The Man Who Sued God [DVD]

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Mark Joffe enthuses about his Director of Photography: “Peter came to the project brimming with good ideas. He was a huge asset to the production - so precise, such a hard worker, and so brilliant. We couldn’t have gotten anywhere near finishing the tough schedule without him … and his fantastic camera team.” The script called for sunshine, overcast skies and massive storms and the production worked frantically to make the most of the south coast’s changeable weather patterns. For once, for an Australian film, there’s a reasonably detailed wiki, here, and with information about some eccentric remakes and spin-offs deriving from the show's premise, here. The film’s original domestic DVD release went with the logline “An Almighty Comedy” (as did much of the film’s publicity).

It's too easy to dismiss The Man Who Sued God as 'just' a lighthearted romantic comedy. Any genre can be elevated to the level of genius, if it's done this well.Watson has done his theological homework. “The god of the act of God does not exist.”“Here, here,” I cheered! I booed when the cardinal argues in court that God sends deadly lighting bolts “as signs”. THE MAN WHO SUED GOD is the first comedy Billy had acted in on film. Most comedians, he says, because they live a life of laughter also relish exploring the dark side of life. It's modest fare, but there's something rather sweet about the cranky relationship between Connolly and Judy Davis (as the journalist who decides to help him with his quest), which is well served by director Mark Joffe's willingness to take the little man versus the system theme with a huge pinch of salt.

Mrs Brown showed Billy Connolly in an entirely different light, showing that he could play a character. Immediately he seemed the ideal person. According to Joffe, the sinking of the Titanic being treated as an act of God, mentioned by Connolly’s character in his questioning of John Howard’s insurance company man, was true. Mark Joffe recognised that Billy Connolly and Judy Davis would make a great comedic double: “Once we thought of Billy it was impossible to consider anyone else really. He was the one person who could deliver that intensely clever dialogue in an earthy, funny way. c 46’50”, the joke is “she’s good”, when real life 7 newsreader Chris Bath is seen reporting that the case against God is gathering momentum. The scene with Davis in the box was a long scene with important new information, and Joffe recalls it took them two days to shoot it. They decided to concentrate on Davis, on the basis that there was always something going on in her performance, and if they followed her, viewers would believe everything.We needed somebody who could deal with the comedic element of the film, which was critical to making the film work, but who was a good actor and also the right age. We have to have somebody who had life experience behind them. Mark Jofee had worked with Ben Gannon on the television mini-series Shadow of the Cobra in 1987/88 and they were keen to work together again. According to Joffe, the opening sequence was filmed at Bermagui, where coincidentally he used to go for holidays for many years. After looking up and down Australia’s east coast, he felt it was a perfect setting for the film. A lot of the humour is visual – a dog flung above a jetty, Judy Davis as Anna falling into the sea, Anna and Steve's first meeting in a restaurant. Then there's Connolly who has an nicely mad, every man, quality exuding from him that manages to grab humour out of even a hideously pierced foot.

Ben Gannon explains: “Judy thought it was a very clever script and we knew she would be terrific as Anna. The casting of the Steve role was always incredibly difficult and we never really had anybody in Australia who we felt was right for the role. The only spoiler for me was the attempted Scottish accent from Colin Friels. And I couldn't quite figure out the plot twist that had two Scots sons following their father into the old established family law business but happening to be doing so in Sydney??? There’s some more repeats of these lines, with humming, mixed down a little lower, then more clearly ...)Unfortunately it is slightly too long and there are a few bits that could have been quite easily cut without harming the story.