Tag Archives: adam elliot

Elliot On Jeunet

Trivia question: what was the last episode of Hyphenates in which everyone was in the same room for the recording? The first person to correctly answer wins a set of— no, it's okay, we know you don't care. But for the record, it was the show with Kate Hardie back in April 2016. So it's nice to finally get the band back together, even if the band members have changed.

We were delighted to get Adam Elliot on the show, despite him being waist-deep in drafting the screenplay for what we all hope is his next film. After discussing a variety of eclectic filmmaker possibilities, Adam eventually landed on the great Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

We figured that since we were talking about the films of Jeunet, including the ones he made with collaborator Marc Caro, we may as well resurrect the mini-Hyphenate segment and look at Caro's solo work. So you get two filmmakers for the price of one! Also, give us some money.

Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet in the early 1990s

We also lasso Adam in for the reviews segment even though he'd only seen one of the films we were talking about. We take a look back at Denis Villeneuve's ambitious sequel Blade Runner 2049, check out Taika Waititi's unconventional superhero sequel Thor: Ragnarok, side-eye Terrence Malick's wistful love story Song To Song, and debate George Clooney's dark comedy thriller Suburbicon.

Further reading:

Rochelle, Adam and Lee record this month’s episode… in the same room!

Special thanks to Markus Stone for his help with the recording.

Outro music: score from Amelie (2001), composed by Yann Tiersen

The latest episode of Hell Is For Hyphenates, featuring Adam Elliot talking the films of Jean-Pierre Jeunet, can be heard on Stitcher Smart Radio, subscribed to on iTunes, or downloaded/streamed directly from our website.

Jean-Pierre and Adam at the Mary and Max exhibition in Melbourne’s ACMI

Our Next Hyphenate Adam Elliot

Filmmaker, Oscar winner, and Hi4H October 2017 guest host Adam Elliot

Ever since a plucky stop-motion animated film from Australia won the 2004 Oscar for Best Animated Short - beating heavy-hitters Disney, Pixar and Blue Sky, no less - its director Adam Elliot has become a fixture of Australian culture. How many other local filmmakers are so recognisable that they get to play themselves in a nationally-broadcast TV commercial?

Adam resisted the lure of Hollywood, and followed up Harvie with the home-grown feature Mary and Max (2009), the story of an unlikely pen pal relationship between a young Australian girl and an anxiety-ridden man in New York. The film featured the voices of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Toni Collette, Eric Bana, and Barry Humphries, and won the Crystal Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Adam then returned to shorts with 2015's Ernie Biscuit, a wonderfully bittersweet black-and-white story of a deaf Parisian taxidermist. He is currently busy on an upcoming project of which we know very little, but whatever it is, we're awaiting it with bated breath.

Of course, all of that pales in comparison to Adam's next role: Hell Is For Hyphenates guest host!

And which filmmaker will Adam be joining us to discuss?

None other than French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet!

Jeunet became known for the feature films he co-directed with regular collaborations Marc Caro: dystopian comedy Delicatessen (1991) and the dark fantasy The City of Lost Children (1995). Both films were instant classics, and the pair was soon courted by Hollywood.

Jeunet was allured by the possibilities of big studio filmmaking, but Caro was not, and the two went their separate ways, with Jeunet directing the fourth instalment of the Alien franchise, Alien: Resurrection (1997). It was a big commercial success, but was critically maligned, and Jeunet soon returned to France. His next film was the unconventional romantic comedy Amelie (2001), a huge hit worldwide, and still one of the most beloved films of the 21st century.

Jeunet went on to direct films such as A Very Long Engagement (2004), Micmacs (2009), and The Young and Prodigious TS Spivet (2013), as well as the 2015 pilot Casanova with Diego Luna for Amazon Studio.

So what it is about Jeunet's films that so delights Adam? Join us on October 31 when we find out!

Subscribe to Hell Is For Hyphenates on your favourite podcasting platform so you don’t miss out! Find us on iTunes, Stitcher Smart Radio, or even just make us your browser home page.

Our next filmmaker of the month, Jean-Pierre Jeunet