AN AFTERNOON WITH
MERYL STREEP
The tale of a Hollywood actress filming in
remote Central Australia.
Photo of a young Meryl Streep who played Lindy Chamberlain in the movie Evil Angels/ A Cry in the Dark. She went on to be claimed as "the best actress of her generation"
Great was the excitement on a bright, cloudless 1988 day in remote Central Australia.
Hollywood’s Meryl Streep, local actor Sam Neil and a large cast and crew descended on the small town of Alice Springs to film part of the Lindy Chamberlain story. A controversial figure, Lindy’s baby daughter had been taken by a wild dingo dog in the campground of Ayers Rock (Uluru) – that spectacular yet mystical monolith, half a day’s drive from Alice Springs.
The town was abuzz as the world of movie magic arrived to film the Alice Springs scenes of Evil Angels (named A Cry in the Dark for international audiences). Under the region’s almost never-ending blue skies, our family and hordes of locals sought to make our movie debut (even if only as ‘extras’).
LOCAL MOVIE ‘ACTORS’
We joined the conga line of hopefuls waiting to be signed up, followed Hartley Street and spent the day in and around the courthouse corner. Most extras played the part of onlookers, observing the comings and goings of the re-enacted coronial inquest into the death of baby Azaria.
Some were selected to be part of the paparazzi swarm commanding the courtroom steps. I (despite my un-photogenic face) and a small group of others represented those attending the court hearings – lawyers, court officers and members of the general public.
MY BIG PART
My group followed Meryl sand Sam Neil through the foyer, descended the stairs and pushed our way through the crazed ‘media pack’. Meryl and Sam remained at the top of the stairs where Meryl made a short but moving speech.
This all won’t take long, I naively thought, but as I was to find, movie makers don’t rush things. Together with my fellow ‘court attendees’ we walked out of the foyer and down the steps around ten times, the cameraman shooting the scene from behind, beside, in front and at various diagonal angles. The scene was again filmed from the rooftops of two adjacent multi-story buildings. Our exclusive little group, meanwhile, spent the afternoon between takes in the courthouse’s air-conditioned foyer, just metres from Meryl and Sam while most ‘extras’, including the rest of my family, sat in the sun on the lawn of the adjacent park (my daughters mostly playing in its ornamental pond).
I’d like to say that Meryl and I had a series of scintillating conversations between takes but regret it was not so. Not only was here a ‘them and us’ divide, we were all too awestruck to approach the stars. Had we done so, I’m sure their ‘minders’ would have given us short shift.
So there it is! My afternoon with Meryl Streep.
No overly exciting, but certainly interesting to be part of the intricate world of movie making, enabling my image to be projected around the world (even though if viewers blinked, I’d be missed).
BUT WAIT. THERE’S MORE
I was on a bus the following night to a reproduction 'campsite' set erected in the sparely vegetated bush land outside Alice Springs; there to re-enact both the scene where Lindy discovered the baby was missing from their tent, and the campground tourists’ search for the missing baby. Nearby, a movie ‘village’ had sprung up - a 200-person tented dining hall, trucks, generators, caravans, lights, cameras and miles of cables.
After a generous dinner (they seemed to be constantly feeding us) the producer decided only half the ‘extras’ were needed.
A good friend from Melbourne was the film’s safety officer so he invited me to wander the set with him as he did his rounds – including standing two metres from Meryl as she opened the tent door to discover baby Azaria missing.
MY THOUGHTS
- If you ever get a chance to be a film ‘extra’, grab the opportunity. While there was a lot of waiting around, for me it was a fascinating day and night.
- We were renovating a bathroom at the time. Pay for the day and night for me, my wife and three daughters (7 to 12 years), all at weekend penalty rates, made a significant contribution to the cost of the new bathroom.
- Try your very upmost to ensure you never become a victim of a paparazzi pack. My experience was all pretend. I was not the one in their sights. I knew a great many of those who played the media throng (both locals and well-known Aussie actors) and I pushed my way through the ‘swarm’ ten times. But even so, it was a frightening experience. I pity the real Chamberlains and anyone subject to a similar confrontation.
- When seeking a setting for the first ‘sample’ book in my Outback Adventures action/adventure series, the filming of the Lindy Chamberlain story made an idea choice. Although most characters in Outback Drama do not act in the film itself, it made an excellent background around which the story is woven.
LINKS
www.williamsimsbooks/outbackdrama