Nathan Phillips These Final Hours

Nathan Phillips These Final Hours

Cast: Nathan Phillips, Angourie Rice
Director: Zak Hilditch
Rated: MA15+
Running Time: 87 minutes

Synopsis: What would you do on the last day on Earth? These Final Hours is an apocalyptic drama that takes place over the final twelve hours before a cataclysmic event is set to wipe life off of the planet. James, a troubled young man, has one final fling with Zoe, the woman he's secretly been having an affair with, before getting ready to head to the -party to end all parties' where his girlfriend Vicky awaits. Before he leaves, Zoe tells James she is pregnant and that he would have been a father had the world not been doomed for destruction. James doesn't take the news well, while Zoe pleads for him to stay. James leaves, hell bent on blocking everything out and not feeling anything as the end approaches.

On his way across a lawless and chaotic city, James saves the life of a little girl named Rose, desperately searching for her father. Rose is fixated on getting to her Aunty Janice's house on the outskirts of the city, which is where she and her father were headed. Pressed for time, James tries to offload Rose and takes her to his sister's house. Upon their arrival, James makes a shocking discovery: his sister and her family have opted for a murder suicide. James, out of options and unable to abandon Rose on the street, reluctantly brings Rose with him to the party. The party is in full swing - debauched madness spreads as far as the eye can see. James tracks down Vicky and he leaves Rose by the pool, in the middle of the chaos. Still shaken from the discovery of his sister and her families bodies, a distracted James fails to sexually satisfy Vicky, so she shows him the underground bunker her brother Freddy built, which she believes offers them a chance of survival. Inside the bunker, James realises how futile and absurd survival is and the only right thing to do with what time is left, is to reunite Rose with her father.

James desperately searches for Rose amongst the debauchery of the party and finds she has been drugged by a crazed young woman who is convinced Rose is her daughter. James desperately flees the party and takes Rose to the only safe haven he knows – his Mum's house. Whilst Rose re-cooperates, James spends some time with his Mum and she questions him about the whereabouts of his sister. James lies and tells her that she fled the city with her family, shielding his mum from the awful truth. The pair make amends and James says goodbye to his Mum.

In now near unbearable heat, James and Rose head for Aunty Janice's house as the end fast approaches. They arrive but the place is deserted. The pair split up and James makes a brutal discovery, Rose's extended family lies dead in an orchard. James identifies Rose's father and has no option but to break the news to her. James tries to convince a grief-stricken Rose to leave but she is adamant she is exactly where she belongs, with her father. James realises she's right and that he too should be where he belongs, back with Zoe. James leaves Rose and makes one last desperate attempt to get back to the woman he loves in time. James finds Zoe down by the beach and the pair embrace as the world comes to an end. The feature film debut of writer/director Zak Hilditch, These Final Hours is a fresh take on the apocalypse sub genre - it is highly charged and surprising.

These Final Hours
Release Date: July 31st, 2014


Background Info

These Final Hours is the first feature film from writer/director Zak Hilditch and producer Liz Kearney. Zak Hilditch is one of Australia's up and coming directing talents. His short film Transmission which was made as a companion piece for These Final Hours was nominated for Best Film at the 2013 AACTA awards and won Best Screenplay. Zak Hilditch has written and directed numerous short films and no budget features which have screened in festivals around the world including Tribeca, Slamdance, Uppsala, St Kilda and Flickerfest. These Final Hours was developed through Screen Australia's Springboard program and with the assistance of ScreenWest.

The film was shot in Perth, Western Australia over a five week period in October and November 2012. A talented ensemble of some of Australia's finest up and coming actors appear in the film including lead Nathan Phillips (Wolf Creek, Chernobyl Diaries) with Daniel Henshall (Snowtown, Not Suitable For Children, Any Questions for Ben), Jessica de Gouw (Dracula, Arrow, Kath and Kimderella), Sarah Snook (Not Suitable For Children, Predestination), Kathryn Beck (Burning Man, Puberty Blues). Joining them is industry stalwart Lynette Curran (The Boys, Japanese Story, The Year My Voice Broke) who plays a small but pivotal role. The film also introduces audiences to rising talent Angourie Rice in her first feature film.

Zak Hilditch On The Origins Of These Final Hours

What Drew Me To The Story

I first started writing the feature script for These Final Hours in the late summer of 2009. The initial inspiration for the story was a love of science fiction where the main characters are forced to band together after a major cataclysmic event, from 28 Days Later, to early 60's Twilight Zone episodes like The Midnight Sun, I have always been intrigued by this concept, in particular the 'what would you do?" element. Sci fi films that focus predominantly on the human element within this scenario are the ones that have stuck with me, less so the ones that quickly get overshadowed by the cataclysm itself.

Writing These Final Hours was in a way an attempt to tell my own version of a 'people reacting to a sudden and drastically changed world" story that could satisfy all the things I love about the sci-fi genre. The writing of the first draft coincided with watching a 10 minute YouTube animation which depicts what would happen to the Earth if it was destroyed by an asteroid. It detailed how the planet would be so devastated that it would be peeled like an orange over a twenty four hour period until it was a complete ball of fire. This painted a vivid picture in my mind and got me thinking that if Australia was one of the last places to be -peeled' you could have a canvas whereby over the course of one day, it gets increasingly hotter and louder, with the added terrifying and ominous element of people knowing exactly when their time is up.

The Character Of James

Having my canvas was one thing, but deciding on what characters to explore within this scenario was another. Drawing on my own fears as a now thirty year old man coming to terms with shifting adult responsibilities, I developed James, a man unwilling to accept responsibility, but when forced to, realises his own self worth. I wanted to explore the last day on Earth through the eyes of an everyman like James. He's a guy unable to face the end head on, who just wants to go to the party to end all parties and numb the pain, but ultimately he realises that it's never too late to find redemption, even in the face of the apocalypse.

I found my perfect James in Nathan Phillips who embodied the everyman I had in mind, someone with a bit of grunt who can handle himself in a tight spot, but who also has the right amount of vulnerability to allow the audience in. Nathan Phillips transcended what was there on the page and really injected so much of himself into the character of James it was amazing to watch. I simply couldn't imagine anyone but Nathan Phillips portraying him.

Casting

I feel incredibly humbled to have worked with such an amazing cast on These Final Hours. Having previously worked with Angourie Rice, I knew that she would be a formidable Rose. She compliments Nathan Phillips 's performance so well, bringing the perfect -ying to his yang'. Rose is constantly challenging James' morality until he ultimately takes responsibility for her and becomes the man and father figure he was reluctant to be. Angourie is an extraordinary young actress who is mature beyond her years.

Jessica de Gouw as Zoe and Kathryn Beck as Vicky are like fire and ice in the film. These two women in James' life both represent who James is, and who he's trying to be. Both Jessica de Gouw and Kathryn Beck are so incredibly dynamic in the film in such different ways and fully embody what it means to know you are going to die. Like Nathan Phillips , the pair both put so much of themselves into the characters and really light up the screen.

Dan Henshall as Freddy, Sarah Snook as a crazed party goer and Lynette Curran as James' Mum, all help round out the full gamut of how people are dealing with the last day on Earth in such visceral ways. The cast is so well balanced and it was a total privilege to have been able to work with them all.

My Creative Vision

Creating a compelling sense of the impending apocalypse on a low budget was always going to be a giant challenge. Authentic, truthful performances from the cast that capture humanity in its most extreme light was integral to me selling a believable world on the brink of destruction.

Finding exteriors in and around Perth that already harnessed a certain sense of a crumbling society was also a strategic move in keeping with the film's raw and gritty approach. An abandoned ice arena, an unfinished housing estate, empty suburban streets in the middle of Perth - all of these locations help evoke ideas of eerie abandonment and are visually alluring and mysterious.

The rising heat of the film was also incredibly important in dictating the overall look of the film as is the bold and striking soundscape which is a major component of These Final Hours, as the Earth gets peeled by a ring of fire, a distant rumble intensifies over the course of the twelve hours depicted in the film.

The combination of arresting, gritty visuals and a dynamic soundscape have complemented the story beautifully and created a viewing experience where the audience is squarely in James' shoes as he finds redemption on the last day on earth amidst the carnage and chaos.

These Final Hours is an incredibly immersive cinema experience that leaves the audience not only gasping but also hopefully reflecting on their own relationships, considering who they would want to be with if they knew the end was nigh.
-Zak Hilditch (Writer/Director of These Final Hours)

These Final Hours
Release Date: June 12th, 2014