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because they were impressed by his 1980 film Breaker Morant . Philip Hobel |
said, "What we saw in Breaker Morant is what we like as filmmakers ourselves — |
an attention to the environment, a straightforward presentation; it's almost a |
documentary approach." [12] Beresford was attracted to the idea of making a |
Hollywood film with a big budget and powerful distribution. Following his |
success with Breaker Morant , Beresford received about 150 Hollywood scripts |
as potential projects; although he went weeks before reading many of them, |
Beresford read Tender Mercies right away. It immediately appealed to him, in |
part because it dealt with aspects of American rural life he had seldom |
encountered in film scripts. [12] Several of those involved with Tender |
Mercies had reservations about an Australian directing a film about a country |
music star. Beresford also found the decision strange, but kept his thoughts |
to himself because of his desire to direct the film. [13] He contacted EMI |
Films and asked for one month to visit Texas and familiarize himself with the |
state before committing to direct, to which the company agreed. [14] Beresford |
said of the trip, "I want to come over and see if this is all true, because if |
it's not really a true picture of what it's all like, it wouldn't be right to |
make it." [12] During his visit to Texas, he saw parallels between the state |
and his homeland: the terrain reminded him of the Australian bush country , |
and the Texans he met in the isolated areas reminded him of residents of the |
Outback . He met Foote and discussed the script with him. The screenwriter, |
who gave Beresford tours of small Texas towns, felt the director's Australian |
background made him sensitive to the story's rural characters and would help |
him achieve the sought-for authenticity. [14] Beresford agreed to direct and |
was hired after receiving final approval from Duvall (the actor had a clause |
in his contract allowing him such approval, the first time he had this power |
on a film). [15] The central setting of Tender Mercies was chosen largely due |
to the lack of physical structures in the barren landscape around it. A sense |
of loneliness was crucial to how director Bruce Beresford wanted to tell the |
story. [13] The film was given a budget of $4.5 million ($14,484,993 in 2022 |
dollars), modest by Hollywood standards at the time. [3] Philip Hobel said it |
took about a year to secure the financing from EMI Films, whose major 1981 |
release, Honky Tonk Freeway , had done poor box office . [16] For the primary |
location, Rosa Lee's home and motel/gas station business, Beresford imposed |
one requirement: that no other buildings or large manmade structures be |
visible from it. [17] The filmmakers eventually decided on a property that had |
been sitting abandoned by a Waxahachie highway. Mary Ann Hobel said the owner, |
when approached about its availability, immediately handed over the keys: "We |
said, 'Don't you want a contract, something in writing?' And he said, 'We |
don't do things that way here. ' " [16] Beresford, known for carefully |
planning every shot in his films, drew his own storyboards as well as detailed |
drawings of how he envisioned the sets. [12] Jeannine Oppewall was hired as |
art director . Beresford praised her as "absolutely brilliant", especially for |
her attention to very small details, "going from the curtains to the color of |
the quilts on the floors." [13] It was Oppewall who named the motel Mariposa , |
Spanish for "butterfly", which symbolizes the spiritual resurrection Mac |
Sledge would experience there. [18] Beresford chose Australian Russell Boyd as |
cinematographer and Irishman William Anderson , who had worked on all of the |
director's previous features, as editor . [19] He selected Elizabeth McBride |
as costume designer . It was her first time in the position on a feature film, |
and she went on to build a reputation for costuming Texan and other Southern |
characters. [20] Casting [ edit ] Tess Harper as Rosa Lee, Robert Duvall as |
Mac Sledge, and Allan Hubbard as Sonny, in costumes designed by Elizabeth |
McBride Duvall had always wanted to play a country singer, and Foote was |
rumored to have written the role of Mac Sledge specifically for him. Foote |
denied the claim, claiming he found it too constraining to write roles for |
specific actors, although he did hope Duvall would be cast in the part. Tender |
Mercies became a very important personal project for Duvall, who contributed a |
significant number of ideas for his character. [7] [10] Duvall was director |
Robert Altman first choice for the role of country superstar Haven Hamilton |
(subsequently played by Henry Gibson ) in his 1975 film Nashville ), but was |
not in the film due to a scheduling conflict. [21] Reportedly, Duvall dropped |
out of the movie when Altman would not let him sing his own compositions. In |
preparing for the role, he spent weeks roaming around Texas, speaking to |
strangers to find the right accent and mannerisms. He also joined a small |
country band and continued singing with them every free weekend while the film |
was being shot. [22] In total, Duvall drove about 680 miles (1,094 km) to |
research the part, often asking people to speak into his tape recorder so he |
could practice their inflections and other vocal habits. [15] Upon finding one |
man with the exact accent he wanted, Duvall had him recite the entire script |
into the recorder. [23] Tess Harper was performing on stage in Texas when she |
attended a casting call for a minor role in the film. Beresford was so |
impressed with her that he cast her in the lead. He later said that the |
actresses he had seen before her demonstrated a sophistication and worldliness |
inappropriate for the part, while she brought a kind of rural quality without |
coming across as simple or foolish. Beresford said of Harper, "She walked into |
the room and even before she spoke, I thought, 'That's the girl to play the |
lead. ' " [13] Harper said she knew she won the role when Beresford appeared |
on her doorstep with a bottle of champagne in each hand. [24] Tender Mercies |
was Harper's feature film debut, and she was so excited about the role she bit |
her script to make sure it was real. [25] When filming ended, Duvall gave her |
a blue cowgirl shirt as a gift with a card that read, "You really were Rosa |
Lee". [26] Beresford visited several schools and auditioned many children for |
the role of Sonny before he came across Allan Hubbard in Paris , Texas. |
Beresford said Hubbard, like Harper, was chosen based on a simple, rural |
quality he possessed. [13] The boy was able to relate easily to the character |
because, like Sonny, his father died at an early age; later, some media |
reports falsely claimed that his father was killed during the Vietnam War, |
just as Sonny's was in the film's backstory . [27] None of the filmmakers knew |
Hubbard's father had died until after filming began. [19] Duvall developed a |
strong, trusting relationship with Hubbard, which Foote felt improved the |
duo's on-screen chemistry. [7] Hubbard would often play guitar with Duvall |
during breaks from filming. [25] Betty Buckley attended a casting session in |
New York City and was chosen largely based on the quality of her singing |
voice; Beresford said that few of the actresses who auditioned for the role |
were able to sing. [13] Buckley was originally from Fort Worth , Texas, near |
the Grapevine Opry; when her concert scenes were filmed there, her whole |
family participated as extras . [26] Duvall said he thought Buckley perfectly |
conveyed the underlying frustration of a country singer and "brought a real |
zing to [the] part." [10] The actual location of the bar scenes was in Seven |
Subsets and Splits
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