FilmInk
The Fabulous Jocelyn Moorhouse
By Christine Westwood
July 30, 2024
Ahead of the release of her latest film, The Fabulous Four, starring Bette Midler, Susan Sarandon, Megan Mullally and Sheryl Lee Ralph, Jocelyn Moorhouse talks to FilmInk about her work as a director and the importance of long term friendship.
Moorhouse has directed powerful award-winning movies and TV dramas during her 40 year career, from The Dressmaker, Proof and How to Make an American Quilt on the big screen to television hits Wakefield, Stateless and Boy Swallows Universe.
“I love story telling. I love creating stories for people to be moved by or to make them laugh,” says Moorhouse. “I just have this compulsion to tell stories, I always have, and I like to tell them through pictures and music and dialogue. That’s the fun! I do see the shoot as a bit of an endurance test, especially the older I get, because it’s just so incredibly exhausting and stressful. But I love the editing room, and I know I can’t have the editing without doing the shoot, so my favourite part of directing is probably the edit.”
You seem to be involved in all the roles of filmmaking from storyboard to cinematography to costume and casting.
“Yes, when you’re the director you have to be looking at every single department. You’re basically giving feedback to everybody because ultimately what’s on screen is your responsibility. On the subject of casting, that is so crucial for me, they are who are going to help me tell the story, so I’m quite obsessed with getting the right actor.”
How did you first break into filmmaking?
“I started as a writer in television, I wanted to be a director, but I couldn’t get a break, I was making some short films, but I found that people would hire me to write stuff. I worked on The Flying Doctors, I did my traineeship at Crawford Productions, then I finally got the chance to make my first film, Proof.”
Do you watch a lot of films and TV yourself?
“Oh yes, I’m an avid movie watcher, I love to watch the streaming services. If it’s a really excellent series that’s addictive, like Game of Thrones, I find myself disappearing for hours just watching it. I love a binge, but I have to go with what my husband and kids want to watch.”
The husband in question is PJ Hogan, writer and director of Muriel’s Wedding, and Jocelyn’s lifetime collaborator. They have four children, including two diagnosed with autism, an experience Moorhouse writes of in her memoir, Unconditional Love: a Story of Filmmaking and Motherhood.
During our interview, Moorhouse comes across as warm, funny and generous, so it’s easy to imagine that she would be an empathetic director for actors to work with. We asked about her directing style on set.
“I like to work with actors the way they like to work, because each actor will have a different process and I have to work out what that is, usually in rehearsal or the first couple of days of the shoot, and help them the way they need to be helped. Some actors only need one or two words, just a nudge in the right direction, and others need a lot of conversation, they need me to help them to conjure up the emotions, so it just depends on the actor; they all have different needs.”
With The Fabulous Four, did the actors have strong ideas about their characters?
“Oh yes! Of course they did, I mean, look at who they are! They’re all wonderful human beings and fascinating women, they all have strong ideas, and I listened to them all. If I didn’t agree, I would tell them and they would respect that, but they loved the fact that we were having conversations and considering things. But if they felt strongly about something, they were usually right. If they were passionate enough, I often came to agree with them.”
Megan Mullally’s character Alice is a successful singer, but the actress had to be persuaded to showcase her talents.
“I’m a fan of all the women in this film, so I have watched them in many things over the years, but after casting, I often look them up. Hilariously, after casting Megan, I went and watched Dicks: The Musical, it’s completely bonkers, but she’s very funny in that. Megan kept saying ‘Don’t make me sing,’ but I said, ‘What’s that about?! You’ve got a beautiful voice.’”
What was the most fun day on set?
“The wedding was hilarious. Bette was in her element and was cracking me up all the time. When Susan and Bette were having a cat fight outside, next to the horse drawn carriage, we were all laughing a lot. We had to keep re-setting. Bette was wearing a breakaway dress that had Velcro bits so Susan could rip it, and Susan had a breakaway sleeve on her jacket so Bette could rip it again and again; it was so silly. The whole thing was very silly.”
You have said that ‘I can’t nurture a film unless I fall in love with it,’ so what was it about this project that made you fall in love?
“I think it was the theme of female friendship, I have some very deep friendships that have been mainstays in my life since my twenties and even earlier, and I’m still friends with those women. I treasure them, I know how important they are in my life and the love those women have given me over the years has sustained me through some really tough times. So, I was really excited about doing a movie that celebrates female friendship that way and shows how important it is, especially as we get older.
“A lot of us outlive our husbands, sadly, but we may end up with those same women we started with. It’s a brutal truth. Though I don’t want to be writing off the male sex so quickly!”
Moorhouse has written all her life, a passion inherited from her mother.
“I’m always thinking of projects, always writing about something. I helped unofficially on the writing of The Fabulous Four, just because I wanted to add a mature women’s point of view. The writers (Ann Marie Allison and Jenna Milly) are quite young, and I said, ‘I think you’re missing a few jokes here that we could put in about being older.’ The actresses, Susan and Bette are both 77, and the other two, Megan and Sheryl, are in their 60s, they also had some fun stuff they wanted to put in.
“So yes, I’m always writing and if I’m not writing I’m directing which is another form of writing to my mind. It’s storytelling and I’m always telling stories.”
Lastly, can you tell us about any future plans and projects?
“I have so many plans! I have my disabled kids, so I still have this idea of setting up a hobby farm that could give them an enriching life, I just haven’t quite figured out how to do it, but I will, we’ll get there. And I’m thinking of another book because so much more has happened in my life since that last one. I’ve got more to say, so stay tuned!”
