Michelle Payne biopic Ride Like a Girl could break Aussie film barriers
Australia’s film industry is in pressing need of a homegrown hit. Ride Like a Girl, about Michelle Payne’s historic 2015 Melbourne Cup win, could be the one to break the barriers.
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The race that stops a nation?
When you are Michelle Payne, that’s already been filed away under ‘been there, won that.’
The race to become the biggest Australian movie of the year?
Well, that could well be the next prestige win racked up by the trailblazing 2015 Melbourne Cup-winning jockey.
Still occasionally seen in the saddle, but now in the early throes of establishing herself as a trainer, 33-year-old Payne has her binoculars locked on how her much-anticipated screen biopic Ride Like a Girl jumps out of the barriers at its World Premiere in Melbourne Sunday afternoon.
Also sure to be watching very intently as the movie begins to gallop through cinemas all over the country later this month will be two embattled entities getting desperate for a good news story for a change.
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Australian horse racing has endured one PR nightmare after another over the past few years.
A big result for Ride Like a Girl will definitely add some restorative lustre to a public image tarnished by several high-profile scandals.
As for the Australian film industry, to say it is in pressing need of a breakout homegrown hit would be a serious understatement.
Gross ticket sales for Australian made movies are down 40 per cent on this time last year (a stat that would be even more dire without the respectable business recently enjoyed by August releases Palm Beach and Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan).
The financial target Ride Like a Girl needs to hit to become the No. 1 Australian movie of 2019 is $5.25 million, which will see it nose past the year’s current local frontrunner, Top End Wedding.
A number of Australian Box Office pundits believe the right word-of-mouth should build for Ride Like a Girl to kick well clear of the field for a $10 million-plus haul.
Despite some initial reluctance to let go of her life story for a run at the big screen, Payne is now very happy she agreed to hand over the reins.
“I’ve seen the movie four times now,” says Payne, who is played by Teresa Palmer in the biopic.
“Each time I watch it, I’m picking up on different things that I can see that they’ve put so much thought and time and effort into.
“I just love what they’ve done. I would not change one thing, which is quite incredible.”
Payne is doubly thrilled about the impending release of Ride Like a Girl for a very special reason.
Her brother Stevie, who was there on her big day as the strapper of the Cup winning 100/1 outsider Prince of Penzance, is playing himself in the movie.
“To see Stevie up there on the big screen is just the best thing you could ever imagine,” enthuses Payne.
“I may be biased, but I’ve spoken to a few people and they could not believe how incredible he is and how (the filmmakers) have just captured him.”
“It makes me laugh, and our family is just going to laugh the whole way through too. We’ll be seeing it together at the premiere for the first time.”
Over three years in the making — and with a production budget estimated to fall in the $12-15 million range — Ride Like a Girl marks the directorial debut of leading Australian actress Rachel Griffiths.
According to the Oscar-nominated and Golden Globe-winning star, the biggest pressure of completing her first feature behind the camera was doing right by her history-making subject.
“All along, I felt that Michelle and the Payne family were our first stakeholders,” admits Griffiths, speaking from Toronto, where she made a quick dash this week on film festival business ahead of her imminent Melbourne premiere.
“I’ve been involved with other biopics that changed certain facts to fit the 3-act story arc. I’ve been uncomfortable with the way Hollywood does that carelessly.
“I promised Michelle that I would make a beautiful and respectful film that I could watch with her whole family and not have them want to punch me in the face!”
If there is an elephant in the room as Ride Like a Girl prepares to enter the public domain, it is the presence of Prince of Penzance’s disgraced former leading trainer Darren Weir as a featured character in the movie.
Weir was banished from horse racing by regulatory authorities earlier this year after a dramatic police raid on his training operation revealed the use of illegal electronic devices to enhance the race day performance of his horses.
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When asked this week about how much of Weir (who is played by Sullivan Stapleton) will remain in Ride Like a Girl in light of his controversial exit from racing, producers of the movie would only comment that “no changes have been made”.
In an April interview with Network Ten’s The Project, Griffiths was more expansive about retaining Weir in the final edit, stating that Payne’s historic achievement should not be tainted by choices Weir made “in another part of his life.”
“The truth is that he kept a woman on a horse in a Melbourne Cup, which has only happened a handful of times. And I’m not going to shy away from that.”
Along with a number of industry insiders who have seen and been impressed by the movie, Griffiths believes it is Payne’s heroics out on the track that will ultimately strike a powerful chord with Australian audiences.
The production formed a special racing unit that spent considerable time at several Victorian racetracks — including Caulfield, Moonee Valley, Ballarat, Hanging Rock and, of course, Flemington — ensuring the all-important race day scenes were as authentic and exciting as possible.
“We talked a lot about wanting the racing sequences to be groundbreaking and breathtaking,” said Griffiths from Toronto.
“We wanted to put the audience in the jockey’s saddle. To celebrate the extraordinary courage of Michelle, we wanted to depict the racetrack as a battle field. It’s a Disney princess film meets Hacksaw Ridge.”
Ride Like a Girl opens in wide release around Australia on Thursday, September 26.
HIGHEST-GROSSING AUSTRALIAN-MADE MOVIES OF 2019
1. TOP END WEDDING (May) $5.24 million
2. STORM BOY (January) $4.97 million
3. PALM BEACH (August) $3.91 million
4. HOTEL MUMBAI (March) $3.29 million
5. DANGER CLOSE: THE BATTLE OF LONG TAN (August) $2.55 million
Originally published as Michelle Payne biopic Ride Like a Girl could break Aussie film barriers
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