The Correspondent is a gripping biographical thriller about the relentless defence of the truth and triumph of the human spirit. While covering the news desk in Cairo over the Christmas holidays, Australian journalist Peter Greste (Richard Roxburgh) is arrested and accused of terrorism. He has become a pawn in the middle of a deadly game full of corrupt officials and ancient rivalries. Now the subject of his own worldwide news story, with only his wits and unlikely allies keeping him alive, Greste’s freedom and his very survival means staring down a brutal regime.
As this new Australian drama hits cinemas on April 17, Nick L’Barrow sat down with the film’s director, Kriv Stenders, to discuss the process of finding the films visual style, and the importance of telling such an impactful story such as Peter Greste’s.
Nick: It’s great to see you again, Kriv! The last time we spoke was on the red carpet for Danger Close in 2019, so it’s been a while between drinks for us!
Kriv Stenders: Wow. A lot of water under the bridge since then!
Nick: Indeed! And thanks for taking the time to chat today. Peter Greste’s story is truly incredible, and I think the way to present his time in prison is very claustrophobic for the audience. I’m curious to know how the visual style filmed evolved for you through reading Peter’s book, speaking with him, and even being on set?
Kriv Stenders: A lot of it was my response to the script. The script was actually quite a different animal when I initially read it. It had a number of other story lines in it that left Peter’s world and went to the consulates and even his backstory back home in Australia. And whilst it was all very good, every time the story was with Peter, I just wanted to stay there. And that’s when I realised, as a director, let’s just stay with Peter.
Your job as a director is to play with form. Your canvas is form. And I love films that really embrace the form of what it can be. So, it was an obvious choice for me to tell our writer, Peter Duncan, and producer, Carmel Travers, that this was a first-person view film. Let’s experience what Peter experienced, which is literally a knock on the hotel room door, a series of police stations, corridors, offices, prison cells, and courtrooms. And once you decide that’s your world, then it becomes very exciting.
Nick: I’m curious to know what the conversations were like with Richard [Roxburgh] about finding the balance between impersonation and interpretation of Peter for the film?
Kriv Stenders: The conversations were very much between me and Richard first. Once he came on board, it was really about reassuring Richard that I didn’t want him to do an impersonation of Peter. Peter is a great guy, and a great journalist, but he’s not a famous figure. He’s not really in the public eye like an Elvis or Barrack Obama, you know?
This was very much supposed to be an interpretation of Peter Greste. I wanted Richard to bring who he was as an actor to the character. And I think Richard realised he had a lot of bandwidth there to interpret the character, and that liberated him.
And I think Peter Greste was comfortable with that, too. He knew this wasn’t going to be a photograph, he knew it was going to be a painting. And that’s really what you want to do with this kind of leap of interpretation.
Nick: The film closes out with some astonishing facts about war journalists, and how 1700 have been killed, and in 2023 alone, 779 were jailed. It made me think about the importance of telling stories about the story tellers. Was that something that was either discussed or on your mind as you were making this film?
Kriv Stenders: Yeah, definitely. And it’s the whole reason I’m a filmmaker, you know? I want to be moved as an audience member, as a lover of cinema. I love films that make me think, that changed my life in some kind of way. That make me look at the world, and help me understand it.
I don’t think these sorts of films get made in Australia, or at least they’re tougher to finance and get distributed. So, I consider myself very, very lucky. But there is also a big responsibility that comes with that. You don’t want to fuck it up, and you really want to do something that’s going to at least have some chance of breakthrough.
I always feel that it’s important to really give my films a sort of emotional time bomb that goes off either when the audience is watching it, or during the credits, or in the days following it.
Journalism is one of the fundamental pillars of democracy, of civilization. And anything that reminds people about that, whether it’s a film, whether it’s a book, whether it’s a song, a painting, or whatever, it’s important. And I’m just grateful to be a part of that energy.
Nick: There’s an interaction in the film between Peter and Kate, who is played by Yael Stone, and it’s breaking down the reason why Peter Greste loves what he does. And he ultimately admits he loves the adrenaline of it all. I’m curious to know if there is a filmmaking equivalent to the adrenaline rush that Peter describes?
Kriv Stenders: I mean, I love being on set. I love the excitement. I love the pressure, and I love the stress, because stress forces you to be creative. If it wasn’t stressful, and it wasn’t scary, then it wouldn’t be worth doing. You wouldn’t force yourself to come up with solutions. And I love that.
When I made Danger Close, it was the most stressful film I ever made. But I actually learned to get addicted to the stress. So, that’s a bit like adrenaline, you know? I think even a bit like a soldier in battle, you understand how that can become addictive, even though I’m dealing with a very, very different thing, it’s still the same feeling.
Nick: I want to ask about a specific line of dialogue – or rather a particular word that is used in the film – and it is “fuck”. The word is used so sporadically in the film, but it’s such a common part of Australian vernacular, that even when Richard delivers the line, “Haven’t I been in every fucking prison in this country?”, it truly impacted me. So, I’m curious to know how much thought actually went into how you were going to use “fuck” for genuine impact?
Kriv Stenders: Well, to me, it’s all music. It’s all about what key it’s in. As I’ve directed over the years, I’ve learned to use my ears sometimes more than my eyes, because it’s a given that you can make something look great, but when a film sounds right, it feels right and therefore probably is right. Your ears get attuned to notes and rhythms that are off, especially with swear words.
And it’s also depending on genres. Like with music, if it’s classical, it requires a certain kind of musical vocabulary to make it feel like that genre. Rock ‘n’ roll has certain motifs and tropes in it that you’re familiar with. It’s the same with films, and the dialogue on the page is like a score. And it’s up to me how to play those notes.
Thank you so much to Kriv for his time, and to Maslow Entertainment and NixCo PR for organising the interview. The Correspondent is in Australian cinemas on April 17.
