Wendy R. Williams Talks to Musician Nick Cave Screenwriter of The Proposition Opens New York and Los Angeles on May 5, 2006 See the www.newyorkcool.com review on May 4, 2006 January 17, 2006 Regency Hotel, New York

Musician Nick Cave (The Bad Seed) is one multi-talented whacked out dude. Cave has taken a slight detour (creating is creating) from music to write the screenplay for The Proposition, a truly gritty Australian Western. (Cave also created the dark evocative score for the movie - $13.98 at Amazon.com)

Here is the plot summary from IMDB.com: “Rural Australia in the late nineteenth century: Capt. Stanley and his men capture two of the four Burns brothers, Charlie and Mike. Their gang is held responsible for attacking the Hopkins farm, raping pregnant Mrs. Hopkins and murdering the whole family. Arthur Burns, the eldest brother and the gang's mastermind, remains at large has and has retreated to a mountain hideout. Capt. Stanley's proposition to Charlie is to gain pardon and - more importantly - save his beloved younger brother Mike from the gallows by finding and killing Arthur within nine days.”

Emily Watson and Tom Budge – Photo Tom Borland

I saw the movie (my review is being held until May 4, 2006) and was intrigued to meet the man who had created such an elegantly violent Valentine to the late 19th century Australian outback. After I completed the interview and mentioned that I had met Nick Cave at the www.newyorkcool.com staff meeting, I was informed that most of the twenty somethings who write and shoot photographs for us would have cheerfully walked over my dead body to meet Nick Cave. The man’s an icon.

Danny Huston – Photo Kerry Brown

The Interview with Nick Cave

Question about why The Proposition:

Nick Cave: I have always wanted to do an Australian Western and I was working with an American scriptwriter when the director, John Hillcoat, said something like, “Well fuck it, you write it. So I wrote it.” It only took about three weeks to write it. I bought Final Draft.


Question about the violence in the film:

Nick Cave: John Hillcoat (the director) is very interested in violence, but he deals with violence in careful way. His approach to the film is thoughtful and melancholy, but then you are jolted awake by acts of violence. Violence is fundamental in us as human beings.

John and I don’t live in Australia anymore – we both live in England.

Question about the casting process: (The Proposition has an incredible cast: Tom Budge; Guy Pearce; Emily Watson; Ray Winstone; John Hurt; David Wenham; Danny Huston; David Waddell….)

Nick Cave: The first actor we wanted was Guy Pearce, he is tightly wound and he has this whole face thing going on. I was thinking of him when I was writing.

Question about his inspiration?

Nick Cave: I wanted to do an anti western - the 70’s revised the world of McCabe and Mrs. Miller, the world of Pekinpah. These are the kind of directors who influenced me.

Australians do not see black and white. We have a nuanced view of the world because of our shame based history. Our heroes are murky kinds of characters. The heart of the film is that this is a group of people who are in a place where they should not be. The real evil was the guy who owned the town.

Question about how hot it was when they were filming and why everyone in the cast looked so awful (the outlaws are covered in a film of oozy dirt):

Nick Cave: We filmed in Queensland which is inhumanely hot and filled with real flies. The flies were the cast members who stole the show.

Question about whether Cave has seen the film:

Nick Cave: I never look at my stuff – puts me off my game – rather live in a fantasy world where everything I do is brilliant. I never listen to my music

Finally (Cave being Cave after all), there were a couple of quick questions about his life as a musician.

Question about what it is like to tour solo:

Nick Cave: There are a lot less people.

Question about how he ended up having a song in Shrek II.

Nick Cave: They asked and I said yes.

Many thanks to Nick Cave and Susan and Eric of Susan Norget Film Promotion for the opportunity to talk to Nick Cave.