Matilda Brown… Ready For The Big Time

By James Hutton on January 6, 2013 in Other

During the month The Beast caught up with bubbly up-and-coming actor, writer and director Matilda Brown…

So where are you originally from?
I grew up in Whale Beach, on the northern beaches, then moved to Balmain when I was nine. Then when I was 17 moved to Melbourne and then I moved back to Sydney when I was 22.

Where are you living these days?
I’m living in the heart of Bondi.

When did you first move to Bondi?
Only about four months ago. I’m new in the hood. When I moved back from Melbourne to Sydney I stayed at my folks’ place ‘temporarily’ for three years and then moved to Bondi.

What do you love about living in the eastern suburbs?
The beach. I love that I can walk to the beach. I love that it’s young and fun. There’s a great vibe and there’s always something to do, always things to look at, always quirky characters walking down the street. It’s really good for people watching.

Do you have any favourite local haunts?
I love Gertrude and Alice on Hall Street and the organic place on Gould Street, opposite the ANZ Bank. I think it’s called Earth Food Store. And Jed’s, of course.

Is there anything you don’t like about living in the Eastern Suburbs?
It smells a bit from time to time. And it can get a bit yuppie; I’m not a fan of yuppie. But in general there’s a really nice balance of seediness and yuppiness. I like to hover between the two.

Do you get down to the other beaches in the Eastern Suburbs?
I walk sometimes the Bondi to Bronte. And I had a really fun big birthday picnic for a friend’s birthday down at the park at Bronte. I like going for walks up to Dover Heights and around to Rose Bay. I don’t really go to Bondi Junction very often because why would you, unless you need to renew your parking permit or something like that?

Do you drive?
Yeah.

Does traffic get to you?
The traffic is a pain in the arse but parking in Bondi isn’t that bad if you’ve got a permit. The traffic coming into Bondi on a Saturday or Sunday is just horrendous though.

What was it like growing up as the daughter of famous parents? Was it a privileged upbringing?
It was completely normal for me because it was all I knew. I didn’t really understand that my parents were famous until I was about 9, I think, and in Year 5 some kid came up to me and was like, “My mother says that your parents are famous.” And I was like, “I’m pretty sure she’s got the wrong parents; my parents are just totally normal.” I didn’t even know what famous meant.

Have you watched many of your folks’ films?
I’ve watched quite a few, not all of them, but I loved ‘The Shiralee’ when I was growing up. Have you ever seen that? It’s a really good film about a father and daughter in the country. When it was made I was about the same age as the little girl in it or maybe a little bit younger and they had such a tight bond in the film. I didn’t understand their relationship because I was about six, so I was really jealous of the little girl. And in the same way, when I saw my dad get killed in a film it would tear my heart out, even though he’d be sitting next to me watching the film. I’d be crying and the he’s be like, “It’s okay Til, I’m right here.”

That’s pretty weird, I didn’t really think about that…
It was even weirder when he was having sex with another woman on screen.

So is ‘The Shiralee’ your favourite of your dad’s films?
‘The Shiralee’ and ‘Two Hands’. I’m a big fan of ‘Two Hands’.

You’ve acted in a film directed by your mother; have you ever appeared alongside either of your parents on screen?
I’ve never acted with Mum but my last project that I just shot, which is being edited now, is about a father and daughter and it stars Dad and I. It’s the first time I’ve acted alongside him and also the first time I have directed Dad besides a video clip we did.

Was he good to work with? How did he appreciate you telling him what to do?
He’s great; he’s very professional even when it’s me, and he’s really respectful. Amazingly he really likes my films and my work and he trusts me. He was the one who said about this last project, “I think you should write something for us that we can work on when we’re not working on anything else.” And that’s what started me thinking about what I could do. I came up with this little idea about a father and daughter. There’s eight epidodes and each on is four minutes long. It’s supposed to be sad but funny at the same time.

Do you think that because you’ve moved to Bondi he’s trying to cling on to you for some quality time, because he doesn’t want to let daddy’s girl go?
Well I am a daddy’s girl.

You have a sister and a brother as well, don’t you?
Yeah, I have an older sister and younger brother but we’re all really close. I’ve always got along really well with my parents and I have genuinely had a lot of fun with them so I miss them. I will go and hang out with them quite often. They’d be getting sick of me, I reckon.

Birchgrove or Bondi, which do you prefer?
I prefer Bondi because there are more people my age. Balmain is a bit of an bit older crowd, more family-orientated, but waking up at Birchgrove is like waking up in the country. It’s so quiet; it’s just birds. In Bondi I wake up and I can hear construction from 7 o’clock in the morning.

Speaking of birds, I noticed you’ve got a couple of bird tattoos; can you tell us a bit about them?
Well the first tatt I got is on my lower back and I got that when I was 17. I was driving to Melbourne with my mum and we decided to get tattoos together as our departing gift to each other. She’s got a little bird on her arm that she calls a Matilda bird because I drew it and that’s the only one she’s got. I’ve got the one on my lower back – a teapot that Mum drew – and then I got another one when I broke up with a boyfriend that I had been with for quite a while and it’s my freedom bird and it reminds me to always be free. And then I’ve got another one on my leg, a black swan. A lot of people think it’s a goose. I got that when I was like kind of going through a kind of transformation. It’s about growth, going from the duckling to the swan.

How do your boyfriends go when they have to introduce themselves to your dad, because I imagine he would be pretty intimidating?
To those who don’t know him I can see why. He’s got a presence about him, that’s for sure. I think it would be pretty hard but they’ve actually gone quite well, I have to say. I don’t go out with the kind of guys who let it known that they’re shitting themselves. I have seen the way my dad is when he’s around a guy that I’ve introduced for the first time and he definitely doesn’t give a lot. The truth is though he is putting that on because he’s such a softy and he’s such a dad joke kind of guy. Once they’ve broken him down he’s the easiest person to get along with.

Can you tell us a bit about your boyfriend?
My boy’s called Oliver Leimbach, or Ollie. What do you want to know about him? He’s pretty cute, pretty cool, pretty funny. He plays the guitar and the clarinet.

Can you tell us about his band?
He’s in a band called Lime Cordiale, which is kind of what won me over, I think. I have known him for a really, really long time but when I saw him play I was kind of impressed. He’s younger than me so I’d always known him as ‘little Ollie’ but then I moved to Melbourne and when I came back and I hadn’t seen Ollie for a really long time and in that time he’d kind of grown up. He wasn’t little Ollie anymore. I saw him play and I was like, “Well he’s kind of pretty cute and can play clarinet very well and I like his band,” and then I became a big supporter of his band and made his first video clip.

So you became his groupie?
I basically became a groupie, because that was when we weren’t together, and then, well, one thing led to another.

So how long have you guys been together?
Two years.

Does he live in Bondi as well?
No, he actually lives in Enmore but he’s from the northern beaches. He’s from Bilgola and he’s not really liking Enmore because he’s having massive beach withdrawals. And I don’t let him stay that often at mine because I like my space.

Obviously your parents are in the entertainment industry but when did you first get started?
Well, my first job was when I was nine. It was for a television show that my dad produced called ‘Twisted Tales’. Each episode was a half an hour long, completely separate from the one before, and I was in an episode called ‘Dancing Partners’. Then when I was 15 I was in ‘Martha’s New Coat’, which my mum directed. After that I kind of decided that I did want to act and I’d always written so I was really interested in writing too. I decided to go to film school and I spent three years there and then I did two years of professional screenwriting before I moved back to Sydney and I thought, “Well, I can’t go to film school and not now make a film. Maybe I’ll make a Tropfest film.” So I made a Tropfest film and that was the first film that I made out of film school and it got in. So that was kind of where it all started for me and I’ve just been doing it ever since.

You’ve had another Tropfest finalist as well since then, haven’t you?
Yes, last year. It was a doco called ‘One Thing’. I interviewed a bunch of people and asked them all one question, “If you could tell the world one thing, what would it be?”

You’ve got your own production company; can you tell us a bit about it?
It’s called Big Brown Films and that was created for a bunch of tourism commercials that I did. I had to create the production company for that purpose.

Is it a tough industry to be a part of?
Yeah, it is a tough industry. The reason why I write, act and direct is because if I just acted I would be poor and I don’t want to sit around just waiting for my agents to call and tell me I have a job. I want to create my own work and in this industry it’s good to create your own work because otherwise you spend a lot of your time being idyll and that’s not fun. And I like telling stories anyway.

So you’re always busy doing something?
Yeah, I am always busy doing something.

When do you plan to write, direct or act in your first feature?
Well I’m writing it now but I don’t know; it might take seven years or more.

What’s your role with Flickerfest this year?
My film ‘Am I Okay’ is screening in Flickerfest this year. I wrote and directed and act in it. I was in a Flickerfest trailer a couple of years ago too and then the film I acted in, ‘Cockatoo’, was in last year’s Flickerfest and it won Best Screenplay.

When did you first become involved with Flickerfest and what drew you to that festival?
They approached me to be in the trailer a couple of years ago and that was the first time I was associated.

What do you love about Flickerfest?
It’s got a really good view standing on the balcony on opening night, overlooking Bondi. That’s one thing. And the festival organisers, Bronwyn and Shane, are really lovely people. I think it always helps to have passionate people behind something like Flickerfest. It’s also Academy Award accredited, which is a pretty big deal. For me though, I just love that you get to sit out the back under the stars and watch some really great films on opening night and closing night. I think being honest that’s what really sets it apart for me.

How many film festivals do you reckon you would attend in a year when you’ve got a short film that you’re pushing?
I only go along to a select few because it gets boring, to be honest. I don’t want to spend all my life at festivals. That said, it’s always nice to see the community get behind a festival, whether it’s Flickerfest or St Kilda or a small festival in a country town. The vibe that comes from a festival is great. It’s a real little buzz.

Have your folks given any advice that’s really resonated with you so far?
Mum always said don’t just act, do other things; get something else behind you because you don’t want to be sitting around waiting for the phone to ring, because that’s what she did for a lot of her career. Her career kind of plateauing when she about 35 so she went back to uni and got a communications degree and then she started writing and directing and she’s much happier because of it. So that was her advice and that is what made me go to film school. Dad’s advice was that life is a numbers game and everything is based on statistics. So in auditions it really comes in handy knowing that I have to have a certain amount of knock backs before I get a yes. It keeps me positive about the knock backs because another no means I’m closer to the yes. It’s a great way to look at the world in any aspect, in any profession. And persistence; that’s another thing you have to have.

Do you have a career highlight thus far?
A highlight that’s fresh in my mind has been working with my dad lately up at our family farm because it was just a crew of twelve, a setting that is just so beautiful and close to my heart and working with him was just so much fun.

Do you get up to the farm much?
I try to go like several times a year. Sometimes I just crave the country. It’s six hours away but it’s worth the drive even for a couple of days. Nothing matters when you’re in the country.

Do you support any charities?
There’s an organisation called Familia Moja that I support and in January I’m going to Africa for a month to help them finish building an orphanage. I’ll also be making a little doco and working with the little African kids. So that’s the one that I’m all about at the moment.

How did you get involved with Familia Moja?
I have a friend who runs it from Australia. There are people in Africa who are the founders but my friend does all the fundraising from here. He’s Australian and he’s awesome and he told me about it a couple of years ago. I’ll be heading over to Africa with a group of Australians who I don’t know and so we’ll meet there and spend a month together. I just thought it was so great and I really wanted to do it and this year I just went, “F**k it, I’ll pass on pilot season and I’ll go to Africa instead.”

Do you have any advice for youngsters looking to get into the film industry?
I would say make sure that it’s what you love. Don’t do it just because you want to be famous and don’t compare yourself to other people. You will only get anywhere if you stick at it and you have to love it enough to stick with it or it will just break you.

Besides your folks, do you have any role models who have helped you in the industry?
No. I don’t really have role models in the industry. I think the role models for me are like that chick Donna who walks around her with her head shaved and she’s homeless and she’s just cool and always has a smile on her face even though she has nothing. And my friends are my role models. And my local coffee man; I love him.

Who is your local coffee man?
Dan at Gertrude and Alice.

In an ideal world what does the future hold for Matilda Brown?
I just want to keep doing what I’m doing. I’m happy. I like my life so if I can just keep living the way that I am then I’ll be happy. It’s not all about film. I don’t like the idea of living and dying by the film industry or by the roles that I get. I just want to keep meeting cool people and keep drinking coffee and keep learning. That would be my ideal world.