Strictly Ballroom

STRICTLY BALLROOM is a romantic comedy about the dreams of youth, rebellion

and ultimate fulfilment. In a bold style that pays homage to the classic Hollywood dance
films of the 1940s, it tells a story of love and conflict, of two young people fighting for
artistic freedom against a repressive regime.

When 21-year old ballroom champion, Scott Hastings, commits the cardinal sin of dancing
his own steps and not those laid down by the all-powerful Dance Federation, retribution is
swift. He is dumped by his partner Liz, and his hopes of winning the Pan Pacific Grand
Prix are dashed.

All seems lost when out of the shadows emerges Fran, a beginner and the ugly duckling of
the dance studio run by Scott’s parents. Through sheer persistence she convinces Scott to
give her a chance and an unlikely partnership is born.

Federation President, Barry Fife’s pressure to break up this renegade partnership pushes
Scott into the Spanish world of Fran’s family, where Scott experiences the excitement of
true Latin dancing.

The night before the Pan-Pacifics, Barry Fife reveals to Scott a terrible secret about
Doug’s past. Scott is trapped. To save his father he must turn his back on Fran and
conform. But minutes before Scott is to take the floor, the truth comes out: Barry Fife has
lied. Scott is free to follow his heart.

Scott and Fran burst onto the dance floor. The response from the crowd is overwhelming,
but Barry Fife intervenes and the music is stopped. Defiantly six thousand spectators
clash their hands together. Scott and Fran begin to dance their rhythm. Soon the floor is
flooded in a sea of celebration.
 Strictly Ballroom
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

“STRICTLY BALLROOM draws from the myth of David and Goliath: Scott Hastings is
the small individual pitted against the seemingly indestructible force of the Dance
Federation. This classic myth is one that moves us because we all experience repression,
and need to believe that there is hope, that it can be overcome.”

“Fran’s story relates to the Cinderella myth. In a sense we are all like Fran with self-
inflicted obstacles that block us from being the person that we truly are.”

“The film utilises the incredible imagery of the ballroom dancing world. It’s not unlike
the microcosm of the Amish people in Witness: it’s an incredibly tribal society, with its
own exotic rituals, that we use as the context for the story.”

“Ballroom dancing allows anybody to fulfil a fantasy dream of glamour. You can be
working in a car sale yard during the day, and at night you can be king or queen of the
ballroom world. That is its magic. The film is predominantly funny, but there’s a great
beauty in it too, the beauty of being able to transform oneself. Dance fulfils those dreams.
The classic Hollywood backstage musicals of the ‘40s pushed the idea that you, the
ordinary person, can release yourself into your dream. I can see something inherently
healthy in that.”

- Baz Luhrmann
 Strictly Ballroom
CAST LIST

Paul Mercurio Scott Hastings

Tara Morice Fran
Bill Hunter Barry Fife
Pat Thompson Shirley Hastings
Gia Carides Liz Holt
Peter Whitford Les Kendall
Barry Otto Doug Hastings
John Hannan Ken Railings
Sonia Kruger-Tayler Tina Sparkle
Kris McQuade Charm Leachman
Pip Mushin Wayne Burns
Leonie Page Vanessa Cronin
Antonio Vargas Rico
Armonia Benedito Ya Ya
Jack Webster Terry
Lauren Hewett Kylie
Steve Grace Luke
Wayne Bertram J.J. Silvers
Di Emery Waitress
Lara Mulcahy Natalie
Brian M. Logan Clarry
Michael Burgess Merv
Todd McKenney Nathan Starkey
Kerry Shrimpton Pam Short

Based on the N.I.D.A. stage production devised and developed by the

original cast: Glenn Keenan, Baz Luhrmann, Catherine McClements,
Helen Mutkins, Tony Poli, Jamie Robertson, Nell Schofield, Sonia Todd.

And further developed by the Six Years Old Company: Tyler Coppin, Di
Emery, Lissa Kelly, Glenn Keenan, Baz Luhrmann, Genevieve Mooy,
Tara Morice, Mark Owen-Taylor, Craig Pearce.
 Strictly Ballroom

CREW LIST

Director Baz Luhrmann

Producer Tristram Miall
Executive Producer Antoinette Albert
Line Producer Jane Scott
Production Designer Catherine Martin
Associate Production Designer Bill Marron
Director of Photography Steve Mason, A.C.S
Editor Jill Bilcock
Music Direction and Original David Hirschfelder
Music
Sound Recordist Ben Osmo
Written by Baz Luhrmann and
Craig Pearce
Screenplay by Baz Luhrmann and
Andrew Bovell
Original idea by Baz Luhrmann
Ballroom Costume Designer Angus Strathie
Choreographer John “Cha Cha” O’Connell
First Assistant Director Keith Heygate
Production Manager Fiona McConaghy
Casting Faith Martin
Unit Publicity Ronin Film
Stills Photographer Philip Le Masurier

Dedicated to the memory of Ted Albert

94 minutes. Colour. 35mm

DOLBY STEREO

SOUNDTRACK ALBUM AVAILABLE FROM ALBERT PRODUCTIONS AND SONY

MUSIC

The film was developed with the assistance of the New South Wales Film and Television
Office

Marketing Assistance provided by the Australian Film Commission.

Made with the participation of the Australian Film Finance Corporation Pty Limited

© 1992 M&A Film Corporation Pty Limited and Australian Film Finance Corporation Pty
Limited, Sydney, Australia.
 Strictly Ballroom

PRODUCTION NOTES

The film of STRICTLY BALLROOM is the result of eight years of

evolution.

It began as a student production at the National Institute of Dramatic

Art, with a creative team led by Baz Luhrmann, then a full-time student
in acting and directing. After work shopping and performing, the
ambitious one-hour show of music, dance and drama, was developed
into a full-scale professional production at Sydney’s Wharf Theatre,
where it was a popular and critical hit.

The show subsequently had a commercial season in Brisbane during

Expo, and then, in 1986, toured overseas to the international theatre
competition held in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, where it received a
standing ovation and won the two main prizes for Best Production and
Best Direction for Baz Luhrmann.

In all of its various stage versions, and in its evolution into a full-length
film, the director worked closely with a regular team of collaborators
led by the designers Catherine Martin and Bill Marron whom Baz
affectionately refers to as “the Team”. Their collaboration over a
period of more than five years goes far beyond the titles of “Director”
and “Designer”. As Baz explains it: “What I am interested in, is to be
taken in different directions by people. The job of a director ultimately
is to synthesize many points of view into a single direction.”

The Team’s involvement in ballroom dancing was consolidated with

their lavish reconstruction of a 1940s Dance Hall for the Festival of
Sydney – the Coca Cola Bottler’s Dance Hall – with dancing to the
“retro” band, Pardon Me Boys. The production was a huge success
and has been repeated every year since.

At the same time, M&A Film Corporation came into being and started
looking for feature film projects with strong music and dance elements.
Ted Albert had seen the Wharf Theatre production of STRICTLY
BALLROOM and believed it could translate into a musical not unlike
the classics of the 1940s that he had always loved. The trail to the
rights led Ted and Tristram Miall to Baz Luhrmann. Both producers
became convinced by Baz’s personal energy and enthusiasm that he
had the ability to turn STRICTLY BALLROOM into a film. Tristram
recalls Baz leaping around his office acting out the various roles and
dance numbers. Sadly, Ted died of a heart attack just before the film
began pre-production. His widow, Antoinette, took his place in the
company as Executive Producer.
 Strictly Ballroom
Although Baz, Catherine and Bill had a strong track record in theatre –
including a radical and highly acclaimed production of La Boheme for
the Australian Opera Company – STRICTLY BALLROOM was their
first work on a film project. The youthfulness and inexperience of the
creative team and would have discouraged many producers. But Baz
sees the Australian film and theatre worlds as being unique in the
opportunities they offer to new starters. “We have to think of our
isolation as a positive thing. The things that my team and I have been
able to do are inconceivable in other countries. Particularly in terms
of doing a classic opera on the main stage in the main opera house of
the country. It’s totally unheard of anywhere else in the world.”

Taking advantage of Tristram’s production experience, and risk capital

from the Australian Film Finance Corporation and the Albert family,
the $4 million production began shooting early in 1991.

Baz had sought Paul Mercurio for the role of the rebel dance champion
since first seeing Paul on stage with the Sydney Dance Company.
STRICTLY BALLROOM became Paul’s first foray into professional
acting, but theatre and dance had been part of his life since early
childhood. Paul’s father was Gus Mercurio – the veteran “tough guy”
of numerous Australian TV Series and action movies.

Paul’s co-star, Tara Morice, had been with STRICTLY BALLROOM on

stage and had a solid background in acting, dancing, and singing. Her
combination of talents were perfect for the role of the “ugly duckling”
of the dance studio.

Shooting began with one of the most difficult and complex scenes: the
climactic appearance of the hero and heroine at the Ballroom Dance
Championship, before thousands of spectators. The scene was staged
under tremendous pressure of time during an actual dance
championship in Melbourne, using the audience gathered for the
competition. Despite the tension of the occasion, the scene emerged
from the editing room as a triumphant climax to the film.

The rest if the shooting took place in Sydney, and the film was edited in
Melbourne to enable the outstanding editor, Jill Bilcock, to work on the
film. It was completed in January 1992, ready to submit for selection
to the Cannes Film Festival, with Australian release to follow in August
after premieres at the Sydney and Melbourne Film Festivals in June.

First responses to the film were enthusiastic. It was selected for

official presentation at Cannes in May at a special midnight screening,
a time slot reserved in previous years for In Bed with Madonna,
Raising Arizona and John Waters’ Cry Baby.
 Strictly Ballroom

CREW BIOGRAPHY
“Although it is a synthesis of old and new styles, STRICTLY
BALLROOM is ultimately original – that is it’s greatest strength.
Making anything that is original is the most difficult of challenges, and
one that cannot be faced alone.”
- Baz Luhrmann

BAZ LUHRMANN
DIRECTOR
Baz Luhrmann is unquestionably one of the most exciting talents to
emerge in the Australian film industry in years. Unlike many new
directors with training in television of film school, Baz’s background is
broadly based in the performing arts, and that is perhaps one of the
key secrets of his success.

Born on 17 April 1962, Baz grew up in the Australian bush, but was
drawn inexorably to the world of theatre and film. He had several
early involvements in film, both in front of and behind the camera. As
an actor, he appeared opposite Judy Davis in John Duigan’s feature
film, Winter of Our Dreams. As co-director and performer, he worked
on the Willesee docu-drama, Kids Of The Cross for television. But it
was in the theatre that his reputation as an “enfant terrible” was firmly
established.
 Strictly Ballroom
In 1990, working with his regular “creative team” of designers
Catherine Martin and Bill Marron, Baz directed a production of La
Boheme for the Australian Opera, which was an astonishing success,
both critically and commercially. Reviews in the Sydney press
heralded him as a radical new talent of major proportions, despite his
relatively young age. Brian Hoad in the Bulletin wrote: “Call it opera
or music drama or even a musical if you wish, but old barriers have
been pushed aside and a new era opened up.” Maria Prerauer in The
Australian called it “little short of sensational,” and Derek Malcolm of
the Guardian (London) reported that “rarely are Sydney opera
audiences offered a performance that approaches the architectural
darling of the Opera House itself.”

In 1986, while a student at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in

Sydney, Baz devised the first stage version of STRICTLY BALLROOM
with other students, and directed the production. It was later invited
to the World Youth Theatre Festival in Czechoslovakia where Baz
gained the Festival’s award for Best Director.

A year later, Baz co-wrote and directed a production of the opera, Lake
Lost, for the Australian Opera, working with composer Felix Meagher,
writer Wendy Harmer as well as with his design collaborators,
Catherine Martin and Bill Marron.

On graduating from N.I.D.A., Baz was appointed Artistic Director of the

Six Years Old Company, an independent theatre group funded by the
Australian Bicentennial Authority and the Sydney Theatre Company.
With this company, Baz revived STRICTLY BALLROOM for a highly
successful season at the Wharf Theatre in Sydney and toured with it to
the World Expo in Brisbane.

The ballroom connection led Baz and his team into the production of
The Coca Cola Bottler’s Dance Hall, a spectacular event staged at the
Sydney Town Hall as part of the 1989 Festival of Sydney. Patrons were
taught how to Cha-Cha, Samba, Rumba and Jive, and were then
treated to a re-creation of the VE Night, 1945, dancing to the music of
the “retro” group, Pardon Me Boys.

After STRICTLY BALLROOM, Baz continues to divide his attention

among the performing arts. In mid-1992, he began research in
England for a prospective production of Benjamin Britten’s opera
Midsummer Night’s Dream, again collaborating with his regular team.
A revival of La Boheme and work with Sydney’s Belvoir Street Theatre
fill his schedule for the remainder of 1992, along with the development
of future film projects.
 Strictly Ballroom

TRISTRAM MIALL
PRODUCER
In late 1988, Tristram Miall and Ted Albert formed M&A Film
Corporation with the primary aim of making feature films. Soon after,
they sought out the film rights to the stage production of STRICTLY
 Strictly Ballroom
BALLROOM. Tristram’s previous film, the telefeature Malpractice
had been selected for Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival;
and as Executive Producer at Film Australia he had produced the
acclaimed telemovie, Custody, and exec-produced Prejudice. Formerly
an independent producer and documentary director with Bob Loader
at Golden Dolphin Films, he had also co-produced a television mini-
series, The Challenge with Roadshaw Coote and Carroll. The series
was sold to the Nine Network and Thames International.

Tristram originally established himself as a documentary filmmaker

with the ABC’s award-winning series, Chequerboard. As a successful
independent, his films sold regularly to the BBC and National
Geographic, as well as to Australian television. His film Drought won a
Gold Hugo at the Chicago International Film Festival. He also directed
a number of the award-winning Willesee documentaries for television,
and went on to produce the highly successful documentary Cane Toads
for Film Australia.

ANTOINETTE ALBERT EXECUTIVE

PRODUCER
Antoinette comes from a background of press and public relations
where her clients included TAA and East west Airlines. Following the
death of her husband, Ted, in November 1990, Antoinette took on the
job of Executive Producer of STRICTLY BALLROOM. In this capacity,
and as a director of the M&A Film Corporation, she represents the
Albert family’s interests.

TED ALBERT
PRODUCER
On the eve of STRICTLY BALLROOM moving into production, Ted
Albert died suddenly of a heart attack. The film is dedicated to him in
honour of the uncompromising standard of excellence that Ted
envisaged for it, and the team’s commitment to realising his vision.

From his days as a student projectionist at Geelong Grammar School,

Ted Albert’s dream was to make movies. Twenty-eight years later he
suggested STRICTLY BALLROOM as M&A’s first production. Ted’s
ability to choose “hit” properties was evidenced by his discovery and
development of artists such as the Easybeats and AC/DC. Building on
the foundations of the family music publishing business, J. Albert &
Son (one of the world’s largest independent music publishers), Ted
founded the recording label, Albert Productions, and established a
recording studio which was the first to install digital equipment in
Australia. He was also actively involved in television and in the
family’s network of radio stations.
 Strictly Ballroom

CREW BIOGRAPHY

“The role of the music in STRICTLY BALLROOM is to highlight the

dichotomy between the antiseptic fascist repression of the Federation
world and the cultural richness of rhythm which our hero discovers in
the Spanish world. Hence the soundtrack is comprised of a unique
musical eclecticism ranging from fantastically kitsch adaptations of
classical works to well-known pop songs embellished with Spanish and
Cuban rhythms.”
- David Hirschfelder

DAVID HIRSCHFELDER MUSIC

DIRECTOR/COMPOSER
OF ORIGINAL MUSIC
As a composer, keyboard player, music director and record producer,
David has a long list of achievements in the Australian music, radio
and television industries. He is best known, perhaps, for his work with
John Farnham, first as keyboard player and arranger on the
“Whispering Jack” album, and subsequently as Musical Director on the
“Age of Reason” and “Chain Reaction” albums. He has also produced
records for the likes of Dragon and Venetta Fields, and played with the
Little River Band, and Colleen Hewitt among others. With his own
group, Pyramid, he played at the Montreux Jazz Festival and the North
Sea Jazz Festival in Europe and produced Pyramid’s own album. In
1989 he produced and recorded his own solo album titled “Welcome to
the Nightclub of My Mind.”

As a composer he has written themes for many Australian television

programmes, and also the score for a prize-winning documentary,
Suzy’s Story, which won him a Penguin Award for Best Musical Score
in 1987.

His music for STRICTLY BALLROOM includes a new arrangement of

“Time After Tim”, sung for the film by Tara Morice. Many ballroom
dance classics, as well as the Spanish music heard in the film, were
also specially arranged by David.
 Strictly Ballroom

CREW BIOGRAPHY
“The great thing about Steve is that not only is he brilliant with natural
light, he’s so phenomenally fast. No matter what I threw at Steve, he
came up with a solution. You can’t underestimate what that means to
a director.”
- Baz Luhrmann

“It’s exciting working with a new director whose vision is so strong. It

forces you to the limits. We developed new equipment for STRICTLY
BALLROOM and pioneered enhanced colour processing. Invention
comes from a new vision.”
- Steve Mason

STEVE MASON DIRECTOR OF

PHOTOGRAPHY
Steve came to STRICTLY BALLROOM soon after working as Camera
Operator for renowned D.O.P. John Seale on Gorilla’s In The Mist. His
extensive earlier grounding lay primarily in documentaries for
television, and in second Unit Photography for features (Mad Max 3 –
Beyond Thunderdome, The Empty Beach) and television mini-series
(Bangkok Hilton and Vietnam). As D.O.P., his work includes several
low-budget features – Waiting directed by Jackie McKimmie, Luigi’s
Ladies directed by Judy Morris, and The Tale of Ruby Rose which he
shot under rugged conditions in the Tasmanian wilderness for director
Roger Scholes. He now ranks as one of the most exciting younger
talents in the Australian industry.
 Strictly Ballroom
JILL BILCOCK
EDITOR
Internationally recognised for her work as editor Schepisi’s Evil Angels
with Meryl Streep, Jill Bilcock has been established since the early
1980s as one of Australia’s leading editors, working on numerous
feature films as well as commercials, rock clips and documentaries.
Jill’s impressive feature film credentials include four for director
Richard Lowenstein – Strikebound, Dogs in Space, Australian Made,
and the 1992 release, Say A Little Prayer – as well as John Seale’s Till
There was You. Although the director and producer of STRICTLY
BALLROOM live in Sydney, arrangements were made to edit the film
in Melbourne to take advantage of Jill’s professional skills, which the
production team hold in the highest regard.

CREW BIOGRAPHY

“Ballroom dancers are living in a perpetual backstage musical.

Everything is an occasion. They all have an approach to life that is
based on a backstage musical. Their costuming amplifies their
characters. They have their rehearsal outfits, and they have their
ballroom costumes which are extraordinarily spectacular.”

“The costumes of STRICTLY BALLROOM have a diabolical beauty

which is sometimes wry and ironic but not judgemental about these
people. We have tried to be truthful and sympathetic.”
- Catherine Martin, Production Designer.

CATHERINE MARTIN & BILL MARRON PRODUCTION

DESIGN
Production Designers Catherine Martin and Bill Marron have been
vital members of the creative team behind STRICTLY BALLROOM
 Strictly Ballroom
since it was first developed as a student stage production. Their
collaboration with Baz Luhrmann also includes his highly successful
production of La Boheme for the Australian Opera.

Catherine graduated from the design course at the National Institute

of Dramatic Art in 1988. While still a student there, she designed
costumes for a feature film, Out Of The Body, and in 1988 won a Green
Room Award for her designs for the opera Lake Lost. Her designs for
the stage include an acclaimed production of Diary of a Madman for
the Belvoir Street Theatre. In 1991 she won the prestigious Louden-
Sainthill scholarship for her design work.

Bill worked as a graphic designer before moving across to theatre,

video clips, TV commercials and work with Catherine on Lake Lost and
Diary of a Madman.

Angus Strathie is one of Australia’s busiest and most exciting costume

designers. Prior to STRICTLY BALLROOM, most of his work has
been in theatre. In 1988, he graduated from the Theatre Design
course at the National Institute of Dramatic Art, and in the following
year joined the Canberra Theatre Company as designer-in-residence.
He also worked extensively with the Melbourne Theatre Company on
productions of A Christmas Carol, Uncle Vanya, and The Marriage of
Figaro among others, and most recently designed a production of La
Mer de Glace for the Australian Opera. He also worked with Baz
Luhrmann on the opera Lake Lost.

Working with Angus was costumier, Nola Lowe, a veteran dressmaker

and friend of Hollywood’s most famous costume designer, Edith Head.
Nola was herself a prize-winning ballroom dancer and later ballroom
judge, and now designs extensively for ballroom competitors and for
weddings.

COSTUME FACTS AND FIGURES

 $7,000 worth of ostrich feathers were imported. All were dyed

to match the exact colours of the costumes.
 Sequined fabric was imported at $200 a metre.
 5,000 hours of labour were devoted to the decoration of the
costumes.
 Two people worked for four weeks to decorate Paul Mercurio’s
bolero jacket used in the climactic dance sequence. Decorations
on the jacket came from India (the embroideries), Austria (the
crystals), Japan (the braid), and Czechoslovakia (the sequins).
The jacket is valued at $6,000.
 Strictly Ballroom
CHOREOGRAPHY
The choreographer for STRICTLY BALLROOM, John “Cha Cha” O’
Connell, has been dancing and acting on stage since the age of six. He
has performed in a wide range of theatre styles, from Jacobean drama
to cabaret and stand-up comedy. Among his most popular stage roles
was the villain in Graham Bond’s musical comedy, Captain Bloody.

He has danced competitively in ballroom and Latin American styles,

studied ballet, tap, jazz, and flamenco and spent two years with a
modern dance company. As choreographer, he has worked extensively
in Australian cabaret and theatre, including Burger Brain for the
Australian Theatre for Young People, and Rene Geyer’s Soul Cha Cha.
In television, he worked as a choreographer for the mini-series, Come
in Spinner and Eden’s Lost.

Dance rehearsals for STRICTLY BALLROOM went on with the cast

over a ten-week period. During this time key choreographic elements
were developed through work shopping. Paul Mercurio developed the
idea for his solo; Antonia Vargas a well-known Spanish dance teacher
and performer, worked on the Spanish sequences; and Sonia Tyler-
Kruger contributed to the ballroom choreography.

John describes the inherent drama in the dancing scenes in STRICTLY

BALLROOM: “The world of ballroom dancing is one of showmanship,
bold technical skill and razzle dazzle. The world of flamenco is one of
passion and is an intensely ‘inward’ experience. These two worlds
meet in STRICTLY BALLROOM.

“All the Latin dances in the world of ballroom competition have their
own special flavour – the cha cha is light-hearted and cheeky, the
rhumba brooding and sensual, and the samba has all the fun of
carnivale.

“But of all the Latin dances it is the ‘pasa doble’ that is the most
dramatic, combining the passion of the bullfight that it represents with
the intensity of flamenco. In the “pasa doble”, the relationship
between the dancing couple is as important as the steps themselves,
rather than sending all the energy out.”

One of the most complex and subtle scenes in the film involves the
intercutting of two simultaneous rhumbas being danced in different
locations to the same music – the Doris Day classic, ‘Perhaps, Perhaps,
Perhaps’: “The ‘show’ rhumba of the ballroom dance floor, with all its
glamour and extravagance, is juxtaposed with the simplicity of the
‘backstage’ rhumba danced by the two young lovers, where the steps
have been cut to the minimum, and the accent is on the internal
feelings of the dancers.” With the climactic “pasa doble”, the rhumba
scene stands among the highlights of Australian screen choreography.
 Strictly Ballroom

CAST BIOGRAPHY

“It’s very rare for any performer in this country to work five days a
week, every week of the year. Yet in the Sydney Dance Company,
where Paul is from, they’re used to getting up every night in front of
thousands of people, and training every day. That’s what Paul brought
to us. It gave him a terrific lack of fear, the fear that even experienced
actors have.”
- Baz Luhrmann

PAUL MERCURIO as SCOTT

HASTINGS
Paul Mercurio was born on 31 March 1963 in Swanhill, Victoria, into a
show business family and grew up in the theatre. The son of veteran
character actor, Gus Mercurio, Paul went to a special theatre arts
school in Western Australia and started training as a dancer at the age
of nine. He eventually left school to take up a full time ballet
scholarship with the Western Australian Ballet Company. From here
he was accepted into the Australian Ballet School.

Today he is one of Australia’s best dancers and choreographers and

has been performing with the Sydney Dance Company since 1982 (As a
principal since 1983). During this time he has performed in over 30
productions with principal and featured roles in The Selfish Giant,
Some Rooms, After Venice, Vast, Kraanberg, Soft Bruising and King
Roger. As a dancer Paul ahs toured the world performing in countries
such as Japan, New York, China, Greece, Italy, Spain, Holland,
Istanbul, Spain, Portugal, London, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore.

As a choreographer Paul ahs produced some outstanding works for the

Sydney Dance Company including Still Life, Sirens (Madonna section),
Duo for Two Boys, Two Men and One Woman, Dancing with I and
Waiting. Also with the Sydney dance Company Paul has worked on the
two critically acclaimed collaborations, Café (with Kim Walker) and
Company of Women (with Graeme Murphy).
 Strictly Ballroom
Paul was Bax Luhrmann’s first thought for the role of the rebel dancer
in STRICTLY BALLROOM. Paul’s training as a choreographer was
invaluable in his work as an actor. Baz Luhrmann explains: “On a daily
basis, Paul is used to breaking down choreography, absorbing
information and turning it into steps. He was very attentive in saying
to himself, ‘This guy is coming into this room, and the reason is…’
While he may not have read Stanislavsky, he has a great understanding
of the basics of understanding of the basics of acting. He is one of the
fortunate people who can have a camera placed in front of their face,
and who’s eyes literally think.”

Despite confidence gained from his years of dancing and choreography,

ballroom dancing offered fresh challenges to Paul. In his own words: “
I was nervous and scared of looking stupid in some of the Latin styles.
In ballroom dancing everything moves from the hips down, and your
upper body hardly moves. It’s all hips, knees and ankles. I’ve never
thought of myself as a big ‘hip mover’. I’m trained classically where
you hold everything differently.”

The intensive weeks of rehearsing for the film were particularly

difficult. Two weeks before shooting began, during a flamenco
rehearsal, he suffered an injury that threatened the whole production.
“I was wearing Cuban-heeled flamenco boots and doing double twist
jumps when I landed straight-legged and twisted my ankle. There was
internal bleeding up to the knee. It was a bit ugly. It’s
probably the worst injury I’ve ever had. I’ve broken both my feet, but
this sprain was worse. I was on crutches for nine days and did a lot of
potato poultices to get the swelling down.”

Unfamiliar as the ballroom dance styles were, the chapter of the hero,
Scott Hastings, gave Paul something he could identify with and
develop from his own experiences in life. “Scott is a bit of a rebel,
trying to do his own thing, follows his own creative streak. The role
didn’t require a total change of personality for me.”

The spirit of Scott Hastings in Paul, his frustration with the available
choreographic opportunities, led him in mid-1992 to form his own
dance group, A.C.E – the Australian Choreographic Ensemble. Their
premiere work, Contact, is an innovative “journey of self-discovery”
involving dance, film and original music.
 Strictly Ballroom

Cast Biography

“I can identify with Ginger Rogers as a dancer. I read a quote of hers

once. It was in response to people saying how brilliant Fred Astaire
was. ‘Yes’, she replied ‘but he doesn’t have to do it
backwards and in high heels.’”
- Tara Morice

TARA MORICE as
FRAN
One of the many new talents introduced to the screen in STRICTLY
BALLROOM, Tara Morice has long been part of director Baz
Luhrmann’s team. In 1988 she first played the part of Fran in the
stage production at the Wharf Theatre in Sydney. “It was a fantastic
experience to develop a character on stage, watch it grow over two
years, and finally see it up on the screen.”
 Strictly Ballroom
Fran is the clumsy beginner who can’t find a dance partner – the ugly
duckling who blossoms into a champion dancer in tandem with the
hero, Scott Hastings. Fran’s Spanish background gives her the secret
to rhythm and movement, the secret that takes her and Scott to
success. Like the whole film, the character of Fran owes much to
Hollywood movies of the 1940s. In Tara’s words: “Many of the female
characters in ‘40s movies – like Katherine Hepburn in Bringing Up
Baby and Carole Lombard in My Man Godfrey – were very strong-
willed, goofy and courageous, and these are the qualities that I love
about Fran. She has obstacles to overcome, but she attacks them with
ferocious energy. Like women in the ‘screwball’ comedies of the ‘30s
and ‘40s, she is a character with her own journey, and is a positive
driving force in her own right. She doesn’t give up or sit quietly in a
corner, and that’s why she was such a fantastic character to play.”

Fran is a character with whom Tara could identify: “as a child I moved
around a lot, and was constantly the new kid at school. Fran is an
outsider, and I can relate easily to feeling on the outer; shy and
nervous when it comes to making friends.”

Although Tara’s talents as an actor and dancer are equal, she prefers
to consider herself an actor first and foremost. In 1987, she graduated
from the National Institute of Dramatic Art and garnered an
impressive list of stage credits in Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne and
Brisbane, including productions of The Venetian Twins and Rome
Trembles. She also found roles in television series including Play
School and Rescue.

In addition to acting, she danced and sang in the original stage

production of STRICTLY BALLROOM, appeared with the capella
group, the Madrigirls, and toured with the ‘40s dance band Pardon Me
Boys, culminating in the 1990 Coca-Cola Bottlers’ Dance Hall for the
Festival of Sydney. Her ability as a singer is also evident in the film of
STRICTLY BALLROOM in her performance of the hit song “Time
After Time” on the film’s soundtrack.

Her preparation for the film of STRICTLY BALLROOM was arduous.

Although she had long played Fran on stage, she had to work hard to
secure the part on screen. “I had to do dance auditions, readings and
five or six screen tests before I finally got the role. Then I had six
weeks intensive training in flamenco and ballroom dancing before
shooting started.” But the rewards were there: “We filmed the final
scene in a huge stadium in front of thousands of people. In the story it
is Fran’s greatest test of courage, and it was one of the scariest but
most exhilarating experiences I have ever had as an actor.”
 Strictly Ballroom
CAST BIOGRAPHY

BILL HUNTER as BARRY

FIFE
Bill Hunter has been entertaining Australian audiences for 30 years
and is one of our best-known and talented actors. His many prizes
include the A.F.I Best Actor Award for his leading role in Newsfront
and the A.F.I Best Supporting Actor Award for Gallipoli. He has
appeared in numerous other films as a valuable character actor, among
them 27A, Blackroads, In Search of Anna, Mad Dog Morgan,
Heatwave, Mull, the British thriller The Hit, and the 1992 releases
Deadly, Shotgun Wedding and The Last Days of Chez Nous.

Bill also has extensive stage credits including The Summer of the 17th
Doll, and a diversity of television appearances in mini-series such as
Scales of Justice and The Dismissal (for which he won an A.F.I Award),
serials at home and abroad such as G.P., Doctor Who and Minder, and
telemovies, most notably Police State for which he won yet another
A.F.I Award.

PAT THOMSON as SHIRLEY

HASTINGS
Before STRICTLY BALLROOM, Pat Thomson had gathered extensive
credits in theatre, film and television. In 1977 she had received the
Best Actress and the Best New Talent prizes in the National
Professional Theatre Awards. She was again rewarded for her talent
in 1989 when she won an A.F.I Award for Best Actress in a Telemovie
with her performance as a nurse in Malpractice. Her many and varied
theatre credits included King Lear, Death of a Salesman (Sydney
Theatre Company) and Wall Flowering (Canberra Theatre Company).
Her television credits ranged from serials (A Country Practice, G.P.,
Flying Doctors) to mini-series (Harp in the South, Poor Man’s Orange,
Eden’s Lost and Boys from the Bush 1 and 2). Pat also appeared in
several dramatic roles in feature films – Phar Lap and Evil Angels
among them – until STRICTLY BALLROOM gave her an opportunity
to display her formidable energy as a comic actor.

Tragically Pat died of a heart attack in April 1992 just prior to the
film’s Cannes premiere.

GIA CARIDES as LIZ

HOLT
Gia is fast establishing herself as one of Australia’s most promising
actors and comedians. On stage she has appeared in Don’s Party, The
Marriage of Figaro, The Heartbreak Kid, The White Rose of Annandale
and many other plays. She was a member of a Theatre Sports team
 Strictly Ballroom
that toured to Vancouver for Canada’s Expo ’86 and she has also
performed as a stand-up comic at Sydney’s famous Harold Park Hotel.
She has also had extensive character parts in television, including
serials such as Police Rescue 2. Her screen credits include Phar Lap,
Bliss, Backlash, and the 1992 releases, Daydream Believer and
Greenkeeping.

CAST BIOGRAPHY

PETER WHITFORD as LES

KENDALL
Peter Whitford’s career spans some twenty-five years of Australian
stage, film and television. His stage credits as actor include plays as
diverse as Butley, The School for Scandal, The Season at Sarsaparilla,
Hedda Gabler, See How They Run and the musicals, The Best Little
Whorehouse in Texas and Anything Goes. He has also directed for the
stage, including The Murder Room and The Chairman and Sailor,
Beware for Sydney’s Marian Street Theatre. For film, Peter’s
performance credits include My Brilliant career, Phar Lap, Careful He
Might Hear You and Warm Nights on a Slow Moving Train. His
extensive television credits include most Australian serials, ranging
from Number 96 and The Sullivans to The Henderson Kids, as well as
the series Bodyline and The Last Bastion.

BARRY OTTO as DOUG

HASTINGS
Barry Otto’s performance career encompasses both stage and screen.
He has appeared in over 50 professional theatre productions ranging
from classics like Volpone and Uncle Vanya, to modern works like Kiss
of the Spider Woman, The Portage to San Cristobel of A.H. and Hot
Fudge and Ice Cream. Among his many television credits are the
Kennedy Miller mini-series The Dismissal and Vietnam, and telemovies
including Pigs Will Fly. His feature film performances include Norman
Loves Rose, The More Things Change (for which he also received an
A.F.I nomination for Best Actor), The Marsupials – Howling 3 and
perhaps his greatest screen triumph in the leading role of Bliss for
which he won the Sydney Film Critics’ circle Award for Best Actor.
 Strictly Ballroom
JOHN HANNAN as KEN
RAILINGS
John is a familiar face from many stage, television and film roles: on
stage in productions of The Odd Couple, A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
The Venetian Twins, Candide, The Conquest of Carmen Miranda and
many other; in television series such as Sons and Daughters and The
Restless Years; and in films such as Evil Angels, Stanley and Goodbye
Paradise.

SONIA KRUGER-TAYLER as TINA

SPARKLE
One of the few genuine ballroom dancers to have a featured role in
STRICTLY BALLROOM, Sonia has competed in, and won, many
Australian ballroom and dancing competitions. She has also acted on
stage in Wall Flowering, and was both the lead player and
choreographer in a production of Damn Yankees for the Ettalong
Theatre Company.