(Laughing) No. There's an Australian film we're going to do, which I've known about for awhile now, but they've had trouble getting it together for a variety of reasons. It looks like we may do it in August or September. It's called "The Proposition." If that comes together then I'll do that, and have a look for something after that.
Is that the Nick Cave project?
That's the one. He's doing the music for it and he also wrote the script. John Hillcoat, who's directing it, wasn't entirely happy with the writers that he had. In talking with Nick - and he's known Nick for a number of years - they decided that Nick should have a go at writing the script. And, of course, being the brilliant writer he is, he wrote a brilliant script, so that's the one we're going to use (laughing).
Had you performed in front of an audience before this?
Oh yeah, I've sung all my life. I've played with jazz bands. When I was in school, I used to play with the school concert band. I've sung in choirs, I've done musical theater, I've sung with bands. I've done all sorts of stuff. I've fronted bands before. I still sing and perform at home, with other people, but it's all very low-key. I'm already in a position where there seems to be a bit of attention and I don't really want to escalate that, so I just do low-key stuff now.
Being a musician, is it easier for you to pick up dialects?
Yeah, because it's about pitch and melody and rhythm. Sometimes, for me, accents can be pretty easy. Other times, they can be tricky.
Why do you think it took so long for this movie to be released?
When they screened the film at Sundance, there were some people very interested in the movie. There were some distributors who were interested in the movie, as long as they re-cut it and changed it and made it more commercial. The producer, who fancied herself as a director, took the film off the director, went and re-cut the movie and changed the whole style of the movie to try and satisfy the distributors. We all, then, were very unhappy about that and basically said we would not support that, so there was a stalemate for years, until eventually the bank took the movie off the producer because she hadn't paid them back. Once we found out the bank had the rights to the film, we then went to the bank and said, "If you intend to release any version of this movie, please let us know, so that we can come on board and support it, and guide it in a direction that we want to guide it in." The last two or three years has been about trying to get it back on track, and get it to a distributor who would release the Sundance version of the film.
How did Lion's Gate Films get involved?
I think Lion's Gate had always been interested in the film, anyway, but no one wanted to touch the film if the director and the actors weren't going to support it. Once people knew that we were back on board and supporting the original director's cut of the film, then people came out of the woodwork and said they were interested.
That must have been maddening.
It wasn't even about waiting to see what was going to happen. It was maddening that somebody felt they had the right to bastardize our film.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Interview with Lili Taylor
"A Slipping Down Life" Photo Gallery, Trailer and Credits
