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Not Quite Hollywood (2008)

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clip 'We didn’t really know what we were doing'

Original classification rating: MA. This clip chosen to be PG

Clip description

Cast and crew discuss the dangerous shooting of The Man from Hong Kong (1975).

Curator’s notes

by Richard Kuipers

Hal McElroy, an Australian producer who worked as an assistant director on The Man from Hong Kong (1975), sums up the spirit in which the film was made. ‘We didn’t really know what we were doing. We just kind of leapt into it and just tried to shoot the living crap out of it’. The lively confessionals of McElroy, cameraman John Seale, stunt performer Grant Page, actor George Lazenby and director Brian Trenchard-Smith give this segment an amusing ‘we-lived-to-tell-the-tale’ feeling. The Australian ‘she’ll be right’ attitude is wonderfully brought forward in Seale’s description of performers being picked up and offered a beer after being hit by cars during action sequences. Interviews and clips are expertly edited to produce a humorous insight into the ‘old days’, long before the strict safety requirements of contemporary filmmaking were in place.

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australianscreen is produced by the National Film and Sound Archive. By using the website you agree to comply with the terms and conditions described elsewhere on this site. The NFSA may amend the 'Conditions of Use’ from time to time without notice.

All materials on the site, including but not limited to text, video clips, audio clips, designs, logos, illustrations and still images, are protected by the Copyright Laws of Australia and international conventions.

When you access australianscreen you agree that:

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  • You may download materials for your personal use or for non-commercial educational purposes, but you must not publish them elsewhere or redistribute clips in any way.
  • You may embed the clip for non-commercial educational purposes including for use on a school intranet site or a school resource catalogue.
  • The National Film and Sound Archive’s permission must be sought to amend any information in the materials, unless otherwise stated in notices throughout the Site.

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