Tagline: After that summer nothing would ever be the same.
Based on the classic Michael Noonan novel, December Boys is the story of four orphan teenagers growing up behind the closed doors of a Catholic convent in outback Australia during the 1960s. As the boys watch younger kids get adopted by loving families, they begin to realize that as they get older, their turn may never come. When the convent sends the boys to visit the seaside one summer, they finally have something to look forward to.
While at the seaside, the boys meet a young couple unable to have children, who would make the perfect parents. The eldest of the boys, Maps, finds himself drawn to Lucy, a beautiful girl from down the coast. Competing to be the most adoptable, the rest of the boys, Sparks, Misty and Spit, severely test their friendships as long gestating feelings of rejection explode to the surface. The bonds of friendship eventually overcome the rivalries, sealing forever the strong ties that bind the December boys as they learn the real meaning behind friendship, family and love.
Synopsis
The film marks Daniel Radcliffe’s first major role outside the ‘Harry Potter’ character. He plays Maps, one of four orphan boys. The three other orphans are played by Christian Byers, Lee Cormie and James Fraser. Jack Thompson co-stars as Bandy McAnsh, the retired naval officer who takes charge of the boys during their summer holiday. Sullivan Stapleton and Victoria Hill play the young couple who befriend the boys. Ralph Cotterill is Shellbank, the old fisherman. Frank Gallacher plays Father Scully; Kris McQuade plays Bandy’s wife Mrs. McAnsh and newcomer Teresa Palmer plays Maps’ love interest, Lucy.
The “December Boys” are a close-knit band of four adolescent orphans all with the same birth month. The boys’ hope of ever being adopted grows slimmer with each passing year, and it isn’t until their first summer away from the orphanage, that the fading hope of finding parents becomes a real possibility – for one of them. The boys are befriended by a young couple who, unable to fall pregnant, decide to adopt one of the boys. The boys compete to be the most adoptable, severely testing their friendships when long gestating feelings of rejection explode to the surface. The boys’ deep friendship eventually overcomes their rivalries, sealing forever the strong ties that bind them.
Background Information
It was over ten years ago that producer Richard Becker bought the film rights to “December Boys.” Becker says that he had always enjoyed stories about humanity, friendship and love, and that he was very moved by the story of these four orphan boys: “I think everyone has a summer they can remember where they suddenly grew up, where the journey was particularly profound, where meaningful things happened. That’s what I read in this story and that was its appeal. I wasn’t an orphan and I certainly didn’t experience some of the things that they boys went through, but it resonated with me.”
In 1998, writer Mark Rosenberg came on board the project and then, says Becker, “the script really started to take shape. By 2000, we had a script I was truly proud of and we started to work on putting the finance together.” By that time, Becker had asked Rod Hardy to direct the film.
Says Hardy: “I thought it was a magic story. I’ve always been attracted to films about people growing up, and this story has a particular charm about it.”
Casting the Film
Daniel Radcliffe plays Maps, the oldest of the boys. Christian Byers plays Spark, Lee Cormie plays Misty and James Fraser plays Spit. Lee and Christian both had some acting experience, but James had none. Daniel had only a short window of time available between filming the fourth and fifth “Harry Potter” films, so once he was on board casting the other boys around him was the producers’ main concern. Says Becker: “Casting the other three boys was very difficult. We had to find young boys who could deliver their roles and who looked good together as a group.” The search went right across Australia and New Zealand, and over 1,000 boys were seen before the final three were chosen.
Daniel Radcliffe says he had always planned to make another movie between the fourth and fifth “Harry Potter” films. “I was sent a lot of scripts but none of them really appealed to me,” said Radcliffe. “When I read DECEMBER BOYS I loved it. It was a very simple story but I thought it was very beautiful. And my character Maps is very, very different to Harry, so I knew that would be a challenge for me. I’ve been playing Harry Potter for five years, so it was quite amazing to do something different. Hopefully people will see me in a new light after this.”
Having Daniel on board was a big plus for the other boys. Becker exclaimed, “The day Daniel arrived on set his professionalism and focus really lifted the other boys and he really helped to glue them together. He’s a consummate performer and an extraordinary actor.”
Christian Byers (Spark) said, “Spark is the real fun loving guy of the four. He looks at all the lingerie ads, he smokes, he’s out there looking for fun. He was a great character to play.” Christian says that the four of them were great friends: “We had heaps of fun making the film. And I really liked the fact that the story was about four boys whose friendship brings them together – and it’s about going through tough times together.”
Lee Cormie (Misty) added, “Misty is the youngest, but he’s the most mature. He’s the one that says ‘don’t do that, don’t do this’, and he makes his hair nice and tucks his shirt in. I really liked the story and I thought it was very well written. It’s taken the producers 14 years to make this film – that’s before I was born!” Lee says how much he enjoyed working with Daniel, “He’s a great bloke! I thought it was fantastic that he was going to be in the film and I was very excited to meet him. He’s really nice. He’s also very focused. It was a great learning experience for me because I could just follow in his footsteps.”
James Fraser (Spit) said, “When I first read the script I just knew that I would love to be in this film. I play Spit – a character who loves himself and thinks that the sun doesn’t rise without his permission! Maps is his idol though: he sees him as a parental figure.” For James, staying in focus was the hardest challenge, “I have a very happy home life but Spit doesn’t. So I had to imagine how that would feel and then keep that feeling for long periods of time. That was the most difficult part.”
For director Rod Hardy it was very important that “we find four boys who had chemistry together but who also had the maturity to understand the work and the hard effort that goes into making a film. I found all that with these four boys – they were fantastic.” Adds producer Richard Becker, “The four of them made a great combination. There’s a real friendship between them that radiates from the screen and was central to making this film work.”
Location
The film was made on location in Adelaide and Kangaroo Island, with interiors at the South Australian Film Corporation Studio. Directed Rod Hardy had worked some years ago on Kangaroo Island, “I knew what a unique place it is. The script called for a Cove where the film is set that was beautiful, but also desolate. Coves aren’t that easy to find but the one at Kangaroo Island was perfect. It sits directly west so the sun sets between the headlands and gives it a magical feeling. We were also able to build our own town there. It meant we could work out of Adelaide and film there, but then not have too far to travel to Kangaroo Island.”
Adds producer Richard Becker, “South Australia has an unusual coastline that you don’t often find, which was perfect for this film. In addition to Kangaroo Island, we also filmed at The Remarkables, at Admiral’s Arch and at Secret Valley. So it’s a compilation of locations that blend together to form the imaginary Cove where our characters live.”
Look of the Film
The film begins in the outback, but rather than making it a very red, very hot looking location, as we’ve seen so many times before, the producers kept a much more subdued feel to the outback scenes. Says Hardy, “There’s a feeling in the orphanage that the Catholic Church is very much overseeing these boys, so we went for very subdued color. As we progress through the story, the colors get brighter, and when they arrive at the carnival there’s a dancing of lights and the colors are getting richer. By the time we get to the Cove and the boys run freely across the sand, the sea is sparkling and the sky is really blue. The change also progresses the mood of the film.”
The film’s design, says producer Richard Becker, was larger than life. That’s because we’re watching the film through the thoughts and memories of a now adult Misty. “Our memories are always different from reality,” says Becker. “When many of us go back to look at the house we grew up in, it’s always much smaller than we remembered it as a child. So we enhanced the design and the look of the film to reflect that.”
Production notes provided by Warner Independent Pictures.
December Boys
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Teresa Palmer, Christian Byers, Lee Cormie, Jack Thompson, Suzie Wilks, Victoria Hill
Directed by: Rod Hardy
Screenplay by: Marc Rosenberg
Release: September 14, 2007
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sexual content, nudity, underage drinking and smoking.
Studio: Warner Independent
Box Office Totals
Domestic: $50,715 (4.3%)
Foreign: $1,124,864 (95.7%)
Total: $1,175,579 (Worldwide)