Q&A With Director Jasmine Yuen Carrucan On Her Film ‘Cactus’

Jasmine Yuen Carrucan has worked in the camera department on many big name productions including Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, The Last Samurai, and Deepa Mehta’s Water. Cactus is the first film she’s written and directed. It’s the story of a man who is hired to kidnap someone and then goes on a wild journey in the Australian outback with the hostage. It’s an intense ride with stellar performances by Bryan Brown, Travis McMahon, and David Lyons, and it had me completely absorbed throughout.

CityNews.ca spoke with Carrucan recently about her influences, the Australian film industry, and her experience directing for the first time.

How did you come up with the idea for ‘Cactus’?

I wanted to write something that was quite slow that I could do with not very much money. I thought the easiest thing to do would be to use the landscape, and I like road movies. Then with the two [main characters]…I wanted to have something small and manageable in terms of directing their acting. That’s how I came up with the ingredients and then it was a matter of putting the story together.

Did you enjoy the process of writing and directing as opposed to working in the camera department?

I liked it a lot. The writing part I found difficult because I had never written before apart from magazine articles and things like that. I had never actually written a script. The directing part wasn’t that hard becaue I’ve spent so much time watching other directors. I had also worked with a lot of the crew before so it was a very familiar environment. It was good in that way…it wasn’t a completely new thing.

Were you writing with any actors in mind?

I had [Bryan Brown’s] very Australian voice in my head when I was writing that character’s dialogue.

What was the biggest challenge with filming most of the movie in a car?

The car is actually quite big as far as cars go. We wanted to do it so that they were always driving and we weren’t using a trailer. It was mostly a matter of trying to rig the camera and fit me and the crew in somewhere. I was always in the car with them and that was good. It made for a very closed and intimate environment.

Did anything change in the final movie from how you envisioned it in the script?

It was pretty much the way it is. When I look back and see the film it’s difficult for me. Some days I think it’s good and some days I wish I had done things [differently]. The one thing I do know is that it was the script I wrote and if I have any complaints I have to go back to the writer.

How is it working in the the Australian film industry?

After we got the money for Cactus they changed the funding system. At the time [the system] was directed to encourage people to invest because there were tax deductions involved. That is now gone and the drive is more towards supporting producers. Because the policies haven’t been around for that long I can’t really say whether or not it’s working. The government tries to be supportive, there’s no question about that. It’s just a matter of knowing how it gets done. You make one change and half the film industry is affected in a bad way and the other half can get good out of it. It’s hard when you have an industry that relies mainly on government funding.

Who inspires your work?

Lots of different people I’ve worked with in the past. Directors like Jane Campion, John Woo, Chris Doyle, and Quentin Tarantino for all their different types of films. I like to read a lot and I get a lot out of reading books, storytelling wise.

What would you consider to be your dream project?

It changes from day to day. One day I want to do a western and then another day it’s something else. There isn’t one thing in particular. I would just like to keep working…that’s the dream.

What do you want audiences to get out of ‘Cactus’?

I hope that they ask themselves, ‘what would I do?’ My idea is that we can all find ourselves in situations that we would never have expected and that we’re all capable of doing things we never would have expected. I would like people to wonder what they would do in certain situations.

Cactus opens at the AMC in Toronto on March 12. For more information on the film visit cactus-movie.com.

brian.mckechnie@citynews.rogers.com

Top image: Travis McMahon and David Lyons in Cactus. Photo credit: Lisa Tomasetti.