March 22, 2026 • 20 mins
In this episode of TV Reload, host chats with the creative team behind Whale Shark Jack, a heartwarming family adventure film set against the stunning backdrop of Ningaloo Reef. Directors Khrob and Miranda and writer Katherine Lefroy, share the making of this cinematic gem, from its emotional depth to its authentic Australian voice. They discuss the challenges of bringing whale sharks to the screen, the power of family films, and the importance of telling stories that resonate with audiences of all ages. With a mix of humour, adventure, and heart, this conversation is a must-listen for anyone who loves film and storytelling.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's in the news today, but it was actually on
TV Reload the podcast last week their line yeaday guys,
welcome back to TV Reload, And today I have a
really lovely chat for you with a creative team behind
Whale Shark Jack. I have the directors Krob and Miranda
and writer Katherine Lefroy, and I have to say this
is one of those interviews that felt really special to
(00:20):
do because the film genuinely surprised me. It's a beautiful
family adventure set against the backdrop of Nikola Reef. But
what I really loved about it is that it managed
to feel big, cinematic and emotional whilst still somehow getting
kids to be completely connected with the story. I guess
it's made for kids, so they've done their job well.
(00:40):
And I know that because I actually watched this film
with my best friend's son, Jacob, who, to be honest,
normally says no to absolutely everything, but once this film started,
it was like magic. He crept closer to the screen,
sat down with us, and completely transfixed into this film,
which I hope other kids will do with families. Story
(01:00):
is told with heart, humor and a real sense of adventure,
but it's also a bit of a love letter to
Western Australia, to the ocean, Nigoloo, and to telling Australian
stories in an authentic voice. In this chat we get
into the making of the film, the inspirations behind it,
the challenges of bringing Whale Sharks to the screen, the
power of family films, and why this one really does
(01:22):
feel like something audiences of all ages can sit down
and enjoy together. So let's get into it. Here's my
conversation with Crob and Miranda and Katherine Lefroy from Whale
Shark Jack, now available to stream on STAN Australia. Do
we need a talking stick?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Maybe?
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Well, Catherine, I was just on your Instagram and laughing
at some of your content. You're very funny on there.
I love when you were asked about a book and
then you went to total silence and said look over
there and run away. Well, I just want to start
by saying how much I really love this film and
the reason why I love it is I have my
best friends who I spend quite a bit of time with.
(02:01):
He calls me Uncle Ben, and I struggle to find
content and things for him to do that he enjoys
because he says no to everything. So I told him
about this film and he said no, and I put
it on. It was like magic, and I think that's
the power of making content for children. But he was transfixed,
like he crept along the couch to then sit there
(02:23):
and watch it with me. And we watched it all
together with my best friend and my partner, and we're
enthralled the whole way through.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
That is just.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
That's exactly exactly what we wanted.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
We wanted to film everyone.
Speaker 5 (02:41):
You could watch with anyone in your family and everyone
would get something. You know, everyone could enjoy it together.
So that is just brilliant.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yes, thank you.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Isn't it amazing though, where you're making content for kids
like this and it does work like that, you know.
I guess you guys would have you know, thought about
kids films that you watch when you were younger, or
family adventure films. I'd say, Miranda, and would you be
able to share us one of the kids films that
you watched as a kid that might have been inspiration
for this.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
We could We could embarrass Croub quite a lot.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah, yeah, let's do that. I love to embarrass people.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
That's great, which one of the stories.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
So when we watch films as kids, Crob would then
go and become the lead character.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
So for a long time he was.
Speaker 5 (03:26):
Indiana Jones and he would run around with a backpack
full of sand to be ready at any minute.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
He went through.
Speaker 5 (03:33):
Superman fames where he would go to make Mum take
him to the phone.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Box across the street, back when their phone boxes. Yeah,
there was a young Einstein changed out of.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
The suit into the Superman. Yea, not just getting change
in the phone box.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
I'm zeroing in on the young Einstone remember that one.
Speaker 5 (03:51):
Yes, I made his guitar and would do his hair
up all big.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
That film was instrumental for me at least, because that
was the one where I sort of knew someone had
made it. I think I was old enough that I
would see interviews with Yahou Sirius and it was like, oh,
and our dad worked at the ABC for thirty six years,
so we knew that TV was a thing that was
made by people. It wasn't just this magic box in
(04:16):
the corner. But that didn't quite translate for films until yeah,
until really young Einstein. It's like, oh, there's this person
and he had a thought for a story and then
like made a movie from that and you have to
make the props and you have to.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
Do so that's yeah, that was a big, big influence
on me.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
But I think what's interesting about Yahoo Sirius making that
film Young Einstein for me was it was a bridge
point from sort of more younger films that I was watching,
sort of like a cartoon to adult storytelling in a way.
But that's similar to this. You know, I remember going
and seeing Young Einstein at the cinema with my family,
with my grandparents, and such a great memory because you
(04:55):
remember these things. And how good was the soundtrack by
the way, too, we're going off.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
On and yeah, just so important.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Our ice House, i think, is the.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Song at the end. There's no sort of story meaning
for it. It's just hey, let's let's go out on
this film in an absolute fire as he's playing a
great you know, playing a gig to the family and
friends in his community, and it's just like, oh, I
just remember feeling so elated that I had to go
and build the guitar.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Honestly, this is just something great to watch because of
those notes of like getting kids to be involved with
watching it, and I thought of BMX bandits a little
bit the action.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
Of that Yep, Gooonies stand by Me, like all those
really funny Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
But Catherine as well, I loved on your Instagram how
you mentioned about writing it sort of alludes to Australian accent,
you know, you being proud of an Australian accent. And
I love watching content, especially film and television that has
the Australian I think that's important for us to see
ourselves on screen. When you're writing, how do you go
about creating our Australian flavor?
Speaker 6 (06:08):
It's quite so. I've lived in the US for a
long time.
Speaker 7 (06:11):
We lived in the US for a long time, and
so I got quite good at discerning like an American
voice versus an Australian voice. You're gonna ask me how
I did that, and I think it was just this
intuitive thing. But I think this Australians are less I
want to say, brazen, Like we kind of talk around
things a bit more rather than get to like the
(06:33):
emotional heart like Americans do.
Speaker 6 (06:36):
So it was really fun with this.
Speaker 7 (06:38):
Film being able to just like take myself back to
like true Australian kid, like I remember what it was
like to grow up in Australia rather than try to
write it for an American audience kind of thing.
Speaker 6 (06:50):
So that was that was really fun. I mean, it
sort of just.
Speaker 5 (06:54):
Comes naturally right that we're making We're telling our own stories,
like all the people we know, so it just finds
this Australians and there.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Was no pressure to not do that. Quite the opposite
in fact.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
So for character, Oh yeah, we.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Did allow one news that's true.
Speaker 6 (07:12):
That's true.
Speaker 5 (07:13):
We were very very happy to have kar and she
bought a lovely kiwi flavor to Rosie.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Americans think New Zealand and Australia is the same thing anyway.
So I mean it really does come across like a
love letter to Ningolo as well, and I think that
that all comes across beautifully. And I also really appreciate
the realism that has been put into this film. You know,
you could very easily be making a movie about a
whale shark and just be doing CGHI, but with this
(07:41):
you really do get a sense of the animal and
human connection in this.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
Yeah, that was so important to us right from the
start was that we knew we could go there and
shoot the real whale sharks with the real actors, and
it just I mean that's sort of the magic, right,
The magic is you can go do this, and we
hope that people who watch it who maybe never even
heard of a whale shark and suddenly go, I can
(08:06):
go do that too. And so to actually capture, of course,
we couldn't have everything, really have.
Speaker 6 (08:12):
To have a few.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Yes, we won't give away the whole.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Flood, but but it's sort of fashionable when directors and
people talk about films and go, oh, yes, no CG
I or practical or practical. We had some incredible CGI
artists doing beautiful, amazing work. So I just I definitely
don't want to downplay that in any way, shape or form.
Like we used an enormous fiberglass whale shark.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
We used every trick in the book. And yes, so
we are.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
We are not ashamed of our CG. We are very proud.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
I'm actually giving a compliment to the people working on
that because I felt like so much of this was real.
I'm shocked to hear about this.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
Yeah, but the fact you can't tell where it comes
and goes, that's that's the gold, right.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
And did you and the actors feel like you never
wanted to leave from some of these locations. I can
imagine Abby and Michael would have been like, Okay, guys,
we'll just hang out here and go scuba.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
Diving for evidence.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (09:07):
She Abby was chatting in one of the epk's about
just the calmness of being in the west and there's
something about Wa and then even more so up at Ningoloo.
But just so you know, there's we're just not as
bustly maybe as some of those big cities, and.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
It's kind of lovely. We get to the beach.
Speaker 4 (09:25):
A lot and I think, you know, a lot of
less beach for two hours.
Speaker 7 (09:30):
A lot of such a fish that she just like
slotted so naturally into, you know, this Wa lifestyle of
being underwater and up at Ningoloo, you know she was
she did all of her own free diving, of her
own stumps.
Speaker 5 (09:44):
She can dive down to like nine ten meters. She
just go down, swim along next to the whale shark.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
I can hit about two and a half on a
good day.
Speaker 5 (09:54):
Like, we did some formal training and then she just
trained herself. She and she got her friends into it
so they would just be free diving on the weekends.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
In like in the lead up to the film.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
So she was just like we didn't even need doubles
for her.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
We had some and we're like, it's like, no, I'm good,
I'll go again. In fact, half time we couldn't get
it out of the wall. They're like, can you please
have a break? Put some sun creaminal, I'm fine.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
So she get to keep those flippers. That's all we
kept talking about. We were like, look at the size
of those flippers.
Speaker 6 (10:23):
Like it was so good.
Speaker 5 (10:24):
She did, and her mum called me like probably two
weeks after we'd wrapped, She's like, could you just could
you send alatics flippers and weight belt because she really
wants to go diving. Okay, coming so amazing, genuinely just
fell in love with the ocean as part of her
journey for this film, and we're so lucky.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Like we cast her for her acting, but her.
Speaker 5 (10:47):
Free diving and her genuine love for the ocean and
the whale, sharks and.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
Animals in general.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
I mean, I don't know how many pets Shit has,
but that was.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
The only interruption on set.
Speaker 5 (10:58):
If someone bought a dog near the place she was gone,
she had to.
Speaker 6 (11:02):
Go pat it.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
She carries the film not so well. I am always
so impressed with young people when they've got such an
enormous responsibility of playing this role. But I felt like
it was her that brought my little friend Jacob into
the film, you know, and that was something she did
very well, incredibly well.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
She's i mean she's very experienced at being on sets
and on beach sets with Sonic and Furiosa and everything,
but yeah, she's never had to carry an entire thing
like this and she just smashed it, yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Smatter and she was so lovely.
Speaker 5 (11:37):
So Luca and Giselle, who played the two friends, it
was actually their first film, you know, they were coming
on fresh and the way she kind of just gave
them confidence and carry them with her and the bond
the three of them formed was that also just made
it because you feel those genuine friendships between the characters,
which they're still all and they still are friends, ill
(12:00):
all friends.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
That's amazing. I mean, that's a bond for life, you know,
to bond.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
When the premiere happened at Parliament House last week, it
was the first time that got like the kids gotten
to see the film and we were lucky enough to
be seeing the road just in front of them, and
I just I spent half the film just looking back
watching them, going, God, it's awesome, you know, having a
great old time.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
So you've seen the movie, so you don't really need
to be watching it. I'd be watching them as well.
There's nothing better than watch kids watching kids enjoy something,
because it can be a little bit hard to get
their eyeballs on things. Catherine, when it comes to like
writing and creating characters, you know, did you visualize Abby
and you know Rachel Ward, Like, how did you go
(12:45):
about the process of of all of that. Did you
have people in mind? Ah?
Speaker 7 (12:49):
I did actually have, not first, not like the first
couple of drafts, but sort of later on. Definitely Abby
was in my mind, probably because I recently watched Helped
Me out Here, Jack Ryan, and I'm just I'm actually
obsessed with that show, and so I was just like, oh,
because she's so like.
Speaker 6 (13:09):
The thing that I love about Abby.
Speaker 7 (13:11):
That she brought to the role is she's so strong,
but she's got that just undercurrent of vulnerability, and you know, that.
Speaker 6 (13:17):
Was so perfect to the Nita character.
Speaker 7 (13:19):
So sort of once I had her in my head,
it was really easy to you know, find that character
as Miranda said, we had Alilah on basically from I
don't know, before I even.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
Wrote the script very good.
Speaker 7 (13:31):
Had Alilah on very early, and so you know every
tweak I made to Sarah, I definitely had a Liah
in mind. Rachel, what again, So I'm obsessed with her?
So again, well, I didn't have her in mind to
start with start with, but once she was floated as
an idea, I was just like yes and kind of
(13:51):
tweaked the character so it was very you know, a
bit more sort of earthy, I suppose.
Speaker 6 (13:56):
Then it was pretty cool Annie, so cool.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Always knew Ernie Dot would be you know, we didn't
want to be granny.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
Yeah, funny Dot. It was because, like.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
You know, as an aunt to and uncle, you had
that slightly slight remove that means you can do things
that even a grandparent couldn't get away with.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Grandparents don't want to be called grandma and grandparent anymore.
They're all sorry.
Speaker 7 (14:20):
I definitely had paranivery in mind right from the start
as well, so Rosie.
Speaker 6 (14:25):
Was written very much for her.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Before I wrap it up, I just wanted to ask
about some secrets. I always finished the podcast wanting to
know some behind the scenes secrets on some of these films.
Is there any kind of fun story that just sort
of happened behind the scenes while you were making this.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
That would imply that I remember what happened during.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
Filming, because it's a blur.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
It's a blur.
Speaker 7 (14:48):
No.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
I think the.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Funniest thing that's happened was I was watching them making
of Stranger Things season five and they were showing like
the wrap shot, like the last shot they filmed, and
then Ever's going, oh my god, Amos was facing I'm like,
what's the last shot we filmed?
Speaker 4 (15:02):
I had to call them.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Around her and so what did we do? Like, I
know it's in there, It's yeah, this was a big
It was a big film for our first shout for
our first big feature.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
That actually reminded me because that the last shot was
Sarah on her bike. But one of the probably one
of the funnest scenes was Sarah trying to get Sarah
with the EMUs.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
The EMUs walk around X mouth like that's real.
Speaker 5 (15:26):
We're like got to put the EMUs in and every
you know, every script review had come back, you know,
and we're not checking outs, and then we go to
shoot the EMUs it's like no one can find the
bloody inmies. So we get on the x mouth Facebook
group and we're like, right, if anyone has seen the EMUs,
(15:46):
this is the number to call.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
So then we had a whole town like spotting them.
They're at my house right, and we were.
Speaker 5 (15:54):
Like in the cars, A lot of the cars on
the bike.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
And cycle don't work with or what did the Americans
call them? EMUs? I think yes, I made it in
I just yeah. And to finish up, I need to
ask about working with siblings, just to promote whether or
not this is a good idea so that everything works smoothly.
Do you have a sibling footnote with the way you
(16:20):
communicate with each other? Well, we have special language.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
Shut up, you know where married as well?
Speaker 1 (16:28):
I know this is a family affair. This is the
whole thing law.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
I can just call yeah.
Speaker 7 (16:35):
So it's kind of I've alloyd at Miranda, I call
crab if Crob's annoyed at me. From my perspective watching
them work together, it's it's like this beautiful art form
because they've been doing it for so long. It's sometimes
they don't even need to say anything to each other.
They just intuitively know who's needed where on set. It's yeah,
(16:57):
it's really quite astonishing to watch, and I've seen it,
you know through their short films and everything as well,
just how they've got the same aesthetic sensibility and they
do a lot of pre work, so going into the
shoot they know exactly what they're trying to capture. Crop
can draw so all of our storyboards.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Oh wow, that's a handy. That's a handy asset to have.
Yet better so that.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
People do kind of ask how do you do it?
Speaker 5 (17:20):
And it's hard to explain because it's just very nice
to do it to us because we always we're always
just chatting and and we the three of us do
the story to you know, we work on stories, so
we know these scenes so well.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Then we kind of take turns, like sometimes promps with
the actor and I'll be with the camera. We swap.
Speaker 7 (17:39):
Sometimes these guys were off and they will be like,
can you just make sure they get this shot?
Speaker 4 (17:42):
And I'll be like, h sure, not my job.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Oh you're a fine.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
The laziest directors in there.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
I just think for a first feature film, like it's
so well put together. Now you guys have just kind
of worked out that you can do this. I can
imagine you're already thinking about the projects, like, oh.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Yes, so we don't have a few things bubbling.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
And we're just can you tease any of that, like
are we going to we're going to sneak well or
are you going to move away? Like where are we going?
We're staying with animals. Can tease me with anything?
Speaker 4 (18:13):
We did?
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Think, can we just do one?
Speaker 5 (18:15):
Not on the water, maybe next And now like a
few months later, I'm like, no, I'm ready for the water.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Again, James Cameron.
Speaker 7 (18:22):
Now.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Underwater really far.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
What I will never do again is something where one
boat has to be in a very specific orientation with
another boat.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
No scenes with that again.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Boats, yes, but not not with that level of precision.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
It's yes, water, yes, animals. Sure, it was fun, it
was really fun.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Well, guys, I'm in your audience. I'm in your audience.
I can't wait to see more of your work and
thank you for sharing this beautiful story with us.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
And you know, I'm having the response we were just
hoping for.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Care about that, I tried to say to him. I
was like, I'm made this movie, and you know what
kids are like, They're like, whatever.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Whatever mom.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
Does.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
He read.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
He does love to read, so he'd probably prefer reading
more than watching stuff like it's the restlessness. He can
sit down and read these books. And very early on
he could read so well. So I gave him all
of the roll Dyal books thinking at that age I
can't remember, I think it was he was young enough
to think he couldn't have read them that fast, but
(19:35):
he just read all of them. And Carrie rang Mean
was like, well, he's finished all of those roy Dal books.
Speaker 7 (19:40):
But the Whale Shout Jack novel has just come out
with Penguin Random House.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
I've seen that.
Speaker 6 (19:46):
Yeah, I reckon we might be able to.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Then went out, he'll love that.
Speaker 7 (19:51):
Yeah, we can get his honest review on it.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Come back to you. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I wouldn't
know where you are. What are you doing? Where you
at home?
Speaker 2 (20:01):
We're in Marina.
Speaker 5 (20:03):
Okay, look what one of our other friends made me.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Oh my god, that's amazing. They made that.
Speaker 6 (20:08):
Okay, so cute.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
See now I want that under book. Now I'm only
kidding that's yours. I'm just looking in the background for
things in your house. You know that looks nice. We'll
have that too, but enjoy chatting with the media about
this is such a great project and yeah, as I said,
I look forward to being in your audience with more
projects like this and then particularly with so down Australia's
so nice to meet you. It was lovely to meet
(20:30):
you guys,
It's in the news today, but it was actually on
TV Reload the podcast last week their line yeaday guys,
welcome back to TV Reload, And today I have a
really lovely chat for you with a creative team behind
Whale Shark Jack. I have the directors Krob and Miranda
and writer Katherine Lefroy, and I have to say this
is one of those interviews that felt really special to
(00:20):
do because the film genuinely surprised me. It's a beautiful
family adventure set against the backdrop of Nikola Reef. But
what I really loved about it is that it managed
to feel big, cinematic and emotional whilst still somehow getting
kids to be completely connected with the story. I guess
it's made for kids, so they've done their job well.
(00:40):
And I know that because I actually watched this film
with my best friend's son, Jacob, who, to be honest,
normally says no to absolutely everything, but once this film started,
it was like magic. He crept closer to the screen,
sat down with us, and completely transfixed into this film,
which I hope other kids will do with families. Story
(01:00):
is told with heart, humor and a real sense of adventure,
but it's also a bit of a love letter to
Western Australia, to the ocean, Nigoloo, and to telling Australian
stories in an authentic voice. In this chat we get
into the making of the film, the inspirations behind it,
the challenges of bringing Whale Sharks to the screen, the
power of family films, and why this one really does
(01:22):
feel like something audiences of all ages can sit down
and enjoy together. So let's get into it. Here's my
conversation with Crob and Miranda and Katherine Lefroy from Whale
Shark Jack, now available to stream on STAN Australia. Do
we need a talking stick?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Maybe?
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Well, Catherine, I was just on your Instagram and laughing
at some of your content. You're very funny on there.
I love when you were asked about a book and
then you went to total silence and said look over
there and run away. Well, I just want to start
by saying how much I really love this film and
the reason why I love it is I have my
best friends who I spend quite a bit of time with.
(02:01):
He calls me Uncle Ben, and I struggle to find
content and things for him to do that he enjoys
because he says no to everything. So I told him
about this film and he said no, and I put
it on. It was like magic, and I think that's
the power of making content for children. But he was transfixed,
like he crept along the couch to then sit there
(02:23):
and watch it with me. And we watched it all
together with my best friend and my partner, and we're
enthralled the whole way through.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
That is just.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
That's exactly exactly what we wanted.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
We wanted to film everyone.
Speaker 5 (02:41):
You could watch with anyone in your family and everyone
would get something. You know, everyone could enjoy it together.
So that is just brilliant.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yes, thank you.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Isn't it amazing though, where you're making content for kids
like this and it does work like that, you know.
I guess you guys would have you know, thought about
kids films that you watch when you were younger, or
family adventure films. I'd say, Miranda, and would you be
able to share us one of the kids films that
you watched as a kid that might have been inspiration
for this.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
We could We could embarrass Croub quite a lot.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah, yeah, let's do that. I love to embarrass people.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
That's great, which one of the stories.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
So when we watch films as kids, Crob would then
go and become the lead character.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
So for a long time he was.
Speaker 5 (03:26):
Indiana Jones and he would run around with a backpack
full of sand to be ready at any minute.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
He went through.
Speaker 5 (03:33):
Superman fames where he would go to make Mum take
him to the phone.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Box across the street, back when their phone boxes. Yeah,
there was a young Einstein changed out of.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
The suit into the Superman. Yea, not just getting change
in the phone box.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
I'm zeroing in on the young Einstone remember that one.
Speaker 5 (03:51):
Yes, I made his guitar and would do his hair
up all big.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
That film was instrumental for me at least, because that
was the one where I sort of knew someone had
made it. I think I was old enough that I
would see interviews with Yahou Sirius and it was like, oh,
and our dad worked at the ABC for thirty six years,
so we knew that TV was a thing that was
made by people. It wasn't just this magic box in
(04:16):
the corner. But that didn't quite translate for films until yeah,
until really young Einstein. It's like, oh, there's this person
and he had a thought for a story and then
like made a movie from that and you have to
make the props and you have to.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
Do so that's yeah, that was a big, big influence
on me.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
But I think what's interesting about Yahoo Sirius making that
film Young Einstein for me was it was a bridge
point from sort of more younger films that I was watching,
sort of like a cartoon to adult storytelling in a way.
But that's similar to this. You know, I remember going
and seeing Young Einstein at the cinema with my family,
with my grandparents, and such a great memory because you
(04:55):
remember these things. And how good was the soundtrack by
the way, too, we're going off.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
On and yeah, just so important.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Our ice House, i think, is the.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Song at the end. There's no sort of story meaning
for it. It's just hey, let's let's go out on
this film in an absolute fire as he's playing a
great you know, playing a gig to the family and
friends in his community, and it's just like, oh, I
just remember feeling so elated that I had to go
and build the guitar.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Honestly, this is just something great to watch because of
those notes of like getting kids to be involved with
watching it, and I thought of BMX bandits a little
bit the action.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
Of that Yep, Gooonies stand by Me, like all those
really funny Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
But Catherine as well, I loved on your Instagram how
you mentioned about writing it sort of alludes to Australian accent,
you know, you being proud of an Australian accent. And
I love watching content, especially film and television that has
the Australian I think that's important for us to see
ourselves on screen. When you're writing, how do you go
about creating our Australian flavor?
Speaker 6 (06:08):
It's quite so. I've lived in the US for a
long time.
Speaker 7 (06:11):
We lived in the US for a long time, and
so I got quite good at discerning like an American
voice versus an Australian voice. You're gonna ask me how
I did that, and I think it was just this
intuitive thing. But I think this Australians are less I
want to say, brazen, Like we kind of talk around
things a bit more rather than get to like the
(06:33):
emotional heart like Americans do.
Speaker 6 (06:36):
So it was really fun with this.
Speaker 7 (06:38):
Film being able to just like take myself back to
like true Australian kid, like I remember what it was
like to grow up in Australia rather than try to
write it for an American audience kind of thing.
Speaker 6 (06:50):
So that was that was really fun. I mean, it
sort of just.
Speaker 5 (06:54):
Comes naturally right that we're making We're telling our own stories,
like all the people we know, so it just finds
this Australians and there.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Was no pressure to not do that. Quite the opposite
in fact.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
So for character, Oh yeah, we.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Did allow one news that's true.
Speaker 6 (07:12):
That's true.
Speaker 5 (07:13):
We were very very happy to have kar and she
bought a lovely kiwi flavor to Rosie.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Americans think New Zealand and Australia is the same thing anyway.
So I mean it really does come across like a
love letter to Ningolo as well, and I think that
that all comes across beautifully. And I also really appreciate
the realism that has been put into this film. You know,
you could very easily be making a movie about a
whale shark and just be doing CGHI, but with this
(07:41):
you really do get a sense of the animal and
human connection in this.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
Yeah, that was so important to us right from the
start was that we knew we could go there and
shoot the real whale sharks with the real actors, and
it just I mean that's sort of the magic, right,
The magic is you can go do this, and we
hope that people who watch it who maybe never even
heard of a whale shark and suddenly go, I can
(08:06):
go do that too. And so to actually capture, of course,
we couldn't have everything, really have.
Speaker 6 (08:12):
To have a few.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Yes, we won't give away the whole.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Flood, but but it's sort of fashionable when directors and
people talk about films and go, oh, yes, no CG
I or practical or practical. We had some incredible CGI
artists doing beautiful, amazing work. So I just I definitely
don't want to downplay that in any way, shape or form.
Like we used an enormous fiberglass whale shark.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
We used every trick in the book. And yes, so
we are.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
We are not ashamed of our CG. We are very proud.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
I'm actually giving a compliment to the people working on
that because I felt like so much of this was real.
I'm shocked to hear about this.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
Yeah, but the fact you can't tell where it comes
and goes, that's that's the gold, right.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
And did you and the actors feel like you never
wanted to leave from some of these locations. I can
imagine Abby and Michael would have been like, Okay, guys,
we'll just hang out here and go scuba.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
Diving for evidence.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (09:07):
She Abby was chatting in one of the epk's about
just the calmness of being in the west and there's
something about Wa and then even more so up at Ningoloo.
But just so you know, there's we're just not as
bustly maybe as some of those big cities, and.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
It's kind of lovely. We get to the beach.
Speaker 4 (09:25):
A lot and I think, you know, a lot of
less beach for two hours.
Speaker 7 (09:30):
A lot of such a fish that she just like
slotted so naturally into, you know, this Wa lifestyle of
being underwater and up at Ningoloo, you know she was
she did all of her own free diving, of her
own stumps.
Speaker 5 (09:44):
She can dive down to like nine ten meters. She
just go down, swim along next to the whale shark.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
I can hit about two and a half on a
good day.
Speaker 5 (09:54):
Like, we did some formal training and then she just
trained herself. She and she got her friends into it
so they would just be free diving on the weekends.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
In like in the lead up to the film.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
So she was just like we didn't even need doubles
for her.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
We had some and we're like, it's like, no, I'm good,
I'll go again. In fact, half time we couldn't get
it out of the wall. They're like, can you please
have a break? Put some sun creaminal, I'm fine.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
So she get to keep those flippers. That's all we
kept talking about. We were like, look at the size
of those flippers.
Speaker 6 (10:23):
Like it was so good.
Speaker 5 (10:24):
She did, and her mum called me like probably two
weeks after we'd wrapped, She's like, could you just could
you send alatics flippers and weight belt because she really
wants to go diving. Okay, coming so amazing, genuinely just
fell in love with the ocean as part of her
journey for this film, and we're so lucky.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Like we cast her for her acting, but her.
Speaker 5 (10:47):
Free diving and her genuine love for the ocean and
the whale, sharks and.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
Animals in general.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
I mean, I don't know how many pets Shit has,
but that was.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
The only interruption on set.
Speaker 5 (10:58):
If someone bought a dog near the place she was gone,
she had to.
Speaker 6 (11:02):
Go pat it.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
She carries the film not so well. I am always
so impressed with young people when they've got such an
enormous responsibility of playing this role. But I felt like
it was her that brought my little friend Jacob into
the film, you know, and that was something she did
very well, incredibly well.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
She's i mean she's very experienced at being on sets
and on beach sets with Sonic and Furiosa and everything,
but yeah, she's never had to carry an entire thing
like this and she just smashed it, yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
Smatter and she was so lovely.
Speaker 5 (11:37):
So Luca and Giselle, who played the two friends, it
was actually their first film, you know, they were coming
on fresh and the way she kind of just gave
them confidence and carry them with her and the bond
the three of them formed was that also just made
it because you feel those genuine friendships between the characters,
which they're still all and they still are friends, ill
(12:00):
all friends.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
That's amazing. I mean, that's a bond for life, you know,
to bond.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
When the premiere happened at Parliament House last week, it
was the first time that got like the kids gotten
to see the film and we were lucky enough to
be seeing the road just in front of them, and
I just I spent half the film just looking back
watching them, going, God, it's awesome, you know, having a
great old time.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
So you've seen the movie, so you don't really need
to be watching it. I'd be watching them as well.
There's nothing better than watch kids watching kids enjoy something,
because it can be a little bit hard to get
their eyeballs on things. Catherine, when it comes to like
writing and creating characters, you know, did you visualize Abby
and you know Rachel Ward, Like, how did you go
(12:45):
about the process of of all of that. Did you
have people in mind? Ah?
Speaker 7 (12:49):
I did actually have, not first, not like the first
couple of drafts, but sort of later on. Definitely Abby
was in my mind, probably because I recently watched Helped
Me out Here, Jack Ryan, and I'm just I'm actually
obsessed with that show, and so I was just like, oh,
because she's so like.
Speaker 6 (13:09):
The thing that I love about Abby.
Speaker 7 (13:11):
That she brought to the role is she's so strong,
but she's got that just undercurrent of vulnerability, and you know, that.
Speaker 6 (13:17):
Was so perfect to the Nita character.
Speaker 7 (13:19):
So sort of once I had her in my head,
it was really easy to you know, find that character
as Miranda said, we had Alilah on basically from I
don't know, before I even.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
Wrote the script very good.
Speaker 7 (13:31):
Had Alilah on very early, and so you know every
tweak I made to Sarah, I definitely had a Liah
in mind. Rachel, what again, So I'm obsessed with her?
So again, well, I didn't have her in mind to
start with start with, but once she was floated as
an idea, I was just like yes and kind of
(13:51):
tweaked the character so it was very you know, a
bit more sort of earthy, I suppose.
Speaker 6 (13:56):
Then it was pretty cool Annie, so cool.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Always knew Ernie Dot would be you know, we didn't
want to be granny.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
Yeah, funny Dot. It was because, like.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
You know, as an aunt to and uncle, you had
that slightly slight remove that means you can do things
that even a grandparent couldn't get away with.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Grandparents don't want to be called grandma and grandparent anymore.
They're all sorry.
Speaker 7 (14:20):
I definitely had paranivery in mind right from the start
as well, so Rosie.
Speaker 6 (14:25):
Was written very much for her.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Before I wrap it up, I just wanted to ask
about some secrets. I always finished the podcast wanting to
know some behind the scenes secrets on some of these films.
Is there any kind of fun story that just sort
of happened behind the scenes while you were making this.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
That would imply that I remember what happened during.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
Filming, because it's a blur.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
It's a blur.
Speaker 7 (14:48):
No.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
I think the.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Funniest thing that's happened was I was watching them making
of Stranger Things season five and they were showing like
the wrap shot, like the last shot they filmed, and
then Ever's going, oh my god, Amos was facing I'm like,
what's the last shot we filmed?
Speaker 4 (15:02):
I had to call them.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Around her and so what did we do? Like, I
know it's in there, It's yeah, this was a big
It was a big film for our first shout for
our first big feature.
Speaker 5 (15:13):
That actually reminded me because that the last shot was
Sarah on her bike. But one of the probably one
of the funnest scenes was Sarah trying to get Sarah
with the EMUs.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
The EMUs walk around X mouth like that's real.
Speaker 5 (15:26):
We're like got to put the EMUs in and every
you know, every script review had come back, you know,
and we're not checking outs, and then we go to
shoot the EMUs it's like no one can find the
bloody inmies. So we get on the x mouth Facebook
group and we're like, right, if anyone has seen the EMUs,
(15:46):
this is the number to call.
Speaker 3 (15:48):
So then we had a whole town like spotting them.
They're at my house right, and we were.
Speaker 5 (15:54):
Like in the cars, A lot of the cars on
the bike.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
And cycle don't work with or what did the Americans
call them? EMUs? I think yes, I made it in
I just yeah. And to finish up, I need to
ask about working with siblings, just to promote whether or
not this is a good idea so that everything works smoothly.
Do you have a sibling footnote with the way you
(16:20):
communicate with each other? Well, we have special language.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
Shut up, you know where married as well?
Speaker 1 (16:28):
I know this is a family affair. This is the
whole thing law.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
I can just call yeah.
Speaker 7 (16:35):
So it's kind of I've alloyd at Miranda, I call
crab if Crob's annoyed at me. From my perspective watching
them work together, it's it's like this beautiful art form
because they've been doing it for so long. It's sometimes
they don't even need to say anything to each other.
They just intuitively know who's needed where on set. It's yeah,
(16:57):
it's really quite astonishing to watch, and I've seen it,
you know through their short films and everything as well,
just how they've got the same aesthetic sensibility and they
do a lot of pre work, so going into the
shoot they know exactly what they're trying to capture. Crop
can draw so all of our storyboards.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Oh wow, that's a handy. That's a handy asset to have.
Yet better so that.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
People do kind of ask how do you do it?
Speaker 5 (17:20):
And it's hard to explain because it's just very nice
to do it to us because we always we're always
just chatting and and we the three of us do
the story to you know, we work on stories, so
we know these scenes so well.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Then we kind of take turns, like sometimes promps with
the actor and I'll be with the camera. We swap.
Speaker 7 (17:39):
Sometimes these guys were off and they will be like,
can you just make sure they get this shot?
Speaker 4 (17:42):
And I'll be like, h sure, not my job.
Speaker 3 (17:46):
Oh you're a fine.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
The laziest directors in there.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
I just think for a first feature film, like it's
so well put together. Now you guys have just kind
of worked out that you can do this. I can
imagine you're already thinking about the projects, like, oh.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Yes, so we don't have a few things bubbling.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
And we're just can you tease any of that, like
are we going to we're going to sneak well or
are you going to move away? Like where are we going?
We're staying with animals. Can tease me with anything?
Speaker 4 (18:13):
We did?
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Think, can we just do one?
Speaker 5 (18:15):
Not on the water, maybe next And now like a
few months later, I'm like, no, I'm ready for the water.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Again, James Cameron.
Speaker 7 (18:22):
Now.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Underwater really far.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
What I will never do again is something where one
boat has to be in a very specific orientation with
another boat.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
No scenes with that again.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Boats, yes, but not not with that level of precision.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
It's yes, water, yes, animals. Sure, it was fun, it
was really fun.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Well, guys, I'm in your audience. I'm in your audience.
I can't wait to see more of your work and
thank you for sharing this beautiful story with us.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
And you know, I'm having the response we were just
hoping for.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Care about that, I tried to say to him. I
was like, I'm made this movie, and you know what
kids are like, They're like, whatever.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Whatever mom.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
Does.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
He read.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
He does love to read, so he'd probably prefer reading
more than watching stuff like it's the restlessness. He can
sit down and read these books. And very early on
he could read so well. So I gave him all
of the roll Dyal books thinking at that age I
can't remember, I think it was he was young enough
to think he couldn't have read them that fast, but
(19:35):
he just read all of them. And Carrie rang Mean
was like, well, he's finished all of those roy Dal books.
Speaker 7 (19:40):
But the Whale Shout Jack novel has just come out
with Penguin Random House.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
I've seen that.
Speaker 6 (19:46):
Yeah, I reckon we might be able to.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Then went out, he'll love that.
Speaker 7 (19:51):
Yeah, we can get his honest review on it.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Come back to you. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I wouldn't
know where you are. What are you doing? Where you
at home?
Speaker 2 (20:01):
We're in Marina.
Speaker 5 (20:03):
Okay, look what one of our other friends made me.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Oh my god, that's amazing. They made that.
Speaker 6 (20:08):
Okay, so cute.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
See now I want that under book. Now I'm only
kidding that's yours. I'm just looking in the background for
things in your house. You know that looks nice. We'll
have that too, but enjoy chatting with the media about
this is such a great project and yeah, as I said,
I look forward to being in your audience with more
projects like this and then particularly with so down Australia's
so nice to meet you. It was lovely to meet
(20:30):
you guys,
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Kingdom of Fraud
It’s the unlikeliest of criminal partnerships: a devout polygamist from an insular Utah sect joining forces with a shadowy Armenian tycoon from LA. The result - a billion dollar fraud conspiracy. In Kingdom of Fraud, investigative reporter Michele McPhee traces the origins of the extraordinary alliance between Jacob Kingston and Levon Termendzhyan. Together, the two men trigger the largest tax investigation in American history and weave around themselves a web of dirty cops, influential political relationships and transnational money laundering. All this is set against the backdrop of Jacob Kingston’s clan – The Order. A powerful and secretive polygamist organization in Salt Lake City. To whom Jacob is desperate to prove his worth. Kingdom of Fraud is produced by Novel for iHeart Podcasts. For more from Novel, visit https://novel.audio/. You can listen to new episodes of Kingdom of Fraud completely ad-free and 1 week early with an iHeart True Crime+ subscription, available exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Open your Apple Podcasts app, search for “iHeart True Crime+, and subscribe today!