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Thank God He Met LizziePRODUCTION NOTES.
About The Story.
For First-time feature CHERIE NOWLAN, the moment she heard writer ALEXANDRA LONG pitch the idea for THANK GOD HE MET LIZZIE at film school, it was a film she wanted to make.
The story was funny, intelligent, contemporary and unlike any other Australian film.
"It looked at the issue of serial monogamy - the way modern romantic lives are conducted - in a way that had never been done before on film. THANK GOD HE MET LIZZIE is a 'thirtiessomething story' and I certainly related to it personally, but the magic thing about the script is that everyone thinks it is their story," Cherie explains.
"Alexandra Long has captured some sort of seminal experience in people's lives. I also liked the challenge of the two time-frame story - something that is difficult always appeals to me - and the way the script subverted the conventions of genre romantic comedies.
"Also, I had incredible faith in Alexandra as a writer. I knew that anything she wrote I would want to direct."
Alexandra and Cherie met at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS). Alexandra, a published novelist, was studying scriptwriting full time. Cherie was completing a short writing course. They became friends immediately and subsequently collaborated on two short films - Lucinda 31 which Cherie directed and wrote as an adaptation from an Alexandra Long short story and Out, scripted by Alexandra and produced by Cherie.
Lucinda 31 was selected to screen at the prestigious New Films, New Directors Festival (1996) in New York and so impressed Producer Jonathan Shteinman he was confident of Cherie Nowlan's ability to release a full-length feature.
"Lucinda 31 had energy and pace which really appealed to me and I took the simplistic view that that was a good start. I've worked with first-time directors before and if you are looking for diligence, their preparation and enthusiasm is fantastic, and in this country they are very technically skilled.
"Also, Alexandra Long is a brilliant writer and had written a script that not only I could relate to, but drew the same response from a lot of people."
The idea for THANK GOD HE MET LIZZIE came to Alexandra Long about ten years ago. She said she was in her 'long twenties relationship', the equivalent of the Guy and Jenny story in the film, at the time and she was interested in exploring the notion of the passing of infatuation.
As her own relationship ended, the idea for the film changed.
"I wanted to set the story at a wedding, because that would be the most tragic time to remember a past infatuation....not that I thought of any of my old boyfriends at my wedding!," she says.I wanted to explore the contrast between people's public and private lives so the close, almost claustrophobic flat scenes between Guy and Jenny contrast with the very public occasion of the wedding.
"Human beings are always fighting two very strong and conflicting desires, to get alone and get naked, and to go out and make a public statement about who we are in the world. A wedding brings both of these things together. It is a very public party to celebrate a very private love...it's just that Guy is wondering if he is celebrating the right love."
THANK GOD HE MET LIZZIE is not so much a romantic comedy - although chock-full of both hilarious and romantic moments - but a comment on romantic comedies and the whole nature of romance.
The film asks the questions 'what is love?', 'what is love at first sight?', 'Can love at first sight be trusted?' Alexandra wanted to explore the modern notion that 'the magic' should last forever. "I believe that on a long term basis, love is more subtle, meaningful and hard to define," she says.
"As well as examining the wisdom of instant attraction and making a lifetime commitment on that basis - which is one of the myths of romantic comedy - the film challenges the classic romantic comedy myth that the protagonists have a blank past or unfulfilling past relationships....that they just sort of arrive, fresh, to the relationship.
THANK GOD HE MET LIZZIE doesn't deny the reality of romance, because it is very real and very powerful, but it is 'cheap'. A long-term association is more 'expensive', it can end up costing you more because you just can't throw it away, but it is more emotionally rewarding."
Cherie Nowlan continues: "Like all serial monogamists, Guy believes that his next relationship will be an improvement on the last. When he 'fell in love' with Jenny , that feeling didn't last. He concluded that this was because she wasn't 'the right girl' and they split up.
"When he marries Lizzie he is still in the 'in love' phase. Lizzie's image has not become tainted by reality - yet. But throughout the course of the wedding reception - and the film - the veil is lifted."
The rules of the romantic comedy genre are strict but in THANK GOD HE MET LIZZIE they are subverted and played with. The film is surprising and shocking as a result.
The film uses many icons of romantic comedy and the tone of romantic comedy. For example, within the first half hour of the film there is a full romantic comedy plot. Guy's need for a partner is established, he has several failed - and very funny - dates, and then, in cute circumstances, meets the perfect woman.
"What's different about THANK GOD HE MET LIZZIE is that half an hour into the film you're already at the wedding. Then the film changes tone and begins to ask questions," Alexandra says.
Director Cherie Nowlan reminds that, ultimately, THANK GOD HE MET LIZZIE, is great entertainment: "Perhaps the most challenging aspect of the film was to keep everyone's sympathies. How do you subvert the normal rules of romantic comedy - which is that the hero and heroine get together in the end - and not lose the audience and not cheat them on a satisfying film experience."
Says Co-Producer Carol Hughes: "it is a very sophisticated, biting and bold comedy."