Toy Love

About

TOY LOVE is the third feature film from New Zealand writer/director HARRY SINCLAIR (The Price of Milk, Topless Women Talk About Their Lives) and is produced by JULIETTE VEBER with finance from The New Zealand Film Commission.

“"We wanted to make a really entertaining comedy that was also a satirical look at male behaviour,” says writer/director Harry Sinclair. "I was inspired by the way people rush around making fools of themselves in old French farces and screwball romantic comedies."

"It's an ironic comment on modern selfishness," adds producer Juliette Veber. "It's about a world in which young people don't have much faith in relationships anymore."

"These characters have a horror of real feelings and avoid them at all costs," says Sinclair. “I wanted to create characters that thought only about themselves, did whatever they wanted and got away with it."

“And what's unique about Toy Love is that it lures the audience into enjoying the cruel antics of the main characters,” adds Veber. “Watching Ben destroy three happy relationships in his quest to get Chlo is both very funny and disturbing at the same time."

The film stars DEAN O’GORMAN (Snakeskin, When Love Comes, Young Hercules), KATE ELLIOTT (No One Can Hear You, Crime Story, the TV series Street Legal), MARISSA STOTT (the TV series Shortland Street) and MICHAEL LAWRENCE (The Price of Milk, Came A Hot Friday).

“We started to plan TOY LOVE when Harry and I were in Cannes for the premiere of The Price of Milk,” Veber recalls. “We’ve developed a way of working together that is kind of unique. Rather than having a preconceived story, Harry gets inspiration from working with actors and watching the way they spark off each other. So we began with a series of auditions to find the most interesting and exciting talent we’d like to work with.”

“Kate and Dean were among the first actors we auditioned and they were fantastic together, so we developed ideas inspired by them,” Veber continues. “What worked really well were scenes where they were flirting with each other and Kate was really mischievous and knocked Dean back all the time.”

“He never knows quite where he is with this woman – that was exciting,” says Sinclair. “I try to find qualities in actors that are really enjoyable to watch and then think about what kind of story could work with those characters. So that was how the idea of Ben and Chlo’s relationship came about. Then I thought it would be much more interesting if Ben was already in a relationship. And it would be really boring if the person he was in a relationship with was just a victim, so I decided Emily could be having an affair as well. The story developed organically from there. I was interested in making a film about attraction, but the idea of being unfaithful seemed to work really well with those two.”

“The relationship between men and women is what interests me more than any topic, more than car chases or gun battles,” Sinclair laughs. “I find the interaction between the sexes fascinating and I find men incredibly bizarre. There may be elements of me in Ben, but it’s not autobiographical. He’s kind of an amalgam of a lot of the men I know.”

“I also like the idea of having lead characters who are likeable but appalling,” Sinclair says. “I like dragging the audience into liking people who in a way they should dislike. It’s almost like compromising the audience’s integrity.”

“What I love about Dean’s character is that you can’t help but like him,” says Veber. “His naïve shortsightedness is surprisingly charming. He's so audacious you can't help but laugh at him as well as feel sorry for him."

"Chlo has a cynical view of relationships which I think a lot of young women will identify with," says Veber. "By only having relationships with unavailable men she is protecting herself from ever having to take a risk emotionally."

“Chlo’s behaviour would have been fine if Ben hadn’t had a girlfriend,” says Kate Elliott. “I think she’s cool. She does what she wants; she makes herself happy. Apart from the hurting people part, she’s exactly what girls should aspire to.” Dean O'Gorman adds, “I can’t really speak for Chlo’s character, because I’m not a woman, but I imagine her offending a lot of people because she's the ‘other woman’.”

"Toy Love suggests that within the context of infidelity there's a moral spectrum with Emily at one end, and Ben at the other," remarks Sinclair. "They are both unfaithful but Emily's attitude toward her affair is what redeems her in our eyes. She's torn apart by her feelings of guilt and never stops loving Ben. Whereas Ben is incapable of empathy and seeks only self gratification."

O'Gorman, however, identifies strongly with his character. "I think the guys will kind of look at Ben and say ‘good on ya!'"