Director’s Notes - Sam Scott
“The script was adapted by William Brandt from a story in his award-winning collection, Alpha Male.
Sam had always wanted to work with William and chose this story because of its strong dramatic narrative and three complex characters. Sam and William communicated constantly through pre-production and production, and William spent time with the actors during rehearsal. One of Sam’s challenges was finding actors to play Frederick and Cynthia, the Mother and Father, particularly with a limited range of older actors available. Sam invited Elizabeth McRae to pay the role of Cynthia and cast Frank Whitten who, fortuitously, was visiting from Melbourne having just completed work on a major feature film.
Apart from the rewards of working with such a talented cast on such a character-driven piece, highlights for Sam in making ‘My Father’s Shoes’ include the strong technical team, led by Director of Photography Dale McCready, who brought their collective wide range of experience to the 4-day shoot. Their generous commitment to the 12-hour days aided the films’ success. For Sam, having people of this calibre sharing her vision was inspiring.
My Father’s Shoes is described by Sam as ‘A drama with a strong story, that is both familiar and bizarre’. She is looking forward to directing a feature, and is working on a script with Lennie James and Phillipa Campbell based on her theatre company Massive’s play The Sons of Charlie Paora, the stage version of which has been invited to play at the Royal Court Theatre in London.”
