A Bullet in the Arse is a low budget action film made in Australia, written and directed by Robin Brennan, Paul Moder, and David Richardson. The film screened at the Sitges International Film Festival in Spain on December 4, 2003. The film also won Best Cinematography at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival in 2003. The film was written and directed by Paul Moder, David Richardson, Robin Brennan.
Film style
A Bullet in the Arse is shot in the style of the spaghetti western as a story of friendship, betrayal and revenge, and set in a time when the only law is that of the gun.
The opening scene features three killers at a railway station awaiting the arrival of a mysterious fourth party. Leone aficionados will immediately recognise this scenario, as this is how Once Upon A Time In The West opens. It includes an audio gag that nods in the direction of the infamous squeaking windmill of West's opening scene. The film also features a few classic 'draw sequences' and a replay of the early scene in For A Few Dollars More where the rat-faced outlaw is firing at Lee Van Cleef and his bullets are getting closer and closer as Van Cleef calmly reloads his gun.
The entire 'look' of the locations and costumes has been designed to suggest the feeling of the Leone westerns, but without directly copying them. The filmaker's aim was to suggest this influence subtly, as something the viewer would feel rather than notice. The film also uses the theme of male friendship and betrayal that Leone was so fond of and used so well in Duck You Sucker and Once Upon A Time In America. The entire plot hinges on a deadly betrayal in a close male friendship that sets all the events and action into dangerous motion.
Development and production
;Original idea and plan
A Bullet in the Arse was originally conceived as a much smaller project to be shot on Super 8, over the 1992 Christmas holiday period. The filmmakers had all worked in various roles on other feature films, but had never undertaken their own until A Bullet in the Arse. The project was expanded on, and with the acquisition of their own 16mm Bolex, the scale of the film grew. Each writer/director came up with an idea for a film, then looked at the three possibilities, voting for the best idea. David's idea won.
;Script
Written over a seven month period during 1992, the original idea was split into three parts which they each worked on independently, then put back together and revised.
;Shooting schedule
Only very loosely called a schedule, mainly on weekends, depending on weather and actor availability. Often discussed, occasionally stuck to. With the three of them also working to raise the money for A Bullet in the Arse, from time to time they sometimes had to delay a shoot simply to keep their day jobs.
;Snags along the way
Weather (and shocking weather forecasts), lack of money, (always seems to coincide with plenty of time), actors with unannounced haircuts that required time to grow back, actors busy on a given day, crew busy on a given day, family commitments or emergencies, location inaccessibility on a given day, film stock supply delayed, non creative busybodies throwing their weight around because they don't understand people wanting to make films, low-life junkie scumbags stealing their camera.
;Interesting post-filming developements
Almost all locations used during the course of the shoot have since become unavailable for further shooting (at least with their original look). It seemed to happen almost the moment filming was completed. Reasons given were many and varied:
:Renovated, or sold and renovated,
:Burnt down,
:Boarded up,
:Demolished by non creative business types, or the most frequent,
:The actors or filmmakers who lived there moved.
Synopsis
"Cleef" (with a nod to Lee Van Cleef), a hitman with a haunted past, is hired to kill his old friend and criminal cohort, Walton, a gunfighter with a price on his head. Curly, a brothel owner with a taste for loose women and big guns, is hot on their trail.
Plot
Walton (David Richardson), believing he has killed his best friend Cleef (Paul Moder), flees, disappearing from the lives of everyone he has known. Cleef, allowing everyone to believe he is dead, has built a new life for himself as an assassin, working exclusively through the mysterious Mr. Driscoll (Adam Batt). Curly (Robin Brennan), robbed of almost one million dollars by Cleef and Walton, is almost sick with hate and the need for revenge. One day Walton comes back to town. He has a price on his head. A big price.
The Filmmakers
*David Richardson is a freelance cinematographer who has worked on commercials, music videos, student films, and feature films.
*Paul Moder has a background in Studied Film & TV at Swinburne (now VCA).
*Robin Brennan has a background in nonlinear editing.
Festival screenings
Premiered at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival in St Kilda, Victoria 2003
Awards and nominations
Cast
*Paul Moder as Cleef
*David Richardson as Walton
*Robin Brennan as Curley
*Adam Batt as Driscoll
*Adam Browne as Squab
*Stephen Clarke as Sousa
*Ken Mok as Sousa's servent
*George Gladstone as Sousa'a bodyguard
*Michael Panosh as Montana
*Anthony Harrison as Montana'a bodyguard
*John Butcher as Montana's victim
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