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Home, sweet ugly home >> Michael Caton is a pathetic patriarch in The Castle
by MATTHEW HAYS
"We knew it was a good film," he says of The Castle's creators and ensemble, "but a lot of good films don't do well. When I sat through a couple of festival screenings and heard the crowd roar, I knew we were onto something." Something big, as it turns out. Two years ago, when The Castle hit cinemas in Australia, it ran through the country like bushfire. Maybe it was the man-versus-corporation theme, or the sentimental-while-never-schmaltzy tone, but Australians flocked to the movie, pushing it to the top of the box office charts almost immediately. Caton plays the film's hero, a father figure vaguely resembling Homer Simpson, who drives a tow truck for a living and fathers a wildly bland family. The troupe watch TV together (though they turn the volume down for dinner time), discuss the various bargains they've taken advantage of, and wallow in the glory of the seriously ugly bungalow they inhabit. But that beloved bungalow has been earmarked for destruction by a corporation which is turfing out the entire street to expand the adjacent airport. Never mind that the house is built on a toxic waste dump, nor that there are power lines and planes landing next door, Caton and family want to remain. Caton then embarks on a hilarious feature-length battle to save the family homestead. With the Aussie little guy facing off against a faceless corporation, it isn't entirely surprising that The Castle might have struck a nerve among Aussies. And it's difficult not to see the film as an allegory for imperialism of all kinds--the Hollywood variety included. Caton agrees, citing the difficulties faced by indigenous Aussie filmmakers due to Tinseltown. "Canadians and Australians are both holding out against the same markets. The next Mission: Impossible and Star Wars sequels will be shot in Sydney. When American productions come to Australia, they drive up the costs of crews, pushing them out of the price range of our own filmmakers. "Could we make The Castle today, years later, with the $700,000 we did it on then? I doubt it." For Caton, the smash success of The Castle has meant a huge comeback. "My career was really in the doldrums a few years back. I thought it could be the end. But just when I hit this low point, this amazing script showed up. It feels like Destry Rides Again."
The Castle opens Friday, June 18
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Michael Caton was as surprised as anyone when the film he'd just starred in turned into an Australian sensation. After all, The Castle, shot in a mere eleven days on a shoestring budget, was a pretty modest little flick.