father gave it to me, and they would sing and dance me around. If I didn't get into NIDA, I was going to be a rock and roll singer.

GO: And I can sing too, so…

(laughter)

JJ: Anyway, back to the acting.

We've got a couple of questions about your singing. Do you want to talk about your songs in the movie? Did you sing Amazing Grace?

JJ: I did sing Amazing Grace, and then I sang The Rock Song at the end. And my brother, who's sadly not with us anymore, sang a fair few of the songs. And the song when I got really sick, that beautiful song. We have that at the end of Savage's Crossing, too. And we thought, it's a fabulous song. Yes, I sang a fair bit of it. Great soundtrack. My cello composer is fantastic.

How many friends were in the movie? I spotted a few from The Last Outlaw.

Oh, yes. Yes, I played Ned Kelly in The Last Outlaw. And is there anyone old enough to remember that? Yes. Yeah. I played Ned Kelly, and we had Kaarin Fairfax who played my little sister. That's the gal who played his mum (pointing to O’Dwyer). The guy who ran the group house, he was in The Last Outlaw. One of the guys who said, “I did everything, I did this, I did that, and I DIY'd my life”. He's actually the director of The Last Outlaw. We roped him in. And Herbie Richards, he played Steve Hart in The Last Outlaw. So it was quite a bunch of us.

Oh, Peter Hehir, here's a good one. Now, just put your hands up, don't yell it out, all right? Because this is really good, you're going to love this. Peter Hehir played the derelict, right? Yes. Okay. He also played, and don't yell it out. I just wanted to see hands go up. He also played another major character in the film. What was it? How many hands have we got? One up here. Okay. You got your hand up first. Who did you play?

Audience Member: The doctor.

JJ: The doctor. The derelict played the doctor. He's an amazing actor, Peter Hehir. One of Australia's greatest actors. He gave up in the 80s because he's a pain in the arse. He's a great actor, but he's a pain in the arse. He's the first to admit it. He said to me, I look back, John, and all I can see is smouldering bridges. That's one of his lines. And he wasn't wearing a wig or a beard. He grew that hair for how long? It took three years to get the film up and he’s method, you know, method acting. We had to shoot the derelict first, and then he shaved all his hair off. And the guy turned up with his shaved head and everything, like three days after he played the derelict and he starts talking to Mikey the camera guy, and he said, “okay man, who are you? You're playing the doctor, aren't you?”. He said “Yeah, Mikey…” and he said “It's Peter.” Oh, Peter who? “Peter Hehir. I played the derelict”. He goes… Peter! (surprised). Anyway, I digress.

John in this film, you wrote, directed and acted in it. When you just act in a movie, do you find that you want to direct as well?

JJ: Depends how shithouse the director is. I think about 50% of the time I've directed myself, and, you know, nodded to the director and made it out like he thought he was directing. If they're good directors, no. I mean, like the guy who directed Wolf Creek is a really good director. So I'm lucky when I get a good director. I knew Peter Weir was a good director. I did Picnic At Hanging Rock back before… most of you were born. And I just knew Weir was a good director.

There is another really good director, he's in this room, Chris Sun. He's got another film coming up, so I'm sucking up to him here. We did Boar together. He's one to watch.

Chris Sun: We love you John!

JJ: Thank you, I think I've got my part. Suck, suck, suck, suck, suck.

I actually have a question about the age for when down syndrome people are allowed to just be seen as an adult. I actually have no idea if that was a thing until watching this. So where does that all stand in Australia? Like, where do they consider an adult where they don't need supervision?

GO: I do, because I speak from experience.

(laughter)

No, I do, I do. I do. I do speak from experience. I know what it's like to be my age as a person with Downs Syndrome. You know, it's a condition but there's stereotypes. We smash the stereotypes. We smash the barriers. And we break those barriers head on. But that does not stop me from acting and achieving in life.

(applause)

Because all those people like me are genuine. Because they have so much to give. They are loved unconditionally by my family. But the person who's my family, who's here in the audience, is my handsome brother, Dennis O'Dwyer.

JJ: Yeah, they are emotionally intelligent human beings on the planet Earth. And they're capable of unconditional love. And I believe that 98% of them are happy. And there's not many people in this room who are capable of unconditional love. We all try to achieve it. And they're extraordinary people. And he doesn't have Downs Syndrome.

GO: I don't have that syndrome, but I am. I am a working class actor with Downs Syndrome.

JJ: What we're talking about is, people don't say, I have African-American or African-Australian. You don't have it. You are, aren't you? And that's what Gerard feels. He doesn't have something. He is something. It's very important.

Was the Queensland football player Kevin Walters playing in the movie as an extra?

JJ: No. And I know Kevin Walters because I'm kind of raised in Queensland. My teenage years, I was in Queensland. I lost my virginity in Queensland. So I figure that's more important than New South Wales. I remember that a lot more. And so I go for the mighty Maroons. So no, Kevin Walters definitely wasn't in there because I know who he is.

First of all, a statement. I'm a Manly supporter and a New South Wales supporter. So that was incredibly disappointing.

JJ: Stop. That's not your fault.

I do work for the NDIS as a support worker. So this is a great film in my opinion. But I just wanted to know what your experiences were with people with disabilities prior to the film and what your experiences were after. And if you learned anything or anything changed along the way while you were making it.

JJ: Well, I had very little to do with that area because it didn't cross my path. The closest I got to it, I had a friend when I was a kid who had Down syndrome. And he was about five years older than me. And we used to muck about. Eddie was his name. And he used to sit on me and nearly kill me. Suffocating.

But I hadn't spent a lot of time with people with disabilities until now. And he (O’Dwyer) is like a surrogate son to me now. So I've learned a lot. I had to learn a lot. And Gerard was responsible for what we call the co-writing of the script. But what it was was I sat with Jared so that I could understand how he thinks, how he speaks. And they take things literally. Jared takes things literally with things that don't come across him. Things like, when we were talking about the one night stand, of course, when you're talking about it, you say: when he had the one night standing with my mother, I thought, that's going in.

(laughter)

So that's how we worked together. And I got to know how he feels, how he thinks. And that extraordinary thing of emotional intelligence that I don't have. And I had to put that in there. So that's how we worked together on the script all the time.

With the Rebel sports scene…

JJ: Bastards!! We give them all that free advertising, and they didn't give us anything. They didn't give back. I sent them the movie. We did everything. And we thought, oh, they’ll give us some money. But then it was time to give us some money, give us some help. Yeah.

My question actually was, did they give you, like, any sort of training to open the store, where they're just like, here's the keys, go now?

JJ: No, no, no, no. They were there. They told us to push that button.

Oh, OK, right…

JJ: Yeah. But we're pretty smart, us actors.

What's next for you two?

GO: That’s an easy one.

JJ: I've got another script called My Brother's Dog, and there's a really wonderful part for Jared in that. So hopefully that'll happen towards the end of the year. And, but yeah, he's in it.

How did you fund it?

JJ: With great difficulty. Well, I raised it. I mean, I had to raise it. It was a $2 million movie. And I managed to raise $1.4 million with 17 investors and it was a long hard process. I don’t like getting government money. I don’t vote or encourage them. And got cashflow from the rebates so. It was a long process, but worth it.

That was terrific thanks so much…

JJ: Thank you.

How's the film being released?

JJ: As fast as possible.

(laughter)

We've got cinemas in Brisbane. We've got the Dendys. There's two Dendys in Coorparoo and Harbourside. And we're doing Southport Dendy tomorrow. And we've got this theater. And then we've got, and we premiered in the Dendy in Newtown. And we're going down to the Nova in Carlton. So we've got the city first. And in May I'll be bringing up all these regionals. Which are great because they love Aussie movies. And so we're going to push it out into the regionals in May/June. And that'll be just about it, you know. It's just a question of ringing em up. Giving them the film, hoping like hell they like it. And say they'll give it a run. It's not easy.

The Palace films might be worth approaching.

JJ: Thanks mate, yeah I didn’t think of that.

(Laughter)

Yeah, we've approached them. We've approached everybody, don't you worry. Thanks anyway.

I just wanted to thank you guys. My 15 year old daughter has Down syndrome and autism. And this is a question that's been a real fear for us. Is what happens when we go. And it's made us have the conversation. These two lovely ladies here are her support workers. And we're glad that we’ve had the conversation that they would like to share custody of her. Incase it happens to us. But yeah, it was because of this film that we sort of had that discussion. And my husband didn't actually come because he said it's too upsetting, said he can't watch it. But you know, I just wanted to say thank you. It's actually having a real impact on real people. It's really important.

(Applause)

JJ: And I can say that back in my day, Down Syndrome people were lucky to get past 35. Because A, a lot of the times they were put in homes and disregarded. And B, the diet back then wasn't as good. And now Jared is a physical specimen like you wouldn't believe. He works out with his brother. Muscles over there. And he looks after himself. And he eats well. And if he does have sugar he goes and burns it off. And Jared's 40. And he looks good for 40. So this is the biggest secret problem that we were told by Down syndrome New South Wales, is that they're going to live a life just like everyone else now. That they're being treated properly. And so yeah, their mums and dads are going to pass away. And some of them are going to be, you know, want to have someone like Dennis. So yeah, it can be pretty hard. And it's the biggest single problem.

There's a great solution to it. A lot of them feel very comfortable on their own. And you know, they're very capable people.

Okay, now there's one thing I'll say for us older people. Word of mouth. Tell everyone about this film, please. Tell everyone to get out and see the film. Because if they go in the first week, which is now, guess what, it'll be one in the second week. You think, I'll go see that film in a couple of weeks, it might not be there. And then if you go in the first week, then that mob of people are going to tell someone else. And the film can turn into a hit. But that's how you do it. So word of mouth is just telling your friends and family. I don't understand FaceTube. I'm a techno-pessimist. I'm not up with FaceTube.

GO: I hope you enjoyed the film. I hope you had a great night. One quick thing before we wrap up. This is a message that I normally deliver. It's about equality. We are what we are in life, and we deserve to be treated like anybody else. We like to be, everyone wants to make a difference if given a chance. Please, never put anyone down. Just treat them as equal. Thank you.

Catch future screenings of What About Sal? accompanied by QnA’s with John Jarratt and Gerard O’Dwyer coming to a cinema near you.