Interview by
Benjamin Poole
In writer/director Sasha Hadden's A Stitch in Time, when former dressmaker, 80-year-old Liebe, (a star turn from
Maggie Blinco) meets young Chinese fashion designer Hamish (Hoa Xuande, soon to be starring alongside Robert Downey Jr in
The Sympathizer) their new friendship quickly reignites a long forgotten passion for her
craft. After her embittered and verbally abusive musician partner of fifty
years, Duncan, loses his job as a pub singer, Liebe intends to use the money
from her dress sales to realise his dream to record an album. However,
Duncan (Glenn Shorrock) is determined on shutting down her seamstress
business. Liebe packs her bags and moves in with her best friend from where
her life takes an extraordinary turn. This is a coming of age tale with a
difference that tugs at the heartstrings and proves that it's never too late
to follow your dreams.
We spoke with Hadden about his film, which is in UK cinemas from November
24th.
As someone who is obsessed with clothes, when I watched the film I was
particularly interested in the concept of fashion and being a couturier
as metaphor for liberation and self-realisation. Please could you
elaborate on how clothes and clothes-making are used in
A Stitch in Time?
Clothes-making represents our dreams and passions. The clothes themselves
(supplied by Kitten D’Amour) represent emotional integrity. Liebe
initially feels that beautiful clothes are for beautiful people, not for
someone like her. Hamish expands her understanding during their first
encounter - demonstrating that she too can be the wind to lift the sails
of a beautiful garment. It's an empowering realisation for her - that
she's responsible for how she carries herself, as she takes control of her
own emotions.
Liebe later uses dressmaking to teach Hamish about resonance and the
importance of excellence and accuracy, as we communicate to each other
through our individual creations.
What messages are A Stitch in Time conveying about age and how
does it attempt to convey them?
The message is that we are creative beings and remain creative beings
regardless of age and opinion. That we should continue to live, while ever
we're still breathing.
Duncan is stuck in the trap of believing that fame and fortune is the only
true validation. He doesn't think he has an audience until at the very end
of his life he realises that Liebe was his audience all along. The film
examines creativity as the fabric of community.
We don't need permission to be creative. We're compelled to create for
those around us. The film is an expression of this idea.
A Stitch in Time's ensemble cast is fantastic. I wonder if you
wouldn't mind talking a little about the casting process and the
experience of working with such a seasoned group?
We had two casting directors, Susie Maizels (who has since passed away)
and Kathrine Courtney-Prior. Susie would explain that casting is like
putting colours on a canvas, in that you don't want colours that look the
same, but for all the colours to work in harmony with each other.
We started with Hoa Xuande, who Susie Maizels insisted was a star. Don
McAlpine said the same thing on the first day of shooting. Hoa was awesome
to work with and is now playing the lead role in Robert Downey Jr's
The Sympathizer.
Maggie Blinco was chosen because she was a bit like Liebe, in that she'd
never had that big break in film, and we felt she had a lot to draw
from.
Duncan was originally written for Jack Thomson, but Jack couldn't do the
film because of scheduling issues. It was actually Maggie who suggested
Glenn Shorrock and I watched a YouTube video of him singing 'Cool Change'
in a club. He had me in tears within about 10 seconds and I was calling
his agent before the song ended. The magic of Duncan's voice is critical
in explaining why Liebe loves this man - which we need to understand in
the first few scenes. It occurred to me that getting a singer to act
rather than an actor to sing, might work out well.
We had some scheduling issues with Belinda Giblin's theatre production,
but I fell in love with her in the role of Christine and was able to
schedule the film around her to make it work.
John Gregg was the last of the main ensemble to come together, due to
making sure we had the balance right. We were all excited when he said
that wanted to do it.
The most exciting scene for me to direct was the big fight scene in the
movie, because all five actors had completely different acting styles.
Uniting all of that energy was a joy.
Susie and Kathrine were able to get solid actors for all the smaller roles
also, which was also crucial.
Okay Sasha, last question. Imagine if you were given carte blanche to
programme A Stitch in Time with two other films. What would they
be and why?
That's easy, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and
Driving Miss Daisy.
I fell in love with Driving Miss Daisy when I was 19 and
wanted my first film to be a similar type of love story, unpinned to
youthful beauty. Before my film was complete, my executive producer Sue
Milliken told me that Bruce Beresford (who directed
Driving Miss Daisy) wanted to see it and he came along to our cast and crew
screening.
Beresford loved A Stitch in Time as much as I loved his
Driving Miss Daisy and he told renowned Australian film
critic David Stratton to watch it, who gave us our first 4 star
review.