BODY MELT: THE ADDISON HEATH INTERVIEW

Emerging from the blood-soaked mayhem of the Monster Fest 2013 program is Australian writing talent, Addison Heath. The Melbourne-born 26 year-old is premiering his ‘sociopathic Mr Whippee’ black comedy Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla at the genre festival; a brazen, brutal yet somehow sweet-natured work, the project brought about a like-minded collaboration with one of Australia’s most respected underground auteurs, Stuart Simpson (pictured, below; from left, Simpson, Heath and leading man Glenn Maynard).

“Stu and I had been trying to get a film going for a while,” says Heath (pictured, below), talking to SCREEN-SPACE during a rare break in production on his directorial debut, an offbeat thriller called Under A Kaleidoscope. “We are both huge fans of anti-hero stories, like Taxi Driver, The King of Comedy, Raising Arizona. We wanted to take dark subject matter and turn it in to an absurdist comedy. One of our initial concepts was ‘What if Wes Anderson directed Taxi Driver?’”

Simpson recalls the experience of working with Heath as a truly creative one. “Addison has a talent and love of writing natural dialogue, especially for the more colourful characters in our suburban landscape,” he says. “Finding that balance between something confronting and comedic was what interested me.” Having read through some of the young writer’s scripts, the experienced Simpson took on the role of developing Heath’s screenplay into his third feature (Demons Amongst Us,2006; El Monstro del Mar, 2010).

Given his key influences are such out-there talents as Harmony Korinne, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Sion Sono and films as challenging as Oldboy, Enter The Void and Takeshi Miike’s The Happiness of Katakuris, it is perhaps inevitable that Heath’s screenplay exhibits such a bracingly individual voice. “I'd written a handful of unproduced genre scripts, so I wanted to try a different style of writing and experimented with shifts in tone,” he recounts of his writing process. “Every time I felt the film was becoming too deep, I thought it best to throw something absurd in the mix to keep the viewer on their toes.”    

Both Heath and Simpson acknowledge that the third crucial component in the mix that became Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla is their lead actor, Glenn Maynard (pictured, below), who creates a perversely unique central figure in ice-cream-vendor, Warren Thompson. “(It) was written with Glenn Maynard in mind for the lead,” states Simpson.

“We decided to construct a film for Glenn to play the lead,” agrees Heath, citing the actor was an ongoing source of inspiration. “I've always felt Glenn has an instant likeability, a certain quirkiness that really appeals to my sense of humour,” says the writer. “Seeing him bring Warren to life was very interesting. To carry a feature film, as an actor, is a gigantic effort and Glenn makes it look effortless.”

The character of Warren is in himself a powerful, ultimately frightening construct, yet engenders audience sympathy to the last frame of film. “I wanted to take a stereotype and give it a voice,” recounts Heath of his inspiration for the character, destined to be a cult figure in Australian cinema. “Warren is designed to be a voice for the unheard. The guy on the bus with a limp that high-school kids pick on or the dishevelled person talking to themself whilst walking in the city. People that, on appearance, are instantly judged. Warren is an anti-hero for the modern day ‘loser’.”

Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla screens Sunday, November 24 at Monster Fest. Further information available at the festival's website.