The Sydney Morning Herald
Unhappy feet may flee Sydney
Garry Maddox, Film Writer
February 25, 2008
The Oscar-winning director of Happy Feet, George Miller, could be forced overseas with his $US200 million ($220 million) superhero movie Justice League Mortal because of a dispute over whether it is eligible for the Federal Government's new incentive for film production.
The acclaimed director of the Mad Max trilogy and producer of Babe is angrily battling to keep the huge production and a planned sequel to Happy Feet in Sydney.
The industry is split over whether the incentive - a 40 per cent rebate for Australian producers - should apply to big-budget movies. Some producers, suspicious about Hollywood studios abusing the scheme and wary of a cost blow-out, want it limited to films costing up to $30 million.
Miller said limiting the scheme would keep the film industry moribund.
"Any form of capping basically means the Australian film industry is going to be restricted to what it's been for almost two decades - a cottage industry making films that very sadly Australian audiences seem reluctant to see, with some wonderful exceptions, let alone films that get any exposure overseas," he said.
Justice League was due to be shot at Fox Studios this year until Warner Bros suspended production last month, citing uncertainty over the new incentives. Based on a comic book, it is due to star the Australians Megan Gale, Teresa Palmer and Hugh Keays-Byrne among eight lead roles and employ a huge crew that includes visual effects specialists.
"One of the reasons for doing Justice League in this country is the opportunity to bring back all the people we lost on Happy Feet who went overseas," Miller said. "We spent four years developing this talent and the cream of them left because they didn't have another film to go on to ...
"The idea is to say come back, start off on Justice League then move onto Happy Feet 2."
Miller described the movie's status as "precarious" and said Warner Bros was pushing for it to be shot overseas, with Canada the most likely option.
The executive director of the Screen Producers Association of Australia, Geoff Brown, said capping the rebate was one of several proposals being debated.
"We want to be seen as an industry that's responsible and we don't want to be caught up in some sort of close-down of the scheme because of perceived excesses," he said.
It is known that some producers believe Justice League is not Australian enough to qualify for the scheme and should be made under the 15 per cent rebate for foreign films.
But Miller said the movie - and others - would not get made under the lower rebate given the difficulty of attracting Hollywood backing now the dollar was above US90 cents compared with less than US60 cents when Happy Feet was financed.
"The rebate is not a windfall, it is not welfare, it's not a hand-out," he said. "It's trying to seduce investment into the country which has a multiplier effect through the economy over two to three years... taxed at every level. And only at the end of that is there a rebate."
Applications for the producer rebate are being assessed by the Film Finance Corporation. Its chief executive, Brian Rosen, is angry about the proposed cap.
"There's an opportunity here with the offset to be more adventurous with filmmaking and more ambitious in storytelling," he said. "And all anybody wants to say is let's stop... George Miller from getting it so we can make small films that appeal to about 100,000 people and no-one else, about lesbians, drugs and whatever else."
Mr Rosen said small Australian films would still be financed under the new agency Screen Australia. "Several Australian producers who couldn't make a decent film if their life depended on it want to make sure that those people that do have talent cannot make the films they want to make."
