After 20 years on the run overseas, small-time ex-criminal Johnny ‘Spit’ Spitieri (David Wenham) slips back into
Australia on a false passport only to find himself locked up in an Immigration Detention Centre with a massive target on his back as old enemies come looking for him, determined to settle old scores. As he struggles to stay one step ahead, the resourceful Spit finds new friends in detention, teaching them his version of mateship, and what it means to be truly Australian.
As Wenham reunites with director Jonathan Teplitzky after two decades for this follow up film to 2003s Gettin’ Square, Nick L’Barrow spoke with the actor and director about revisiting this world 20 years later, and how the exploration of these characters affected their own personal views on mateship.
Nick: David, Spit is a far more intimate character exploration of Johnny than we got in Gettin’ Square. I’m curious to know whether your own ideas of what happened to Johnny in this two decade gap ended up coinciding with the same ideas Chris Nyst [writer] brought to the table with his script?
David Wenham: Well, at the end of Gettin’ Square, the only indication we had was his postcard from Israel, and we knew that he was going that. And I believe that he did go there to get off the gear because it was actually the first legal place in the world that ran a program to do that. It was actually real!
And I never really had thought about what happens to Johnny after that because I never thought we’d revisit him again. But about 10 years ago, it became sort of a real prospect, and we all riffed on a whole heap of things. The biggest thing, the most important thing, was that when we bridged the two films over those 20 years, is that he was definitely off the gear, but all the other aspects of him hadn’t changed much. And I think that gave us a chance to have a real exploration of this character.
Nick: Jonathan, obviously Gettin’ Square has this visually dynamic energy being a crime caper, so how did the way you directed and shot Spit evolve with the story being far more personal and intimate?
Jonathan Teplitzky: Well, that all sort of just happened organically. Gettin’ Square was much more plot driven, and this is much more about Johnny’s emotional past catching up to him, and that lends itself to how you think about shooting it because a lot of it’s about the unspokenness of it. You don’t really get a lot of the intimacy with these huge panoramic shots in these huge environments. We wanted to see what was happening in a character’s eyes and catch all those nuances.
You know, the courtroom scene, when you’re watching that on the big screen, you’re not just watching the character, you’re watching the internal life of a character unfold in front of your eyes, which just give you that great access to him. I think we also wanted to give the audience a more intimate portrait, and that would separate it from Gettin’ Square. We didn’t just want to make Gettin’ Square 2! We hoped it would feel like this character was in search of a new life.
Nick: As the film explores Johnny’s humanity, it’s also a fascinating and touching exploration of one of Australia’s most iconic qualities – mateship. When you’re exploring Johnny’s values, especially in a place like a detention centre, what does it teach you about your own values within mateship and humanity?
David Wenham: That’s a fascinating question. It does make you question your relationships with other people. But the incredible thing about Johnny, and why I think people gravitate towards him, is for all of his faults, he is a really, really good man. And in this film, we get to see that he is the least judgemental person you will ever come across. It doesn’t make what colour your skin is, your religion, what profession you have, whether you make a billion dollars or have no money whatsoever, he’ll treat you exactly the same. If he’s your mate, he’s your mate.
I think that’s the key point of the film. It’s an exploration of the Australian ethos. What is mateship? Well, at the end of this film, hopefully you come out with a big smile on your face, and think, “God, I’d like a mate like Johnny Spitieri.” I think people gravitate to him because they know, essentially, he is a good man.
Jonathan Teplitzky: I think with most people there is a universal yearning to be like someone like Johnny, in a sense. As David said, he’s unjudgmental, he’s humane, he’s empathetic, often to a complete fault. I think that is an attractive characteristic, and I think most people have that universal yearning to have those simpler interactions with people. So often, things are polarised and politicised, and Johnny is like a little conduit that reminds us of just how simple life can be and finds value in those sort of relationships.
Nick: Does exploring these characters and themes through a comedic lens also make it consciously more accessible to people who may not necessarily share the same views?
David Wenham: I mean, it’s certainly not a political film, but the genesis of the idea came from Chris [Nyst] who just couldn’t understand the hullabaloo that was occurring about migration. He would always make the point that we’re all migrants! And today’s migrants are tomorrow’s excellent Australian citizens. So he was just shaking his head at it, so he thought, why not just throw Johnny in the middle of it all to bring some common sense to this discussion.
And while the idea behind Chris’ script was definitely inspired, the fact is that it’s really funny. And the guys in the film who play the refugees, are in fact refugees themselves. For example, one of the first Sudanese refugees to land in Toowoomba in 1996 was the first black refugee in Toowoombain the 90s. And he told us that the script was really funny, but it also humanised the refugee experience.
Jonathan Teplitzky: The more I think about it; comedy is a very humanising thing. Because you sort of can’t help a response to something that you find amusing. Obviously, there’s all sorts of influence on what people find funny, but at the end of the day, funny is still funny. And in a strange sort of way, it brings people together, whilst at the same time, can often be opposite to your own beliefs.
The powder keg of any issues can be defused by making it funny. Ricky Gervais says, “it’s funny because it’s true”. Comedy is sort of a strange, elusive bit of bait that leads you to some kind of truth, you know? It may not be the ultimate truth, but there’s certainly often good in comedy. I mean, think about Monty Python! There are so many truths about the British class system in their work, but it’s palatable for people to engage with.
Thank you to David and Jonathan for their time, and to Transmission Films, Think Tank Communications and Against The Grain PR for organising the interview. Spit is in Australian cinemas March 6.
