Three lifelong friends travel to Florida to be bridesmaids in a surprise wedding of their college girlfriend. Once there, sisterhoods are rekindled, the past rises up again in all its glory, and there’s enough sparks, drinks and romance to change all their lives in ways they never expected.
THE FABULOUS FOUR features an all-star cast of Megan Mullally, Bette Midler, Susan Sarandon, Sheryl Lee Ralph and is directed by Australian, Jocelyn Moorhouse (The Dressmaker, Muriel’s Wedding).
As The Fabulous Four arrives in Australian cinemas on August 1, Nick L’Barrow spoke with the film’s director, Jocelyn Moorhouse about working with such an iconic cast, balancing comedy and drama, and where the idea for a “Kegel ball slingshot” came from!
Nick: I was about 19 or 20 when The Dressmaker came out. And I saw it at a time when I was trying to watch as many movies as I could as the cinemas, and trying out films that I would normally not have seen at the time. And I remember so distinctly having an immense amount of fun with The Dressmaker. But that memory had me wondering when you have a movie like The Fabulous Four, even though it may have an intended target audience, do you also think about how the film will appeal to a broader audience?
Jocelyn Moorhouse: Of course! I would love everybody to go see my movies. So, I’m hoping that, you know, the characters and the situations are funny enough that it doesn’t matter who you are, you’ll really enjoy yourself.
I mean, my kids love it! Of course, they’re a bit biased. They do love their mum! But my 18-year-old thinks it’s hilarious. She loves seeing what she calls “Grandma’s Behaving Badly”.
Nick: That should be the tagline of the film! That’s the best way to sell it! I know you know this, but you’ve had such a brilliant career in varied roles, whether it’s writing, directing, producing. I’m curious to know whether, during your filmmaking process, do all those different aspects, like writing and producing, help inform decisions you make as a director? Or do you find that “producer Jocelyn” needs to let “director Jocelyn” do her thing?
Jocelyn Moorhouse: No, I’ve always got those things in mind. But I do wear the different hats. For instance, I’m directing a TV show right now in Tasmania, but I’m completely aware of the fact that, you know, they have to save money in certain departments, or we only have a certain amount of time to shoot something, or if a location falls through and I have to fix that problem.
I think having experience in those other fields does help, because I’m not just going, “Why the hell did that happen?” I actually know and I can understand. But no, you can’t be all things all the time. It’s like a different job each time. If I’m directing, then mostly, that is my focus.
Nick: It’s impossible to not talk about The Fabulous Four without mentioning this iconic cast. And this is quite an ensemble piece story wise. What is the key to balancing an ensemble story as a filmmaker?
Jocelyn Moorhouse: I think you have to look at each character’s journey. Their emotional journey, or their narrative journey, and make sure you’ve done enough story beats for that, so that the audience feels like they’ve been able to go on each path and follow along with that character’s emotional journey. Because then it’s satisfying for an audience to be able to say, “Okay, I feel I understand what happened to that person.”
And then you got to mix them up together and see how they interact with each other. So, even though I didn’t write this, I still have to keep tabs on that as a director, because the director is still a storyteller. And I always feel like the directing of the movie, or the show, is the final draft of the script. You’re just translating it into an audio-visual medium.
Nick: This ensemble is made up with stars who are incredibly iconic in their own right. When was the point during production where, for you, “movie star Bette Midler” or “movie star Susan Sarandon” just became Bette and Susan?
Jocelyn Moorhouse: I live in Sydney, so before I got to Savannah, Georgia, a lot of our talks and rehearsals and meetings were over Zoom, which was a little frustrating. But, you know, we all got used to that during COVID, so it’s not as alien as it used to be.
So, that’s when it started because basically, we all just thought it’s time to get real, let’s work on the job in front of us, which was to do our best in our respective roles. We have to do something together.
And then you just stop worrying about, “Wow, I’m working with these women that I’ve kind of worshipped from afar since I was a teenager.” It became, “I’m working with these women who are very professional actresses.” They’re doing their job and I’m doing my job. It fell away pretty quickly, and then we just became work colleagues. But every now and then, one of them would do something so magical on screen that I would just find myself just beaming and having to pinch myself!
Nick: That’s why they’ve withstood the test of cinematic time! Earlier you mentioned the importance of making sure the audience is invested in the characters journey, and I think part of that investment has to do with something that you do so well in your films, and that balancing the drama and comedy of the situations. How important are moments of levity or comedic relatability in stories that can be primarily dramatic by nature?
Jocelyn Moorhouse: Yeah, I just call my movies emotional comedies, really! That’s how I see life. My life has been on big dark comedy!
Nick: I feel a lot of people could relate to that!
Jocelyn Moorhouse: Well, life is full of this weird mixture of drama and comedy. And that’s actually the way, I believe, is a healthy way to look at life. That’s my life view. And so, that’s how I tell stories. I believe we have to have a mixture of comedy and drama, because that’s just the way life is for me.
Nick: While we’re speaking about comedy, one of the moments that I truly laughed out loud, is the Kegel ball slingshot…
Jocelyn Moorhouse: [laughs] I have to credit my husband [director P.J. Hogan] with that! We were going to possibly use a Kegel ball as a joke, and he went, “Oh, well, why don’t you use it as a weapon?” Then of course, as soon as he said that, I’m like, “That’s genius!” Why not use a Kegel ball as a weapon?!
But, even firstly, it started as an email from my producer going, “Hey Joss, my wife says Kegel balls are really funny. Why don’t you find a way to put it in the movie?” And I thought that was a bizarre email. So, then I looked up Kegel balls! Strangely enough, I haven’t used one yet [laughs]. I might change my mind though, after this!
But you just can’t help but laugh at them. And so, it was originally going to be in one scene, with one character talking about them to another. But it just kept growing once P.J. said, “Why doesn’t she knock the guy off the bike with Kegel ball?” Which I thought was insane! I can’t possibly put that in a film! But it’s P.J. Hogan, I suppose I have to listen to you because you are the king of comedy!
So, I did it. And everybody loved it, and the girls loved it. Susan thought it was fantastic. We just threw common sense to the wind and went, “Who cares?”
Thank you so much to Jocelyn for her time, and to Transmission Films and TM Publicity for organising the interview. The Fabulous Four is in cinemas August 1.
