"December Boys"
"December Boys Trailer" - First Look
"December Boys" - In Theaters September 14, 2007
"Daniel Radcliffe Naked" in "Equus"
"Daniel Radcliffe" in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"
"December Boys" tells the story of four orphan teenagers growing up behind the closed doors of a Catholic convent in outback Australia. For years the boys watch younger kids leave with their newly adopted parents and have come to the realization their time may never come. The Reverend Mother gives the boys something to look forward to by sending them to visit the seaside for the first time. Their long awaited vacation doesn’t turn out the way they planned until they meet Teresa & Fearless, a young autocratic couple that would make the perfect parents. As men, they remember back to the '60s when, as boys, they spent their first tumultuous summer by the sea as they sabotaged each others efforts to be the chosen one only to discover the real meaning behind what it is to be a family, i.e. one of the “December Boys.” Based on the classic novel of the same name by Michael Noonan. "December Boys." (Sounds a little like "Cider House Rules," which became an Oscar winner.)
"December Boys" Movie Showtimes
STARRING: Daniel Radcliffe, Teresa Palmer, Christian Byers, Lee Cormie, James Fraser, Jack Thompson, Kris McQuade, Suzie Wilks, Victoria Hill, Sullivan Stapleton
DIRECTOR: Rod Hardy
STUDIO: Warner Independent Pictures
RATING: PG-13 (For mild sexual references, mild nudity, mild violence and coarse language)
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"December Boys"
Behind The Scenes
It was over ten years ago that producer Richard Becker bought the film rights to “December Boys.” Becker says that he had always enjoyed stories about humanity, friendship and love, and that he was very moved by the story of these four orphan boys: “I think everyone has a summer they can remember where they suddenly grew up, where the journey was particularly profound, where meaningful things happened. That’s what I read in this story and that was its appeal. I wasn’t an orphan and I certainly didn’t experience some of the things that they boys went through, but it still resonated with me.”
In 1998, writer Mark Rosenberg came on board the project and then, says Becker, “the script really started to take shape. By 2000, we had a script I was truly proud of and we started to work on putting the finance together.” By that time, Becker had asked Rod Hardy to direct the film.
Says Hardy: “I thought it was a magic story. I’ve always been attracted to films about people growing up, and this story has a particular charm about it.”
CASTING THE FILM
Daniel Radcliffe plays Maps, the oldest of the boys. Christian Byers plays Spark, Lee Cormie plays Misty and James Fraser plays Spit. Lee and Christian both had some acting experience, but James had none.
Daniel had only a short window of time available between filming the fourth and fifth “Harry Potter” films, so once he was on board casting the other boys around him was the producers’ main concern. Says Becker: “Casting the other three boys was very difficult. We had to find young boys who could deliver their roles and who looked good together as a group.” The search went right across Australia and New Zealand, and over 1,000 boys were seen before the final three were chosen.
Daniel Radcliffe says he had always planned to make another movie between the fourth and fifth “Harry Potter” films. “I was sent a lot of scripts but none of them really appealed to me,” said Radcliffe. “When I read DECEMBER BOYS I loved it. It was a very simple story but I thought it was very beautiful. And my character Maps is very, very different to Harry, so I knew that would be a challenge for me. I’ve been playing Harry Potter for five years, so it was quite amazing to do something different. Hopefully people will see me in a new light after this.”
Having Daniel on board was a big plus for the other boys. Becker exclaimed, “The day Daniel arrived on set his professionalism and focus really lifted the other boys and he really helped to glue them together. He’s a consummate performer and an extraordinary actor.”
Christian Byers (Spark) said, “Spark is the real fun loving guy of the four. He looks at all the lingerie ads, he smokes, he’s out there looking for fun. He was a great character to play.” Christian says that the four of them were great friends: “We had heaps of fun making the film. And I really liked the fact that the story was about four boys whose friendship brings them together – and it’s about going through tough times together, and sticking together.”
Lee Cormie (Misty) added, “Misty is the youngest, but he’s the most mature. He’s the one that says ‘don’t do that, don’t do this’, and he makes his hair nice and tucks his shirt in. I really liked the story and I thought it was very well written. It’s taken the producers 14 years to make this film – that’s before I was born!” Lee says how much he enjoyed working with Daniel, “He’s a great bloke! I thought it was fantastic that he was going to be in the film and I was very excited to meet him. He’s really nice. He’s also very focused. It was a great learning experience for me because I could just follow in his footsteps.”
James Fraser (Spit) said, “When I first read the script I just knew that I would love to be in this film. I play Spit – a character who loves himself and thinks that the sun doesn’t rise without his permission! Maps is his idol though: he sees him as a parental figure.” For James, staying in focus was the hardest challenge, “I have a very happy home life but Spit doesn’t. So I had to imagine how that would feel and then keep that feeling for long periods of time. That was the most difficult part.”
For director Rod Hardy it was very important that “we find four boys who had chemistry together but who also had the maturity to understand the work and the hard effort that goes into making a film. I found all that with these four boys – they were fantastic.” Adds producer Richard Becker, “The four of them made a great combination. There’s a real friendship between them that radiates from the screen and that was very central to making this film work.”
LOCATION
The film was made on location in Adelaide and Kangaroo Island, with interiors at the South Australian Film Corporation Studio. Directed Rod Hardy had worked some years ago on Kangaroo Island, “I knew what a unique place it is. The script called for a Cove where the film is set that was beautiful, but also desolate. Coves aren’t that easy to find but the one at Kangaroo Island was perfect. It sits directly west so the sun sets between the headlands and gives it a magical feeling. We were also able to build our own town there. It meant we could work out of Adelaide and film there, but then not have too far to travel to Kangaroo Island.”
Adds producer Richard Becker, “South Australia has an unusual coastline that you don’t often find, which was perfect for this film. In addition to Kangaroo Island, we also filmed at The Remarkables, at Admiral’s Arch and at Secret Valley. So it’s a compilation of locations that blend together to form the imaginary Cove where our characters live.”
LOOK OF THE FILM
The film begins in the outback, but rather than making it a very red, very hot looking location, as we’ve seen so many times before, the producers kept a much more subdued feel to the outback scenes. Says Hardy, “There’s a feeling in the orphanage that the Catholic Church is very much overseeing these boys, so we went for very subdued color. As we progress through the story, the colors get brighter, and when they arrive at the carnival there’s a dancing of lights and the colors are getting richer. By the time we get to the Cove and the boys run freely across the sand, the sea is sparkling and the sky is really blue. The change also progresses the mood of the film.”
The film’s design, says producer Richard Becker, was larger than life. That’s because we’re watching the film through the thoughts and memories of a now adult Misty. “Our memories are always different from reality,” says Becker. “When many of us go back to look at the house we grew up in, it’s always much smaller than we remembered it as a child. So we enhanced the design and the look of the film to reflect that.”
DANIEL RADCLIFFE (Maps)
Directly after filming DECEMBER BOYS, 16 year-old Daniel Radcliffe once again reprised the role of Harry Potter in HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, his fifth film in the blockbuster “Harry Potter” series.
Daniel Radcliffe then went on to appear naked, full frontal, in the West End revival of "Equus."
Playing the role of young Harry Potter has won Daniel worldwide acclaim and the Variety Club of Great Britain’s Best Newcomer Award, presented in February 2002. In April 2002, he was also honored with the prestigious David Di Donatello Award presented by Italy’s Ente David Di Donatello - for his superb portrayal of Harry and for his contribution to the future of cinema. And most recently, in March 2006, the UK’s leading film magazine Empire honored Daniel and his co-stars with the Outstanding Contribution Award for their continued highly-acclaimed portrayal of the world’s most-loved teenager.
Daniel Radcliffe first appeared on British television in December 1999 when he played the young David Copperfield in BBC television's highly acclaimed production of “David Copperfield”. The drama which was directed by Simon Curtis, also starred Dame Maggie Smith who appears alongside him now as Professor McGonagall .
Prior to filming the first ”Harry Potter” feature, he made his feature film debut as Jamie Lee Curtis' and Geoffrey Rush's on-screen son in John Boorman's THE TAILOR OF PANAMA. In November and December of 2002 he was also the ‘Surprise Guest’ at several performances of the Olivier Award-winning comedy The Play What I Wrote, directed by Kenneth Branagh, at Wyndhams Theatre in London’s West End.
CHRISTIAN BYERS (Spark)
Christian Byers received the kind of 11th birthday present most young people only dream about – a telephone call saying he had won a lead role of ‘Ashmol’ in the feature film OPAL DREAM. Now 12, his role as Spark in DECEMBER BOYS, is Christian’s second movie role.
Christian first expressed an interest in acting at the age of five, but was encouraged by his parents to develop a wide range of interests, from sport to music, before trying his hand at performance. His instinctual talent landed him his first lead role at the age of ten, as ‘Romeo’ in a school performance of Romeo and Juliet.
Christian recently traveled to the Berlin Film Festival with his young co-star in OPAL DREAM, Sapphire Boyce, where audiences all assumed they really were brother and sister based on their convincing on-screen performances. Christian has undertaken two Gerrick workshops with the University of New South Wales and a summer acting course at Australia’s National Institute of Dramatic Art.
LEE CORMIE (Misty)
When he was six, Lee Cormie’s parents answered an ad in their local paper in which a Melbourne-based talent agent was seeking children with acting potential. They applied and Lee was signed up. His first big break came in a series of advertisements for Tip Top bread. That was followed by other commercials for The Melbourne Zoo, Ansett AFL Cup and McCleans Toothpaste. Since then other credits include a guest role in the TV series “Blue Heelers” and “Fergus McPhail,” as well as starring roles in the films DARKNESS FALLS and THE SITUATION ROOM.
JAMES FRASER (Spit)
James enrolled at a Performing and Creative Arts High School last year, with the view to developing his art work. He had never had any acting lessons before, but proved himself to be a natural in drama classes, with a wonderful memory for learning lines and showing no signs of inhibition at all. He now undertakes ten hours of acting every week and last year attended three drama workshops run by Toni Higginbotham, Kirstie McGregor and Tom McSweeney.
Kirstie McGregor was very impressed with James and cast him in an Ingham Chicken commercial in a featuring role of a "Teaser". Throughout the year, James auditioned for various other commercials and series.
In 2004, James was a contestant on Channel 7's “Go-Go-Stop” and was also selected to test for “Australia’s Brainiest Kid”. He has consistently been ranked in the top 10% of his class, in both Primary and High School, has a great sense of humor and loves a good laugh.
SULLIVAN STAPLETON (Fearless)
Sullivan Stapleton has worked in both film and television since graduating from Sandringham Secondary College, most notably on the long-running popular drama, “The Secret Life of Us,” for Network Ten, in which he played the character of ‘Justin’ for two years. More recently Sullivan worked with Sigrid Thornton in the role of ‘Father Martin‘ on the Australian telemovie, “Little Oberon”.
Sullivan’s other television credits include roles in some of Australia’s most popular series, “Blue Heelers”, “Neighbours,” “Halifax FD,” “Good Guy Bad Guys,” “Raw FM,” “MDA,” “Something in the Air,” and “Stingers.”
In 2003, Sullivan played one of the leading roles alongside Hugo Weaving, in the dramatic short film EVERYTHING GOES, an adaptation of a Raymond Carver story. Other feature films include DARKNESS FALLS, CITY LOOP, Nadia Tass’ award-winning AMY, and RIVER STREET.
