Emerald City

Emerald City is a 1988 Australian comedy-drama film directed by Michael Jenkins, based on the 1987 play of the same name by David Williamson. Much of the play's dialogue is retained, though discussion of off-stage characters is usually replaced with their appearance, and a more conventionally cinematic level and speed of dialogue is maintained. Also, the younger daughter Hannah is omitted. Plot Colin, a principled screenwriter of some success, and his wife Kate, the editor for a publishing house, relocate from the warmer Melbourne to the more ruthless Sydney and soon become lured by the bright lights of the big city. Colin meets Mike, a hack but resourceful screenwriter with commercial ambitions, and strikes a partnership with him, while instantly falling for his attractive girlfriend Helen. Meanwhile, Kate starts working on a socially important book but soon begins to lose sight of her ideals in this new world of hustlers and cynics. Cast John Hargreaves as Colin Robyn Nevin as Kate Chris Haywood as Mike Nicole Kidman as Helen Ruth Cracknell as Elaine Dennis Miller as Malcolm Ella Scott as Penny Haydon Samuels as Sam Nicholas Hammond as Ian Michelle Torres as Kath Production The film rights to the play were bought by Joan Long, whose first choice to direct was Bruce Beresford. However, he had just filmed an adaptation of the play Crimes of the Heart and did not want to do another play adaptation, so Michael Jenkins was hired instead. According to some accounts, the original draft of the script pared down the dialogue but John Hargreaves and Robyn Nevin insisted it be put back during rehearsals. Michael Jenkins decided to go along with the actors but had them speak the dialogue especially fast. Jenkins: We sat down with the piece when it was in script form and we thought, 'This is not going to survive if we approach it too politely', so... we decided we would do it as we did – we were a bit inspired by some of the Cary Grant movies of the '40s when they talked so quickly. So we thought we would pursue that line and feed the information to an audience at a fairly fast rate so that it keeps happening for them. There were mixed critiques. We had some friends and some foes. Those that loved it loved it - those that hated it were very angry about how fast we spoke.