Trivia
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Cameo (1)
Director Peter Weir cast Linda Hunt in the role of Billy Kwan after failing to find an actor who could play the part the way he wanted.
With a budget of $6 million, this was, at the time, one of the most expensive and ambitious Australian films ever undertaken.
Linda Hunt is the first actress to win an Academy Award for portraying a member of the opposite sex, and the only actress to win an Academy Award for playing a cisgender man. Hilary Swank received one for playing a transgender man in Boys Don't Cry (1999). Gwyneth Paltrow received one for playing a woman, pretending to be a man, pretending to be a woman, in Shakespeare in Love (1998).
The meaning and relevance of the title is that it refers to a famous Italian quotation, "vivere pericolosamente", which translates into English as "living dangerously". Indonesian President Suharto used this phrase during his National Day Speech on August 17, 1964. E-Notes states that the novel "takes its title from Sukarno's term for 1965, the year in which the novel takes place."
Mel Gibson has said of the threats to the film: "It wasn't really that bad. We got a lot of death threats to be sure, but I just assumed that when there are so many, it must mean nothing is really going to happen. I mean, if they meant to kill us, why send a note?"
Indonesia banned the film until 1999 for its graphic depiction of Suharto's bloody rise to power. The first screening in Indonesia was November 6, 2000, two years after Suharto was forced from office after 32 years of autocratic rule.
Vangelis's electronic tune "L'Enfant" (from his 1979 Opera Sauvage album), which is featured prominently in this film, was Hugh Hudson's original choice to be the theme music for Chariots of Fire (1981). It was only after Vangelis finally persuaded Hudson to listen to his new, and now familiar, "Chariots of Fire" tune, that Hudson changed his mind.
Filming in Manila was halted after three weeks due to death threats to the production. Reportedly, these were directed at Mel Gibson and Peter Weir. The threats alleged that the film was intended to be anti-Islam. For the protection and safety of the cast and crew, the whole production moved to Sydney to complete principal photography. The move was costly and put a huge strain on the picture's art department.
The novel was loosely inspired by the experiences of author C.J. Koch's brother, Philip Koch, an Australian reporter living and working in Indonesia during the mid-1960s.
Much of the non-English dialogue in the film is in Filipino, not Javanese. For example, when Billy visits the house of a dead child in a slum area, the prayer spoken by the old man is, in fact, "Our Father" in Tagalog.
Filming originally was intended to take place in Jakarta. However, permission to shoot in Indonesia was denied, so the majority of the movie was filmed in the Philippines, in and around Manila. This is evidenced by the presence of vehicles, such as the black Chevrolet, with left-hand drive. Indonesians generally operate right-hand drive.
Playing an Asian dwarf in this movie, Linda Hunt's height at the time of this film was reported in Time Magazine as being four foot nine inches.
The source novel won the National Book Council Award for Australian Literature, as well as newspaper The Age's Book of the Year Award, including being the winner of the 1978 Imaginative Writing Prize, and the 1978 Book of the Year, joint winner.
According to the January-February 1983 edition of American movie magazine "Coming Attractions", during filming, "At one point, during a reenactment of the 1965 storming of the American embassy, the action became so real that pistol shots were fired over the crowd to restore order, when more than a thousand extras got carried away hurling stones at the building. This incident, along with a bomb threat from militant Muslims, precipitated the crew's return to Australia ahead of schedule."
This was part of a cycle of pictures made during the 1980s that featured journalists covering war. Other movies include Salvador (1986), Under Fire (1983), Circle of Deceit (1981), Deadline (1987), Cry Freedom (1987), and The Killing Fields (1984).
Mel Gibson once said of Guy Hamilton, as published on February 24, 1983 in the article "Mel Gibson: Australia's new hunk": "He's not a silver-tongued devil. He's kind of immature, and he has some rough edges, and I guess you could say the same for me."
Pre-release and pre-production publicity referred to the name of Linda Hunt as Phipps Hunt, or L. Phipps Hunt. Hunt's full name at birth was Lydia Susanna Hunter.
Mel Gibson received first billing, Sigourney Weaver received second, Bill Kerr received third, Michael Murphy received fourth, Linda Hunt received fifth, and Noel Ferrier received sixth. Since the success of the film winning a Best Actress in a Supporting Role Academy Award for Linda Hunt, Hunt's credit in promotional materials is now often seen in third billing.
Reportedly, Peter Weir beat producer Jim McElroy to obtaining the rights to C.J. Koch's novel by one day. The two then decided to collaborate on this film.
Linda Hunt predominantly had theater experience, but little film experience when she was cast.
After Gallipoli (1981), this is the second and final film that Peter Weir and David Williamson made together.
The only time Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver worked together on-screen.
CBS Films originally was attached to making this movie around 1980 but dropped the project while in development.
Linda Hunt's Best Supporting Actress Oscar win was this film's only Oscar nomination.
First major role in a motion picture for Linda Hunt.
Second and final theatrical feature film collaboration to date of Peter Weir and Mel Gibson. The first was Gallipoli (1981).
The January-February 1983 edition of American "Coming Attractions" magazine states that this movie marked "The first time that an Australian movie has been fully financed and distributed by a major American motion picture company - MGM/UA." The website Allmovie.com adds that "The film was financed by MGM, in the first such American-Australian financial collaboration", while the website Wikipedia.com maintains that this film "Was the first co-production of Australia and a Hollywood studio."
Dramatic creative differences on this film occurred between C.J. Koch and Peter Weir.
First filmed adaptation of a novel by C.J. Koch. The second and final to date was the unsuccessful Boys in the Island (1990).
Linda Hunt was the first person to win an Oscar for portraying an Australian character.
One of two Australian movies made in 1982 that were set in Asia with romance amidst a backdrop of political turmoil and unrest. The other was Far East (1982).
The film includes two Oscar winners: Mel Gibson and Linda Hunt; and one Oscar nominee: Sigourney Weaver.
Prior to this film being made, Phillip Noyce was also interested in directing an adaptation of the novel.
Screenwriter David Williamson was brought in after CBS Films withdrew from developing this movie.
When Colonel Henderson complains to the waiter that a proper gin and tonic has no ice, he says, "Gin and tonic does not always have ice. Americans always use ice, and I'm not an American." Guy Hamilton jumps in with, "It's all right; I'll take it." Mel Gibson was born in the United States to Australian parents, who moved the family back when he was a child.
Linda Hunt replaced David Atkins in the role of Billy Kwan.
Linda Hunt's Oscar-winning performance in this film is her only Academy Award nomination.
The full name of C.J. Koch, the author of the source novel, is Christopher John Koch.
Cameo
Mark Egerton: The film's Australian shoot production supervisor and first assistant director as an embassy aide.
