An Interview with Mao's Last Dancer director Bruce Beresford
17/03/2010
Can you tell us a little bit about the film?
It’s based on the autobiography of a Chinese ballet dancer, Li Cuxin, and he went to America in 1982 and then defected. There were a lot of problems because the Chinese then arrested him and they wanted to take him back to China. He got a lawyer and then was finally able to stay. So there was quite a lot of drama.
Is Li quite well known in the dance community?
Well he’s one of the greatest ballet dancers of all-time. Apart from that he’s not very well known (laughs).
So Li ended up dancing for the Australian Ballet – was that his biggest career point?
Well he danced for the Australian Ballet really in the last two years of his career. He danced first in China, then in America and then he married an Australian ballerina and then he came to live in Australia and he still lives in Melbourne.
What was it about the story that made you want to direct Mao’s Last Dancer?
Well it’s just a very, very good “rags to riches” story. I mean the “rags” were extreme and so were the riches. He was there (in China) under a dreadful dictatorship. I think he really had a huge amount to overcome.
So you think the extremeness of his story is what sets this apart from other rags to riches stories?
Well I mean he really wanted to dance and he was going to make sure that nothing stopped him. He was certainly very determined.
Did Li have much involvement with the film?
Yes, I mean I went through the script with him and you know, got a lot of information from him – really that was the main thing he did – growing up in China.
There’s this quote on imdb.com that says “...just when we thought all was lost, the Australian Film Industry is provided with a flicker of hope thanks to the release of Mao’s Last Dancer.” So do you think this is a glimmer of hope for the local film industry? Do you think it’s reignited it?
Well I don’t think the film industry is in any particular trouble…
But a lot of people are saying that Aussie films of late have been depressing and this (Mao’s Last Dancer) is a nice inspirational film?
Well some of the most depressing have been some of the best! I mean you can’t tell – some of the most depressing films make huge amounts of money. I mean look at The Godfather – nothing but 3 hours of slaughter and murder! It made a fortune!
You’ve been a filmmaker for 40 years – what’s been your proudest achievement?
I think it’s just staying in work! I’m absolutely amazed! When I get another job I think “I can’t believe this!”
So do you have a favourite movie that you’ve made?
You know I’ve never seen any of them again once they’ve been finished. People often ask me that but I never look at them once they’re over – I’d have to sit down and look at them all again I suppose.
Do often revisit your movies?
No, never!
A lot of filmmakers and actors are like that, they don’t like to either see themselves in films or something – is it just because it’s such a challenge to make it?
By the time the film’s finished, I’ve seen it like a million times, so once it’s actually really completed and it’s out there, there’s no point in my looking at it anymore because there’s nothing I can do to it.
If you could give a few words of advice for people who are starting out in film – what would that be?
Probably, don’t give up when everything goes wrong. Don’t give up when everyone tells you you haven’t got any talent at all.
You’ve got a knack for making films that touch the heart – Driving Miss Daisy of course comes to mind and Mao’s Last Dancer looks like a very heartfelt movie. So do you think that’s what movie making is all about for you personally?
Oh well I think it’s about lots of things really, I mean, really every director sees the world in a different way and I think what’s interesting is having all those visions of the way the world functions and put on the screen. I mean, you know, I wouldn’t try and keep a definition about what’s about too narrow.
And when you were casting the role of the adult Li, what were you looking for?
Well we really had to find someone who could act and dance and there was really no one else apart from the boy who did play it. We had to find a Chinese boy who could act and was also one of the best ballet dancers in the world. That’s a pretty tall order. But we did find this boy called Chi Cao dancing with the ballet company in England – the Birmingham Royal Ballet.
So did the casting go all around the world – looking for him?
Yes, we looked at dancers all over the place.
So if there were any book you could adapt to the big screen - you adapted Mao’s Last Dancer – what would that book be?
Well it would be the one I’m trying to adapt now, called the Women In Black.
OK, who wrote that?
A Sydney girl called Madeline Singeon. It’s about a girl who gets a holiday job in David Jones in your school holiday. It’s a very, very touching, wonderful book. It’s about her growing up and coming into contact with lots of refugees from Europe that have come to Australia and how they changed her life.
Are you currently filming A Woman of No Importance as well?
No. Laughs. We still haven’t got that going! I was talking to the producer this morning and we’re still trying to line it up!
So Women In Black is your latest film to come out now…
That’s the one I’m trying to set up. It’s not definite, we’re still trying to put it all together.
And do you have a particular actor in mind for it?
No, the main role which is this young girl would have to be an unknown actress, I think. Have to just find somebody.
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