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Director Ray Lawrence's "Lantana" is a fascinating psychological drama that is a labyrinth of love, sex and deceit. Like the Lantana bush, the characters are lovely to look but hide a menacing underbelly. Lawrence and writer Andrew Bovell use the crime-story format to study four sets of married couples. These couples' secrets and lies crisscross Leon's investigation and illuminate the personal crisis he must resolve. Everyone in this film has something to hide, including characters played by Barbara Hershey, Anthony LaPaglia, Geoffrey Rush and Kerry Armstrong.

"A woman driving, her car breaks down, she makes a series of phone calls and basically ends up talking to an answering machine," is how writer Andrew Bovell describes his first idea from which he developed the stage play "Speaking In Tongues." "I was looking for a contemporary story that would lead me into the whole terrain of marriage and relationships."

Director Ray Lawrence became interested in the project after lending his support on the play's opening night of the 1996 season at the Stables Theatre in Sydney. Afterwards, Lawrence called Bovell saying, "I think there's a movie in there." Bovell felt that the film was not immediately apparent in the stage play as it was very theatrical and had a very different structure. "Ray was looking beyond the theatre of it to the people and the stories, and it was there that he recognized the idea for a film," states Bovell. "I think I was quietly hoping that one day this material might become a film and so it was really exciting to hear him say that."

Lawrence believed the play is much more than a mystery or a thriller. "As we move through our lives and relationships there is, for most of us, a sense of slowly becoming invisible. I think sexual identity, or the loss of it, plays a big part. It happens at different times for different reasons, but it's safe to say that it starts as we approach middle age," explains Lawrence adding, "It's something that for the most part happens to all of us and the audience will recognize the day to day struggle we have with ourselves."

Writer Bovell says, "The more Ray talked about the film, the more I began to incorporate that into the writing process. So actually by the time the screenplay was ready it was a reflection of how he had responded to it, and how he had started to see the film."

Bovell and Lawrence knew it was essential that the actor who played the role of Leon could embrace it with a deep authenticity. Leon is the film's central character - the one who all the other characters orbit around in the film's interweaving, twisting, and complex plot. Casting this role was crucial, but when the casting agent Susie Maizels suggested Anthony LaPaglia's name, director Lawrence immediately responded to the idea. Several years earlier, Lawrence and LaPaglia had met and expressed a mutual desire to work together. The script was sent to LaPaglia whose response was immediate and unwavering.