Paul Kelly’s cult song How To Make Gravy is coming to the big screen
Meet French actor Agathe Rousselle bringing this beloved track to life in a new Australian film.
Striking French actor Agathe Rousselle is no stranger to transformation, pivoting seamlessly between model, photographer, fashion entrepreneur and magazine journalist and editor.
But film and the stage are where 36-year-old Rousselle feels most electrified and at ease. “Being on set or stage is where I feel most happy and comfortable. It makes sense to me,” she says.
The edgy Parisian makes her English language feature debut in a quintessentially Australian film based on Paul Kelly’s nostalgic Christmas song How to Make Gravy.
It’s in stark contrast to her critically acclaimed film debut playing the lead role of Alexia, a psychopath with an unusual sexual desire for cars, in French film Titane. The movie took out the prestigious Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021.
Rousselle’s pursuit of a childhood passion for acting was sidelined as a teenager by her mother’s desire to see her study something she considered more serious.
“When I was a teenager and I was doing drama class, I was a theatre major and then my mother didn’t want me to do that. So I decided to try doing whatever she wanted me to do, which was literature studies,” she says.
“Then I always found my way before a camera for music videos, modelling, whatever. I would try to do that and then one day, it came back to me where a director contacted me to audition. So, it came full circle, [but] it took 10 years to come back.”
Rousselle’s relationship with her mother fractured to the point that they are no longer in contact – “I’m sure she’s not devastated,” says the actor – but it has not stopped her from following her dreams and making her mark to international acclaim. She also received a nomination for the Best Actress Award at the European Film Awards and won the Prix Lumières Most Promising Actress for her role in Titane.
How to Make Gravy is an adaptation of Kelly’s famous 1996 hit, which tells the unconventional story of an inmate writing a letter home as his family prepares to celebrate their first Christmas without him.
Rousselle says she was drawn to the project after meeting musician and writer Meg Washington, who developed the Kelly story for the screen, and her partner, director Nick Waterman.
“Even though I had never heard anything about Paul Kelly or the song, I loved the script,” Rousselle says. “I met Nick Waterman and Meg Washington via Zoom. The chat was very interesting. I love the script and knowing that I would have scenes with Dan [Daniel Henshall – Snowtown, Mystery Road: Origin] and knowing Hugo Weaving [The Matrix, The Lord of The Rings] was also involved, I was really happy.”
The film, shot on location on the Gold Coast last October for streaming service Binge, also stars Brenton Thwaites (Titans, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales), Daniel Herriman (Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, Mr Inbetween) and Kate Mulvaney (The Twelve, Hunters, Lambs of God).
“I had a blast working with all of them because everyone’s so very professional, precise and committed. That’s the way I like to work, so I was very happy to have this opportunity to play alongside such experienced actors,” Rousselle says.
Working on an Australian film set was enlightening and also quite different to her experience on
a European production. “I feel like the Brits, the Americans, the Australian people are just tighter, more professional. That’s not to say the French industry is not professional in the way of doing things; maybe in France there’s a different approach,” she says.
“It’s hard to explain, but I like how things are organised and very professional, where the director is also part of the team. It’s not in France. The director is like the king or the queen, there’s a hierarchy in the French system that exists way less elsewhere, I feel. It’s more of a collaboration, I think.”
She appreciated the connection and confidence Washington and Waterman that placed on the cast.
“It was really good, precisely because they have a very clear idea of what they want. But [the Australian set was] just very open to suggestion, ideas, and ultimately collaboration. So as an actor, you don’t feel like a puppet; you feel like you’re really a part of their project and it makes the project yours as well.”
Rousselle admits that the unexpected adulation she received off the back of Titane put some additional pressure on her for this project, but she also recognises that she is her own harshest critic.
“I feel like any time you have a success you will have pressure on you for the next thing, you know. You will have pressure to do some things as good. It’s like musicians, if they have a really good first album, the second one is very tricky,” she says.
“Even if the first feature didn’t have the success it had, I think I would still put pressure on myself to push myself to do better.”
Rousselle relished the shoot on the Gold Coast, temporarily relocating from her home on the outskirts of Paris.
“It was fantastic, just having the ocean so close by and also everything very clean and easy to navigate,” she says.
Rousselle is renowned for her unique sense of style on both the red carpet and social media, and enjoyed scouring local op shops and thrift stores while in Australia.
“Whatever I wear, it might look good, but I’m not too concerned. It’s not a thing that I plan ahead, like the influencers. I’ve never done that. I don’t really pay much attention to it. I just have good pieces, most of them are vintage. I’m not trying to be into any trends. I’m not trying [to be] anything, that’s probably why it looks nice.”
How to Make Gravy is slated to premiere later this year, with some observers suggesting December 21 would be a perfect fit.
It has become known as Gravy Day for fans of the song, as that is the date on which prisoner Joe – Kelly’s protagonist in the song – pens his letter to his brother.
“We never talk about prison or violence in Christmas songs. It [the song] makes your imagination work a lot, it’s very visual. It’s like a good country song. I love it,” Rousselle says.
This story is from the July issue of WISH.
