“The Quiet Earth” explores apocalyptic nightmare

Press, 13 February 1986, Page 18

“The Quiet Earth” explores apocalyptic nightmare

Geoff Murphy ventures into science fiction with his latest film, “The Quiet Earth,” which opens at the Regent Two cinema tomorrow.

With “Goodbye Pork Pie” and “Utu,” Murphy showed his keen commercial instlncts’as a director, which “The Quiet Earth” confirms. The film grossed $116,000 in just three weeks of a small four-theatre run in the United States. It also garnered very respectable reviews.

The film, based on Craig Harrison’s novel, centres around a scientist called Zac (Bruno Lawrence) who wakes one morning to discover that he is alone in the world. The global top-secret energy project which he has been working for a year, seems to have wiped out humanity. Zac begins a frantic

search for other survivors. At the same time he has the chance to live out his fantasies, switching from dwelling to dwelling and vehicle to vehicle. But he soon realises the emptiness of his situation.' “I have been condemned to live,” he says. The discovery of two survivors, first a woman (Alison Routledge) and then a man (Pete Smith), sparks sexual jealousy. Zac’s attraction for Joanne is threatened by the presence of Api. Yet despite feelings of antagonism between the two

men, the three characters band together under the growing realisation that the Effect — or tilt of the fourth dimension — which struck at the exact moment of death for each of the three characters, is destined to happen again. Zac and Api set out to blow up the satellite station where the experiments had been carried out.

“It’s the archetypal story — a man facing the meaning of life,” says Sam Pillsbury, who produced “The Quiet Earth” with Don Reynolds.

“I discussed the idea of the end of mankind with friends and they told me T’ve dreamed about that. I’ve thought about being the last person on earth,” he said. “It’s one of the basic fantasies, a myth and a nightmare rolled into one.”

Bruno Lawrence, whose name has become synonymous with New Zealand films (he has appeared in 15), felt that the role of Zac “comes the closest to being me. I can say this is Bruno Lawrence actor and feel happy and proud about it,” he said. Together with Pillsbury (who started the project), Geoff Murphy and the cultural advisor, Merita Mita, Lawrence spent eight weeks shaping the script. “The actual shooting was only one third of the work,” he said. Yet, in spite of this, Lawrence manages to keep the movie together on his own for over minutes. His co-stars, Alison Routledge and Pete Smith, are relatively new to films. Smith, aged 26, was just out of prison after serving six months for his third drink-driving offence when the death of his father, and trip back to the marae for a tangi, made him reassess his life and culture. He applied for a drama course advertised by the Labour Department. Ten weeks into his training, he landed the role in “A Quiet Earth.” Alison Routledge, also 26, has had considerable theatre and TV experience, including parts in “Mortimer’s Patch” and “Inside Straight.” She played the lead in the recent adaptation of Katherine Mansfield's short story, “The Garden Party.”

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