Accidents Happen

Accidents Happen is a 2009 Australian coming-of-age comedy drama film directed by Andrew Lancaster and starring Geena Davis, Harrison Gilbertson, Harry Cook (actor), Sebastian Gregory, Joel Tobeck, and Sarah Woods. Written by Brian Carbee, based on his own childhood and adolescence, the story revolves around an accident-prone teenage boy and his family. The film was shot in Sydney, New South Wales, over June – July 2008, and opened in Australia on 22 April 2010.[2]

For the Zoë Badwi song, see Accidents Happen (song).
"Doug Post" redirects here. For the American politician, see Doug Post (politician).

Accidents Happen
Promotional poster
Directed byAndrew Lancaster
Produced byAnthony Anderson
Written byBrian Carbee
StarringGeena Davis
Harrison Gilbertson
Ivy Latimer
Harry Cook
Joel Tobeck
Narrated byTyler Coppin
CinematographyBen Nott
Edited byRoland Gallois
Distributed byChristal Films
Release date
  • 23 April 2009 (2009-04-23) (Tribeca)
  • 22 April 2010 (2010-04-22) (Australia)
CountryAustralia
United Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
BudgetA$6,000,000
Box office$157,131[1]

Plot

In 1974, the Conway family are at a drive-in theater in Connecticut watching The Three Stooges. The parents are Gloria (Geena Davis), a foul-mouthed and strict mother who will always take responsibility over the family, Ray (Joel Tobeck), an easy-going father, and siblings Linda, Gene, Larry (Harry Cook (actor)), and Billy (Harrison Gilbertson), who is an accident-prone child. In the meantime, the Conway's neighbor, Douglas "Doug" Post (Sebastian Gregory), whom Gloria hates and often calls him names because he is the one who causes problems that could be offensive towards the family, drives by on his bike, and Gene leads him up to the top of the drive-in screen. Gene then proceeds to urinate out of the screen. While an infuriated Gloria trips as she approaches the screen, the police are dispatched to handle the situation as infuriated and confused guests honk at Gene and Doug. While driving back home, an argument over the incident causes their car to collide with a pick-up truck during the rainy night. Although Gloria, Ray, Billy, and Larry only suffer minor injuries, Linda is killed and Gene is severely injured with severe brain damage (that could be fatal in a matter of time) and is left paralyzed from the head down.

In 1982, eight years after the accident, Ray is divorced and more problems arise not only concerning about Doug, but also about Gene's severe condition, as he could die in any day or any month. Fifteen-year-old Billy is still friends with Doug even after the accident. One night, an argument occurs over a TV dinner with Larry, now a belligerent and profane alcoholic. Billy accidentally knocks over the dinner and it lands on him, burning his back. When Doug overhears what is going on, he intervenes and gets into a short scuffle with Larry, as Billy blames his brother for the burn on his back. After streaking and robbing a convenience store, Billy and Doug are playing when he causes an almighty crash with a bowling ball and a moving car, actually killing Doug's father by accident.[3] Just a few days after the incident, Larry's incessant harassment causes Billy to fight against his older brother, and when Gloria breaks up the scuffle and discovers a gauze on Billy's back (after Billy knocked the TV dinner and injured himself, and on the newspapers regarding the robbery that Billy was wearing the gauze), Larry immediately tells her that Billy and Doug went streaking and stealing things as evidence, but is still taken away by Ray, who came to cause another argument with Gloria over their divorce. Because Billy has no way to hide any of the evidence, an incensed Gloria reprimands and admonishes him, restricting him from seeing Doug permanently. Although she knows what Billy and Doug did, Gloria does not know what really happened at the car crash.

When Doug receives a mistaken note that his father committed suicide and that the insurance company does not pay for suicide, they decide that it is time to confess to the police of what really happened. When Billy tells this to Gloria, she describes him as a selfish son and she slaps him across the face in disbelief and breaks down in tears. As the police interrogate Billy and Doug, the family receive word that Gene had finally died. It is then revealed that when Doug attended Gene's funeral, Gloria had forgiven him for what happened. The movie ends when Billy takes the bowling ball that was found after the fatal accident and roles it down the sidewalk as Billy looks on.

Cast

Production

American-born screenwriter Brian Carbee wrote Accidents Happen based on his childhood in 1980s Connecticut, changing his own name to "Billy Conway".[8][9] He had previously performed in a one person show titled In Search of Mike, which director Andrew Lancaster saw and asked Carbee if he would adapt the show to a short film. Carbee subsequently wrote a novel which served as the basis for his Accidents Happen screenplay.[10] He developed the screenplay through the prestigious Aurora Script Workshop in Sydney, where producer Anthony Anderson had worked and collaborated on his 2004 film Somersault.[11] In 2004, the completed script was nominated for an Australian Inside Film Award for Best Unproduced Screenplay,[12] but it took a further three years to gather finances for the project. Anderson, Carbee and Lancaster successfully applied for funding from Screen Australia on two occasions; they were granted A$18,000 in May 2003 to fund drafts of the script, and $50,000 in November 2007.[13] In September 2005, Anderson traveled to New York City with three other Australian producers to meet with investors at No Borders Co-Production Market, a division of the Independent Feature Project Market in which filmmakers attempt to secure financing for their projects.[14] The film was the first production from the Abacus Film Fund, co-founded by producer Heather Ogilvie and corporate advisers BG Capital Corporation.[8] British production company Bankside Films of London also assisted in raising finances and is handling all international sales of the film.[4] The filmmakers received a 40% rebate on all production costs from Screen Australia.[15] Davis was the only American actor to be cast, in spite of the story's American setting; the rest of the cast is Australian, with feigned American accents.[9]

"My dad and I drove around Ku-ring-gai scouting locations. St Ives was chosen as the ideal spot for its deciduous trees and big front yards. If you pan the camera one way you get Connecticut, if you pan it the other way you get St Ives. We just had to make sure the gum trees weren't in shot."

Andrew Lancaster on St Ives' standing in for Connecticut[9]

Accidents Happen was originally intended to be filmed in Connecticut, where it is set, but production remained in Australia, where the script had been written, because finances were easier to raise than in the United States.[8][16] Filming was slated to begin in April 2008[16] but was delayed until June.[17] Lancaster said that he did "a huge amount of technical preparation" before filming began, so that on the set, he could focus his directing on the actors' performances, since the cast were largely inexperienced.[10] Principal photography commenced in early June with scenes shot on a built set at Sydney's Fox Studios.[17] Most filming took place in and around Kuringgai, first on Gillian Parade in West Pymble for a week in late June and then Lincoln St, St Ives for 1–2 July.[18][19] Lincoln St residents complained about possible disruptions to Ku-ring-gai Council, starting a petition to have production moved elsewhere, and threatening to play bagpipes and wave lights around during filming if it went on as planned.[20] The council then offered a revised filming schedule, cutting filming down by two days and bringing each day's finishing time forward by an hour to 12:30 am, and the producers offered some residents a $500 payment to cover any inconveniences.[19] Filming of the story's integral car-crash scene was relocated to another street after the discord.[19]

Release

Select footage of Accidents Happen was screened to potential distributors at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival and was shown at the American Film Market in November 2008.[4] The final cut of the film had its world premiere on 23 April 2009 at the Tribeca Film Festival[21] and was screened in June 2009 at the Sydney Film Festival.[22] It was shown in October 2009 at the Branchage Jersey Film Festival,[23] the Cinéma des Antipodes festival[24] and the Sitges Film Festival.[25]

Box office

Accidents Happen took in $157,131 at the box office in Australia.[1]

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that five of nine surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating was 5.5/10.[26] Russell Edwards of Variety wrote, "John Irving-style mishaps and labored irony fail to maintain drama or coherence in Accidents Happen, an Australian-made, faux-American dysfunctional-family black comedy."[27]

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See also

References
  1. Film Victoria - Australian Films at the Australian Box Office Archived 18 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. "Cinematic Intelligence Agency". Retrieved 13 February 2010.
  3. Bartyzel, Monika (13 June 2008). "Geena Davis Flick Gets More Cast". Cinematical. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
  4. Thomas, Archie (12 June 2008). "Quintet finds 'Accidents Happen'". Variety. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
  5. "Accidents Happen". Screen Australia. 2008. Archived from the original on 25 October 2009. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
  6. "HARRY COOK". Mark Morrissey & Associates. 2008. Archived from the original on 4 December 2008. Retrieved 1 November 2008.
  7. Young, Matt (14 September 2009). "Not too big for her boots". Sydney Central. Archived from the original on 14 September 2009. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
  8. George, Sandy (19 December 2007). "US lilt no accident on set". The Australian. Archived from the original on 17 October 2008. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
  9. Walton, Sophie (2 September 2008). "The changing face of St Ives". North Side. Archived from the original on 3 October 2008. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
  10. "Tribeca '09 Interview: "Accidents Happen" Director Andrew Lancaster". IndieWire. 27 April 2009. Archived from the original on 1 May 2009. Retrieved 29 April 2009.
  11. "AURORA SCRIPT WORKSHOP". New South Wales Film and Television Office. 2008. Archived from the original on 19 July 2008. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
  12. Australian Associated Press (11 November 2004). "IF Awards winners". The Age. Melbourne. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
  13. "Approvals Search: "Andrew Lancaster"". Screen Australia. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
  14. "Four feature producers to take their projects to New York's No Borders" (PDF) (Press release). Film Victoria. 4 August 2004. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
  15. "Neighbourhood Watch: Across the ditch". Onfilm. May 2008. Archived from the original on 14 October 2008. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
  16. George, Sandy (14 December 2007). "Rachel Ward to direct first feature". The Australian. Archived from the original on 16 December 2007. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
  17. Murray, Elicia; Tovey, Josephine (5 June 2008). "Foul-mouthed mum hits spot". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 19 November 2008. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
  18. Shelley, Maureen (26 June 2008). "Angry gripes or Hollywood hype?". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
  19. Vallejo, Justin (26 June 2008). "Geena Davis ready to roll in Sydney". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
  20. "Angry residents promise lights - and action". The Daily Telegraph. 21 June 2008. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
  21. Zeitchik, Steven (9 March 2009). "Tribeca announces competition lineup". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 11 March 2009. Retrieved 10 March 2009.
  22. Truman, Greb (15 May 2009). "Brand Down Under". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 15 May 2009.
  23. Cooper, Sarah (30 September 2009). "Branchage Jersey Film Festival unveils line-up jono". Screen Daily. Retrieved 12 October 2009.
  24. Boland, Michaela (12 October 2009). "Unlikely bookends at Cinema des Antipodes film festival". The Australian. Archived from the original on 14 September 2012. Retrieved 12 October 2009.
  25. Mayorga, Emilio (12 October 2009). "'Moon' eclipses rivals at Sitges". Variety. Archived from the original on 15 October 2009. Retrieved 15 October 2009.
  26. "Accidents Happen (2009)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
  27. Edwards, Russell (28 April 2010). "Review: 'Accidents Happen'". Variety. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
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