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Simon News, Articles, Info
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| Tina |
Date: Friday, 13-Apr-18, 2:44 PM | Message # 196 |
 Fair Dinkum
Messages: 2066
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Ohhh, nice pic!!! Thanks a lot for posting Marie. |
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| bee |
Date: Friday, 13-Apr-18, 5:10 PM | Message # 197 |
 Fair Dinkum
Messages: 1525
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Sweet pic and video, thanks DSP. |
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| Deedee |
Date: Friday, 13-Apr-18, 7:14 PM | Message # 198 |
 Bee's Knees
Messages: 704
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Gorgeous pic and loved the video. Can’t wait for the rest of it. Thanks DSP. |
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| DS_Pallas |
Date: Saturday, 14-Apr-18, 9:20 AM | Message # 199 |
 Fair Dinkum
Messages: 1979
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Closing Ceremony of the XXI Commonwealth Games on 15 April, Carrara Stadium
Longines: Our Ambassador of Elegance #SimonBaker to the Longines Records Club tomorrow.
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| bee |
Date: Saturday, 14-Apr-18, 10:32 AM | Message # 200 |
Fair Dinkum
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Will be watching the closing ceremony on BBC2 (UK) hoping to catch sight of Simon! |
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| Wand6122360 |
Date: Saturday, 14-Apr-18, 4:28 PM | Message # 201 |
Bee's Knees
Messages: 517
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Good idea, Bee. I’ll try the same. |
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| DS_Pallas |
Date: Monday, 16-Apr-18, 11:46 AM | Message # 202 |
Fair Dinkum
Messages: 1979
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| DS_Pallas |
Date: Tuesday, 17-Apr-18, 10:13 AM | Message # 203 |
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Messages: 1979
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The Gold Coast Film Festival starts today! 'Breath' director Simon Baker, water DOP Rick Rifici & DOP Tristan Houghton, will discuss the film on Wed. 18th of April.
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| DS_Pallas |
Date: Wednesday, 18-Apr-18, 3:27 PM | Message # 204 |
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Messages: 1979
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Gold Coast Film Festival - Arrival with his director of photography Rick Rifici, at the panel session for the new Australian Film “Breath”
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| bee |
Date: Wednesday, 18-Apr-18, 9:01 PM | Message # 205 |
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Messages: 1525
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Great pics, thanks DSP. Simon is going to have a busy few weeks with his Breath tour! |
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| Tina |
Date: Thursday, 19-Apr-18, 8:17 AM | Message # 206 |
Fair Dinkum
Messages: 2066
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Thanks a lot for the pics. A lot of new stuff these days  . |
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| DS_Pallas |
Date: Sunday, 22-Apr-18, 9:16 AM | Message # 207 |
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Messages: 1979
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"The Sunday Times" April 22, 2018
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| DS_Pallas |
Date: Sunday, 22-Apr-18, 9:46 AM | Message # 208 |
Fair Dinkum
Messages: 1979
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WA town of Denmark hopes for global tourism boost from new movie Breath
ABC Great Southern, By Benjamin Gubana - April 22, 2018
Photo: Actor and director Simon Baker with the young actors from new movie Breath. (Supplied)
A small town on Western Australia's rugged south coast is hoping to ride a wave of publicity
brought on by the release of Australian actor and director Simon Baker's new film, Breath.
Based on the Tim Winton novel, the coming-of-age tale was filmed entirely along the state's south coast,
and was set in the town of Denmark.
Actors and crew spent six weeks filming in the town in 2016.
Mr Baker both directed and starred in the film and admitted Denmark wasn't always going to be the filming location.
"You know, obviously I grew up on the east coast, and you know I'm very familiar with coastline around Ballina,
Lennox Head, Byron Bay," Mr Baker said.
"That was my stomping ground I know it like the back of my hand. But then I went over to Western Australia for
a 'reccie' to have a look around and then sunset magic hour on the first day I arrived at Ocean Beach in Denmark,
drove through the little township.
"It was like, this is it. This is the place."
Photo: Actor and director Simon Baker chats to Breath author Tim Winton at the premiere of the movie.
The WA Government spent more than $2 million to secure filming in WA.
Author Tim Winton said it was great that the region was being showcased.
"We've got some of the best places to visit in the world, and it's unspoilt, and you're going to see that on screen,"
he said.
"I'm really pleased that they chose to do it here. I tried to talk them out of it for a while, because I didn't want
to lose secret surf spots, but I don't think we gave any secrets away."
'Bigger than a Federer quokka selfie'
Photo: Author Tim Winton says he was pleased with the location of the movie. (Supplied: Denise Winton)
Local businesses are gearing up for any potential flow-on effect from their small town ending up on the big screen.
Chair of the Great Southern Development Commission and former Denmark Shire President, Ross Thornton, said
the impact of the film's release would be enormous.
"I can quote you from Toronto after the release of film, the first question asked was 'Where is this place, and how do
we get there?'" Mr Thornton said.
"So for Western Australia, the Great Southern and Denmark in particular, the impact could be enormous.
"We've recently done the promotion of Roger Federer and the quokka, well I think this film could be bigger on the world
scene than that promotion."
Photo: Mike Neunuebel, who operates a surfing business in Denmark, says the movie will take off
around the world.
Mike Neunuebel operates a surfing business on Ocean Beach, one of the film's locations, and was keen to capitalise
on the tourism boost.
"It was filmed right here on this sand, right here where we're at," Mr Neunuebel said.
"And when you look at the beauty of this place I couldn't not see that movie taking off around the world because
it's showing exactly what we have here in Denmark. All that beauty.
"People from all around the world they'll see how beautiful Denmark is and say
'Oh I've just got to go and see that place'.
"There's a lot of people that haven't seen it yet so I think the whole town will capitalise on it because [tourists will]
come through and say 'Oh I want to visit this little beach where the movie was filmed'."
Sharks no deterrent
Mr Neunuebel said visitors would still flock to the area despite recent shark attacks off the WA coastline.
"Anytime you have a business when you're in the elements like this, when you have the elements of the ocean
as well, I think you have to expect, you hear about sharks and yes the business does go down," he said.
"People soon forget, people soon want to learn how to surf again, they see it's a safe environment here."
A rugged beach with blue skies
Photo: Ocean Beach at Denmark, seen from the lookout point. (ABC Great Southern: Benjamin Gubana)
Minister for Arts and Culture, David Templeman, said people would come to see the natural beauty in any case.
"I think when people see the film they'll want to see the rugged coastline, some of them will want to go for a swim
or a surf, some of them will just want to see the beautiful and remarkable landforms that make up our southern
coast," Mr Templeman said.
"I don't think that the unfortunate stuff that might have happened in recent times, particularly in Margaret River,
will put people off from wanting to see beautiful parts of the world."
Shire plans for more films
Denmark Shire President Ceinwen Gearon said the economic impact of the film on local businesses was exciting.
"I think there absolutely is cause for the community to get excited, and to look to how they can make the most
of this opportunity," Ms Gearon said.
"But I think also what Denmark has learned from the experience is that we do make quite a good location, so
there's an opportunity there to look to see if we can offer our location for other films and other activities around filming.
"This is a magnificently shot film...it really showcases the natural environment of Denmark. So I think we need
to be prepared to consider that others might want to take advantage of that."
http://www.abc.net.au/news....9684942 |
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| DS_Pallas |
Date: Monday, 23-Apr-18, 10:15 AM | Message # 209 |
Fair Dinkum
Messages: 1979
Status: Offline |
Breath: Simon Baker back in Perth to promote directorial debut
April 23rd, 2018, Written by Julian Wright Stirling Times
https://www.communitynews.com.au/stirlin....l-debut
A FOUR-day road trip along WA’s South-West coast sounds like a holiday for locals, but for actor/director
Simon Baker, it was work.
The Aussie heartthrob from The Devil Wears Prada and TV’s The Mentalist was scouting filming locations
for his feature film directorial debut Breath, based on Tim Winton’s novel.
Breath is a coming of age story set in the 1970s about teenage mates Pikelet (Samson Coulter) and Loonie
(Ben Spence), who take up surfing and befriend champion surfer and adventurer Sando (Simon Baker)
who mentors them.
The production, co-funded by Screen Australia, Screenwest and Lotterywest, was filmed in Denmark,
supported about 150 jobs throughout the project’s life, and gave a $5.6 million boost to the economy.
Baker said he had been to WA before taking on the project, but had not ventured far from the state’s capital.
“We scouted along the coast from Albany to Perth in four days,” he said.
“We hit Denmark about 3.30pm or 4pm on the first afternoon of driving and the layout was so perfect for
what I had in my head so we spent the day scooting around.
“It was great, it was the best sort of holiday because I got to focus and soak up the place.”
Baker, who is back in WA promoting the film, said he was keen to explore the state’s north and
inland areas.
Baker got in some directorial practice with five episodes of his hit popular TV show before tackling
a big screen project.
“The scale is larger (with a film) which is great; I like the detail that you are afforded,” he said.
“I didn’t look at it (adapting a Tim Winton novel) as a challenge to put myself up against but there was
definitely a lot of external pressures that creep up.”
Baker will be at Event Cinemas Innaloo for a sold out Q and A screening of Breath tonight.
Breath is in cinemas May 3. |
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| DS_Pallas |
Date: Monday, 23-Apr-18, 7:36 PM | Message # 210 |
Fair Dinkum
Messages: 1979
Status: Offline |
Sunshine Coast Daily
It's a new wave film
by Ann Wason Moore, 23rd Apr 2018 6:00 PM
https://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.au/news....3390269
Stars, they're just like us.
Simon Baker, the guy they call Smiley, the Mentalist, calls my house on a Saturday morning from his mobile, no PR,
no minders ... but also no time.
"I'm so sorry,” he says. "Something's just come up. If you're not busy in a couple of hours, can I call you then?”
Of course, I concur. I have been stood up by far lesser than Mr Baker. When we talk, he admits he had to run
because he had to surf ... with his son.
"I could see that look in his eye, the conditions were good and he wanted to get out. The alternative was he'd pick up
a device and start playing games,” says the 48-year-old father of three.
Stars' kids ... they're just like mine.
We're used to seeing Simon on screen - from E Street in the early '90s to his first American film, LA Confidential,
to starring roles in The Guardian and The Mentalist - all trademark golden curls and crinkly eyes. But as much as he's
every bit the leading man, there's something still so familiar about him - that Aussie boy next door.
Born in northern New South Wales, he attended Ballina High and owns a property in nearby Nashua. Between Ballina
and Hollywood, he did a solid stint in Surfers Paradise.
"A bunch of mates and I moved into this old fibro shack on Garfield Terrace. It had a huge pine tree in the back and
then just beach.
"We all worked in hospitality and just surfed.”
Baker was back on the Coast last week to launch a project that's not just dear to his heart but his surfer's soul.
Breath is his feature film directing debut, adapted from the novel by Australian Tim Winton, and it had its Queensland
premiere at the Gold Coast Film Festival on Thursday.
The coming-of-age tale follows Pikelet and Loonie, two teenage boys growing up in a small coastal town in Western
Australia in the 1970s. Their love of surfing and adventure sees their paths cross with older, local surfer Bill "Sando”
Sanderson,
played by Baker, who describes the character as "a mentor, but pathetic in his own way”.
Having grown up surfing in Ballina, and with sons Harry, 16, and Claude, 19, plus daughter Stella, 24, Baker felt
instantly connected to the characters and themes in the novel before adapting it for screen.
"To me it's all about identity. It's about the boys, Pikelet and Loonie, trying to figure out who they are in this coming-
of-age time of their lives,” he says.
"It's about Sando and his sort of stunted identity. As much as he's this mentor to them, he's not a Yoda character.
He's more pathetic than wise. He's stuck in the past and never learned to take responsibility.
"But it's also about the identity of Australia. Our identity is tied to the sea, to the coastline, but our identity is also
constantly shifting. We drift with the tide between our UK heritage, our ties with America and our indigenous history.”
Baker says the film helped shift his own definition of identity, from actor to director and film-maker. Sando may be
a father-figure of sorts to the boys, but the film was Baker's own lovechild.
"We got the book option about eight years ago and the last three or four years have been really intense,” he says.
"It doesn't matter who you are, getting a film made is a long, hard process. It's a labour of love.
"I'd like to direct again, though. I feel at home directing. I feel like I can contribute more when I'm in that role.
It's not easy but it's immensely satisfying.”
The fact that the subject matter dealt with one of Baker's other great loves, surfing, is obvious in the film. The poetry
of motion writes a love letter to a time and place that, while changed, is not entirely gone.
The boys who grew up in the '70s and '80s, like Pikelet, Loonie and Baker himself, are the fathers of today, guiding
their own children through ever-choppy conditions.
"That era of the '70s is still so familiar to us - I loved putting up the pictures from Copperart in the houses.
"I think I was a boy who was somewhere between those two adolescent characters, the sort of dreamy individual that
is Pikelet and the wild, lost boy that is Loonie. But ultimately, I'm more Pikelet. Otherwise I never would have got this
movie made.
"But the thing we all have in common is this love for surfing. I can't really say what it is to me.
"It's a break and a relief to be somewhere that no one can contact you... Physically, it's still exhilarating and meditative.”
For Baker, it's an exercise that is still uniquely Australian. With his children having grown up both here and in the US,
he says the surfing community in their Sydney suburb is an extended family of sorts.
"Bec (wife actor Rebecca Rigg) and I have always had such close ties to our country, to Australia, no matter where we
havebeen living, and the kids feel that,” he says.
"There is something to say for being here and having a different perspective - or just having perspective - on what's
happening in the world.” |
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