Hugo Weaving Tells Us Why "Hearts and Bones" Is Interesting Viewing During Coronavirus

Hugo Weaving says his new movie Hearts and Bones is about "world trauma", and couples dealing with "global events that traumatise people" from their home.

Sound familiar right about now?

Though it's not really about the coronavirus pandemic, Weaving reckons this is an interesting time for people to sit down to Hearts and Bones. They’ll get to experience it in the home too: with cinemas closed, plans for a theatrical release were scuppered, so it’s now available to own digitally.

"It’s not as if it’s being dumped online," Weaving tells Student Edge.

"Obviously we’d love to present this in a cinema, and that was absolutely the original design for this. Having said that, this is a film that will very much exist in the lounge room, or on the laptop. It’s a contemporary story about domestic life.

"It’s actually an opportunity for us to see it in a different way. And I think you’ve always got to be positive about it."

Weaving is a legend of Australian cinema who has become a go-to for villainous turns in blockbuster franchises, beginning with The Matrix and extending to Captain America, Transformers and more. He's also had major roles in hits such as Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Babe, Happy Feet, The Dressmaker, Hacksaw Ridge and too many others to mention.

He stars in Hearts and Bones (a considerably smaller-scale, human drama) as Dan, a photographer of war-torn nations who returns to Sydney for an exhibit of his work. He arrives with some simmering PTSD in tow—or is it lingering from a personal tragedy that befell him and his partner (played by Hayley McElhinney)? Back in Australia he meets Sebastian, a South Sudanese refugee (Andrew Luri) who asks Dan to cancel his exhibit. Sebastian initially says it’s because he doesn’t want to keep harping on about the dark side of the refugee experience, but really, it’s to keep a haunting secret from his old life hidden from his wife Anishka (Bolude Watson) and family.

"[Writer-director Ben Lawrence has] written a really morally complex film without easy answers," Weaving says.

Weaving was not just drawn to the script, but also Lawrence’s enthusiasm to work with untrained actors, including Luri, a real-life refugee and garbage truck driver from Melbourne who scored the gig over professional actors, and who hadn't heard of Weaving before shooting began.

"I don’t mind if people don’t know me," Weaving laughs.

"I didn’t even know that actually, and it doesn’t worry me at all. I assume that no one knows me. I have no tabs on myself whatsoever."

"Andrew’s performance was so uninflected," he adds.

"But you get a great stillness. There’s a great power in what he says. There’s a great, unadorned quality, which is so unusual and wonderful.

"I knew that I would have to match that, we’d have to be on the same page. And it was great.

"I think I learned a lot from Andrew, and I think he learned a lot from me. It was a place where we could share stories and insights in human behaviour."

Still, Weaving is definitely tested as an actor in Hearts and Bones, enduring visceral panic attacks as Dan reckons with an onslaught of revelations.

"Sometimes actors do put themselves in a little bit of danger," he says.

"You’re on the borderline of really going to a place—actually, physically, chemically, emotionally. Well, you need to, as an actor.

"I think you have to trust that your imagination and your technique and your understanding of the character combine together on the day, in a supportive atmosphere with a wonderful director, so that you have the permission to go to that place and they can capture it on film."

Now that the work is done, the next step is getting people to actually see it. Hearts and Bones built up word of mouth with sell-out screenings at last year’s Sydney Film Festival, an acclaimed run at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, and AACTA nominations for Best Actor, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress (for Watson). However, the picture has finally arrived for mass consumption amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Not ideal, but not without opportunity.

"I think the nature of how we exhibit, distribute and watch the films, watch visual information, has changed, and the conversation about how best to release a film, particularly a low budget Australian film, always in a highly competitive market, is so difficult," Weaving says.

"If I could wish for the government to support film in any way, one way, apart from production, would certainly be for there to be a fabulous fund to help promote the films that had already been made, because I think that would go a long way to help people see the great films that are being made in this country.

"Because the marketplace doesn’t really award quality; it rewards the loudest voice."

Hearts and Bones is rated M for mature themes, sex scene and coarse language. It's now available to own digitally.

Header Image: Madman Entertainment