Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News Talks EDB.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
So the wonderful Morgana O'Reilly here's a bit of a
regular to the show. The first time she appeared on
the Sunday Session was to talk about her stage show,
Stories About My Body. Now the show was a smash
hit and morgana has turned it into a film, Stories
About My Body. The film has its world premiere today,
and Morgana O'Reilly joins me, good morning, Happy Mother's Day.
Oh my gosh, Happy Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
I'm trying to put more confidence in my voice.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Pads good on news.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Second time.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
We have spoken about that in previous interviews, haven't we now?
Tell me whose idea was it to take the successful
stage show and then turn it into a film adapt
it into a film.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
I think this was my practical mom brain at work yep,
having performed the show a bunch of times and like
feeling what it made people feel. I wrote it initially
because it was the show I needed to see and
I wanted to talk about this stuff. And then when
I started performing, it became very apparent that it wasn't
just my story.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
It was touching.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
It was touching people, not physically and with full consent,
but when people responded to it the way that they did.
And then again so practical brand goes.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Okay, should we tour it?
Speaker 3 (01:17):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Could we?
Speaker 3 (01:18):
We could do it in Australia, we could take it
to Edinburgh. I don't. I can't afford that. I mean,
I also have to spend a lot of time away
from my kids to do that. Hmm hmm. Wait wait,
my husband marry married to a drink.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Why the hell did.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
I marry this guy if it wasn't for him to
make all my films, my film dreams come to life.
And I thought, oh my god, pretty good in front
of a camera. But anyway, so I thought, this is
a way for it to live on beyond me.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
There is a lot of very personal information in the film.
So was it actually easier to do it with Peter
with your husband? Did that make a difference when it
came to sort of putting it up on the big
screen or were you two so used to the content
by the.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
You're used to the content?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Probably?
Speaker 3 (02:05):
And also Pete is really he is a very particular
He's really particular in his storytelling. So we found a
really interesting both of us learning at the start of
the film. On stage, it turns out it's way easier
to pull the handbrake and just veer tonally from like
(02:26):
ha ha ha to pathos ha ha ha pathos, And
on screen it's harder to do that because you can
feel it when you're watching audiences kind of like yeah, okay,
and so what are you trying to say and having
to temper some of the early pathotic Is that a word? No,
that's not a word, but you know what I mean? Yeah,
those moments and Pete, even though he's my beautiful partner, husband, man,
(02:54):
father and my children, he was not like he didn't
let out because of our relationship. He's like, no, no,
I think that's not going to work. Let's take it
out if that's what you mean. You know, I don't know.
Did it make it easier? And then weirdly, probably because
it's coming from a partner, that makes it more annoying.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Right, it makes me so nice? Yeah. The film starts
with a hilarious introduction, which is a little bit like
a nightmare for most of us. If you're running late
and you are literally running to the theater, but you're
wrapped in a towel and a shower cap and the
next thing you know, you're half naked on stage and
you're getting your costume on. That is a very brave start.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Well, I just want to prove to my audience, like
we're just we're not going to beat around the bush here.
Let's just get into it, bobs of fan a, let's
get it all on the table.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
And that's exactly how it comes across. A really great
way to break down the wall between you and the audience. Okay, good,
is that what you were trying to do?
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Definitely? Okay, but you know, you can only hope that
that's what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
But we do see quite a lot of you in
this film, more Ghana. How do you handle the nudity?
Does it phase you?
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Does it phase me? I don't know. It's sort of
like my brain gets split into two things. For a
while there, the film was sitting with a possible distributor
when it was still in the process of its final cut,
and we thought we'd finished the edit. We hadn't finished
all the bells and whistles, and they sat on it
for a bit and then they came back and went, yeah, funny, yeah, cool,
cool about that nudity, And it was like, my vanity
(04:28):
brain wants to be like, get it out totally, no,
take it out of there, we don't need that. But
my creative brain, my artist heart, says I don't. Not
only do I think it will be okay, but I
actually think it might be special.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
So tell us a little bit about this show that
we're now seeing on screen in the film.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
I think now I feel a bit more comfortable as
describing it primarily as kind of a stand up special,
which it took me a little while to come to
that point because I don't actually particularly identify as a
stand up I feel stand ups are amazing, and it's
like it's not quite what I do. So I didn't
ever want to just take ownership of that title, but
(05:11):
I think it's an easier way for people to understand
what it is. It's like a stand up comedy special
of my one woman show, but with like some extra
little fancy cinematic pizazz rooney, and.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
You're sharing stories about your body from throughout your entire life. Yeah,
that's right from my little d Yeah diary entries, which.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Are thirteen year old. I think the whole thing is
essentially a love letter to her and to all of
your thirteen year old selves, all the way up until
pushing babies out of one's body.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
And we'll get to that. We'll get to you.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
I know. I don't want to alienate anybody.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Promise you, I'll promise you'll like it.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Well.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
I do want to ask you about that, though, because
as the mother of a young daughter, are you conscious
of her growing up and having a good relationship with
her body?
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Absolutely, I'm so conscious of it. Like and I was
throwing a bit of a curveball with my son the
other day because he sort of mentioned that he was
upset about how he looked, and I was like, whoa,
what I've been laying in wait about my daughter?
Speaker 2 (06:16):
No? This is oh yeah, no, okay, here we go.
Here's this bit right. First of all, you're perfect.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Second of all, those thoughts are indicative of something else.
Usually it's lack of sleep, you haven't moved your body enough,
it needs a walk or something. Basically, those thoughts aren't
real as such. They are flagged to say we need
help in another department, like again, resting, moving, eating better food.
(06:49):
And then I'll take you to the barber and get
you a nice new yircal or something.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
It's really interesting you say that, though, because, and I'm
sure that there are other mothers out there who've had
this similar experience. My son, when he was probably about fifteen,
suddenly went oh, being tall and lanky is not cool,
and it became all about the gym. And these kids
have just wanted to go to the gym. There are
so many teenage boys who are at the gym and focus.
And I hear more from him. I hear him talk
(07:15):
more about his body and things I do his younger
sister he's nineteen now, he's healthy and sensible and things
like that. But I was really taken back. I was
like you, I was preparing. I was preparing for my
daughter in the teenage years, who you know is no
more conscious of her body than you know, I don't
know anybody, but you know she's a dancer and really
(07:36):
confident in her body and doesn't give it a And interestingly,
the boys though, and I do think it takes people
by surprise, yes, And I think that really countless of
how they look.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
That's right, and where that is a problem, Like I mean,
maybe It's okay to be conscious of how you look,
it's okay to be aware in the world, but when
it becomes tethered to your value and worth, absolutely in issue.
So if your body, if you're a dancer, and it's functional,
it's doing something. And if you want to go work
out a ton because it makes you feel like a
happy brain, than good. But don't tether it. Try not
(08:10):
to let it tether to your value.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
Absolutely beautifully said. Do you think as we age we
get more comfortable with our bodies or do our concerns
just change?
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Well, I mean you tell me. Francisca Rudkin, I feel
like I feel like I came to in my mid thirties,
and that's possibly because they had kids first at thirty,
so it might be relative to that. And then I
feel like I'm still in this transition phase from I
thought when I turned forty that I'd be like ah,
(08:41):
and now I'm in my forties, but I still feel
like I'm transitioning from one archetype to another. I remember
feeling like this a little bit in my late twenties
into my early thirties, but then I had kids and
I had no time to think about it. Anymore, and
you feel it a lot as an actor, maybe because
you're casted. You're casted, you're cast in things. You start
to feel when you're too old for certain roles and
(09:02):
too young for others, So you're just more aware of
your shifts the in what you're seeing.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
As I can remember when I was at nineteen, I
did some auditions. I was terrible at them. No, I
wasn't nineteen. I must have been in my very early twenties.
I must have been about twenty one, and they asked
me to audition for a mother in her early thirties
with a couple of teenage kids.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
And I just remember looking at him, going, oh, okay,
I really I've obviously aged before my time. But I
was like, wow, I've already missed the boat just to
be my own age. Do you know what this is?
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Now? I've become obsessed with any time I watch a film,
especially some of the more older films, when there is
a love interest couple, look at how old that actresses
versus how old he is at the time of filming.
And I bet you most of the time there is
about a fifteen year age difference. So in our head,
what we think is a suitable match between a forty
(09:56):
five fifty five year old man and who's the actress
up against him. And it's not her fault. There's just
this is what we have been put that's what's been
put in our brain holes.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
So, as an actress, as someone in the public eye,
do you feel a sense of responsibility when it comes
to a certain type of woman, Yes, which.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Is so annoying. Sometimes I'm like, maybe I wish I
hadn't said anything, and I'll go and get heaps of
plastic surgery. Now I've said something. He and I freaking
live up to it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, embrace your wrinkles
and your muffin top, fire out. I do. I love it.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
What do you want women to get out of this film?
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Oh? I think mostly I want anybody who watches it
to feel just like, have a feel, have a big
old live, maybe have a big old cry, come out
feeling that beautiful dual feeling of like sentimental and uplifted,
and maybe go home and be a bit nicer to
(10:55):
your bod.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
I know that this has been such a big passion
project for you and you are just hours away from
the premiere. It's making its way into the world. How
do you feel about that?
Speaker 3 (11:05):
I like, mostly I feel great. Mostly I feel great,
but I'm pre minstrual, so I feel really anxious. I
feel more anxious than is logic. Yeah, I feel great.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
It's gonna be great.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
It's gonna be so great.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
I'm so excited. Is it's absolutely beautiful, and I think
it's something that all women can relate to, and I
think everybody will have. There'll be little moments throughout this film,
maybe not. The foot fetish work is very interesting. I
go through a foot finish space and you must go
and see it just for the foot foot fetish stories.
They are hilarious. But I think we can all remember
(11:39):
as young girls the thoughts that you've had, and then
as we sort of grow older and our bodies do
amazing things like give birth to our babies, we kind
of go, Okay, maybe you're not so bad after all.
And that's a beautiful realization you have in the film.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Yes, thank you, perfect summation. And I promise the boys
won't be scared of it too. I've had lots of
dads come up to me afterwards.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
I remember the perth of my daughter. I filmed it,
and it just took.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Me straight backer.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Oh you weren't. It's not about you. I love it.
I love it, MORGANA I Riley, best of luck with
the film, and thank you so much for coming in
and talking to us today.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
I love it every time.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
For more information and tickets, head to Comedy Festival dot co,
dot m Z. Coming up next, we have the panel
It's nineteen fast eleven.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talk z B from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.