How Robert Connolly and Alison Lester adapted the iconic Magic Beach for the big screen

The big screen adaptation of Alison Lester’s beloved children’s book, directed by Robert Connolly (The Dry, Paper Planes), Magic Beach is an exciting mix of live action and animation, and perfect family viewing for the Australian summer.

Alison Lester’s Magic Beach is an ongoing bestseller, continuously in print for 35 years, with sales of over 500,000 copies in Australia and New Zealand. It remains one of Australia’s most popular and celebrated illustrated children’s books. Magic Beach is a story of wonder inspired by the everyday, it thrills children because they see themselves in the story, and for their parents and carers, it is a joyful reminder of the power and connection of imagination.

As Magic Beach rolls into Australian cinemas on January 16, courtesy of Madman Films, Nick L’Barrow spoke with director Robert Connolly and author Alison Lester about adapting her story for the big screen, the unique approach to the animation, and why Magic Beach is still so relevant for children today after 35 years.

Nick: This film is beautiful, and heartwarming, and wholesome. So, thank you both for taking the time to chat today! Robert, I’d love to start with you. I’m curious to know where the visual language of this adaptation first came from for you. What was it about Alison’s book that led to the idea of having each different segment animated in unique styles?

Robert Connolly: Yeah, great question. I think with any adaptation, you have to begin by going, ‘Why do people love the book? Why is it such a success? Why are we 35 years down the track, and kids are still having it read to them?’ And I think it’s because it allows children’s imagination to open up. You look into a picture, and you see little characters, you see them repeat it on the other pages. You make connections with them. It’s like the experience you have when you listen to a piece of music and you just let your imagination go.

And my kids, who are now 22 and 20, who I read Magic Beach to when they were young, I was trying to work out why they loved it, and then how do I make a film that has the same experience if you go to the cinema. How do you allow children, and adults, to unlock their imagination?

As an extension of that, I’d made a film years ago where I invited 17 filmmakers to each do a chapter of a Tim Winton book. And so, with my producing team, I invited 10 animators to just respond to the book in their own imagination, with no brief. I told them to come back with what styles they wanted and see what crazy stuff they come up with! And I can’t tell you, Nick, what it was like when those animations were turning up. It was so joyful as an extension, creatively, in response to Alison’s wonderful book.

Nick: Alison, Robert mentioned that Magic Beach has been around for 35 years now, and it’s such a big part of so many people’s lives and childhoods. What has the response and reactions been like to this story over that time, in which we have the book, the stage adaptation, and now a film adaptation?

Alison Lester: It’s a pretty incredible feeling, you know? That something I did so long ago has been used in all of these different ways. It’s so touching that people really take it to their hearts.

I think, whatever form it’s in, we Australian’s just love going to the beach. And it doesn’t have to be a big drama! We’re just taking a towel and sitting on the beach. It’s a very simple way of existing in the natural world.

Nick: One of the elements of the film I really loved was the transportive score, it’s incredible. I’m curious to know for you, Alison, what it’s like seeing those images and ideas you’ve conjured up set to the score? And for Robert, what were the conversations around the score for the film?

Alison Lester: Every time I watch this, it feels like I’m dreaming it, you know? It really does just take you along, and it’s so much the music that does that. And funnily, it wouldn’t have been the music I chose! I would have just had songs that I used to hear on the radio, probably. But it’s so fabulous. The music is just perfect for it.

Robert Connolly: Each of the animators picked their own composers that they worked with. Then I worked with Bryony Marks to compose a score to link it all together, to make it cohesive for the live action.

We explored the idea of using instruments that were familiar to a child’s ear. Things like percussion, like the marimba and the vibraphone. If you think about it, most little kids in their Christmas stocking probably got a xylophone that they hit. That’s when they first learnt about the octaves. So, making a film scored with music from percussion was so much fun, and the percussion performers that we had were so playful and cheeky and imaginative. They all brought little crazy percussion instruments that they had.

So, it’s a real treat for anyone who loves music watching the film, because you can hear instruments you probably have never really heard recorded in a film score before.

Nick: You’ve both mentioned that a story like this, in all it’s forms, is intended to foster and open up the creativity and imagination of the kids who read and watch Magic Beach. How important is it to you both, as artists in your own rights, to foster that creativity and wonder with pieces of work like this?

Robert Connolly: Yeah, Alison’s brief to me early was, “Let the children’s imagination’s fill the blanks. Don’t do it for them.’ And I love that. I just think we spend so much time worrying about having to fill everything up for our children. Whereas, you know, I’ve made a career as a creative person, and I think a lot of that creativity came out of times of boredom, you know? And that’s what I love about Alison’s books when my kids were little. It allowed them that space to come up with their own stories.

Alison Lester: Thank you. I believe in it so much. I just love being able to go to places in my imagination. Like, I can lie awake at night, when I can’t sleep – and sometimes I think I’m going crazy! Because there is so much weird stuff in my head!

But I love listening to kids play. They’re making up their own little world, and it’s so rich. I think it’s so important for our health to be able to have that ability to just imagine and go places.

Nick: Another thing I loved about the film is the idea that stories are handed down to us. There are moments where parents are pulling out the book Magic Beach, sitting their kids down, and reading it to them. So, I ‘m curious to know what stories were handed down to you when you were both young?

Alison Lester: When I was really little, we didn’t even have a TV. We didn’t have power! We just had a generator that would come on at night! And my dad was a big storyteller. So, we would sit around the fire, and he would tell great stories about cattle and horses, and the Outback, and all that sort of stuff.

And then once I started to read, I was into all of those Billabong books. I love those adventures of kids being able to go out and do their own things without parents bossing them around! And often in my stories, I get rid of the parents quite quickly so the kids can do that!

Robert Connolly: I love the physical thing of books. Like I have many books on my shelf, and there’s one I had called ‘Ogres and Trolls’, and it’s all of these ancient little stories. And in the front of it is a little inscription from my mother, and it’s to me, for my fourth birthday. I still have this hardback. And when I look at it, it’s only got a few pictures in it, but it’s mainly stories that my mum would have read to me when I was little. But I still have that book.

For me, it’s the tactile thing. I still have piles of books everywhere, you know? In fact, today, I just bought Tim Winton’s latest book! I’m constantly trying to read, but I want the physical, tactile thing.

So, my memory of my childhood is those books. And even my wife has books from her childhood. I wonder whether it’s common, or whether children now who have books still keep them as they get older? That’s why, in this film, there’s lot of examples of stories like the one where the mum brings an old copy of Magic Beach to the little boy.

Thank you so much to Robert and Alison for their time, and to Madman Films and NixCo PR for organising the interview. Magic Beach is in Australian cinemas from January 16.

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Nick L'Barrow
Nick L'Barrow
Nick is a Brisbane-based film/TV reviewer. He gained his following starting with his 60 second video reviews of all the latest releases on Instagram (@nicksflicksfix), before launching a monthly podcast with Peter Gray called Monthly Movie Marathon. Nick contributes to Novastream with interviews and reviews for the latest blockbusters.