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 Richard Roxburgh and Peter Greste to discuss their process of finding the “movie” version of Peter, and Peter’s initial reaction to seeing the film for the first time.
Nick: I’d love to start with the statistics that close out the film, and they are truly astounding. 1700 journalists have died in conflict zones, and 779 were arrested in 2023 alone. A movie like The Correspondent, and Peter’s book and story in general, play such a pivotal role in bringing light to this issue. How important is telling the stories of our story tellers?
Peter Greste: It is a bit measured like that. I love the fact that journalism, stylistically, is a bit dry. And journalists are also never supposed to be the story. So, by throwing out those two things, and using a sort of fictionalised style – and I will say, this movie is very, very close to the events as they happened – but the narrative style of filmmaking brings an element of emotion that you just can’t reach through traditional journalism.
It touches people in ways that they wouldn’t have otherwise been affected. It draws them into the story. It raises those issues in way that is really powerful. And it’s a way that journalists are always trying to achieve, and we just can’t get there because of the restraints of the medium. But it also importantly reaches an audience who might have never otherwise engaged with this story. That’s not a criticism, but it’s just the reality of it. And I hope it triggers conversations among all sort of people.
Nick: Richard, I’m curious to know what your approach was in playing a real-life person. How do you go about the decisions between impersonation and interpretation?
Richard Roxburgh: Well, it became quickly clear in the early conversations that there was no point in this being a take on Peter in the sense of finding outward manifestations of him, you know? If we were going to spend so much time working on all of the material needed to make the film, time was better spent on finding the internal substances.
It’s not the same as if you play Prince Charles in something, because nobody’s going to be looking for the version of Peter we’re basing this on. It was more about immersing myself in the kind of emotion and practical horrors that befell Peter.
But, also, it’s a film with so many kind of unexpected angles. One of them is the amount of fun that is had with the other characters in the prison. It’s not something you often find in other prison movies. There’s certainly no demonising of the Middle Eastern characters. There’s these wonderful and unexpected passages and relationships in the film. I think that’s such a fresh thing to avoid those prison tropes.
Peter Greste: It’s funny, you know. That was one of the things I was kind of worried about. I was worried they were going to flatten all of the Egyptian characters into these two-dimensional, evil demons of the story. That old fashion narrative of “the good white guy” and “the evil brown guy”. And that would’ve dishonoured a lot of Egyptian friends and colleagues who were so important in getting through that experience.
And the end result in this film is beautiful, and it is interesting. I mean that in the best possible way. Those relationships were a very solid reflection of what actually happened.
I remember Peter Duncan [writer of The Correspondent] and I having a lot of conversations around his kitchen table where we were talking about those relationships. I think Peter nailed it.
And to go back to what Rox was saying, I was actually worried too about him taking on my quirks. I was on set one day and I asked him if it was weird having me there and he mentioned that point exactly – that he wasn’t trying to be me. I took a huge relief from that because I didn’t have to worry about seeing me on screen, I got to see his performance and that artistic impersonation of the story that I had been through.
Nick: I think film has that power to make audiences really consider and explore their own humanity. This is definitely a story, and especially those relationships we just spoke about, that facilitates that exploration. I’m curious to know how taking on a story like Peter’s in such an intimate way allows you to explore your own humanity?
Richard Roxburgh: Well, it’s interesting playing somebody who’s been in prison. I’ve done probably a six month stretch, so to say, as an actor shooting in prisons. But this is a very different duck because it goes so deep into the internal world of Peter’s experience.
I had some really great and interesting conversations with Peter along the way, and one of the most fascinating ones was about meditation. How do you find ways of getting through an experience? And the other fascinating thing was that you’re stuck in a cell with these guys. You have an argument, and then what? Normally, you would storm out and slam the door. In prison, that’s not happening. So, there’s these particular ways you have to deal with your fellow human beings.
I also feel that there is this levity and lightness that you have to find. That really speaks strongly and beautifully about the human condition. We seek this out. We seek out fellow human beings, and we hang on to them. Sometimes, the worst experiences really do bring out the most miraculous, most beautiful parts of what we are as a species.
Nick: Kriv’s direction and the cinematography create such a claustrophobic environment and feeling, which I’m sure was also very reflective of the real experience. I’m curious to know what that was like revisiting your story in such a visceral way that was from memory or recollection?
Peter Greste: You know, I’ve spoken about Egypt ad nauseum. I mean, I wrote a book about it! I’ve talked about it, and I’ve processed it. I don’t feel any kind of PTSD or ongoing trauma from that experience. And I’ve also understood that what they’ve created is a wonderful work of artistic interpretation of what I went through. On the screen, that isn’t me.
That said, when I sat in the edit suite for the first time with Carmel Travers [producer of The Correspondent] and Peter Duncan, I felt quite beaten up. The craziness, the confusion around the arrest, the claustrophobia of the cells and solitary, the relationships and friendships – there was such a surrealness to it. And I didn’t really expect it to touch me in that way.
Nick: How does that intentional visual style affect your relationship with the camera, Richard? I’m assuming being in such confined spaces means that the camera is very much almost like having another performer so close to you.
Richard Roxburgh: You really have to actualise the thing as much as you humanly can, you know? There’s always this complexity with confined spaces and dozens of people around you, shouting instructions, or finding things, or even just breathing! It’s a noisy, weird environment in which you have to be ready to go when everybody else is ready.
So, I just kind of went to this quiet place. An odd, silent place that I have never really gone to before making a film. I wasn’t too social. I was isolated. I didn’t talk to a lot of people. And in some ways, I guess it helped me float along in this sense of growing isolation and the strangeness of this experience.
Thank you so much to Richard and Peter for their time, and to Maslow Entertainment and NixCo PR for organising the interview. The Correspondent is in Australian cinemas April 17.
