Writer-producer Frank Howson later claimed that "every incident" in the film was true: "either I have lived it, or I know somebody who has. There is no fabrication, except in the names, which have been changed to protect the guilty."[4]
Howson said " I wrote this movie for all those talented people who had their 15 minutes of fame and then got shut out in the cold."[5]
Waters and Pearce were cast for their singing talent as well as their acting skills, and Pearce released a single, "Call of the Wild", from the film.[6]
Howson said "I’d never seen Guy Pearce on “Neighbours” so I hadn’t type-cast him so when he came in to audition... I had an open mind and he fitted the part of Paul Dysart to perfection. He also had a very good singing voice, and could play guitar, which was a huge plus as I wanted to record all the music live."[5]
Release
The film was not a commercial success and only ran for two weeks in cinemas in Sydney and Melbourne.[1]
Filmink called it "probably Howson’s best movie. It is the best structured, possibly due to the input of Alister Webb who is credited as co-writer. It has a strong central situation, the drama works logically and it is excellently cast. "[7]
Cultural references
The film provided comedic material for the 2006-2007 Austereo radio comedy show Get This. Host Tony Martin referred to the film on a number of occasions, making jibes at the name of Guy Pearce's character's band which was 'Video Rodney', the frequent references to the film's villain whose name was the ill-chosen 'Tim Robbins' and the 1980s synth-rock music which was seen as passé at the time.
References
^ abGreg Kerr, "Heaven Tonight", Cinema Papers, March 1991 pp. 54–55
^David Stratton, The Avocado Plantation: Boom and Bust in the Australian Film Industry, Pan MacMillan, 1990 p. 153
^Greg Kerr, "Heaven Tonight", Australian Film 1978-1992, Oxford Uni Press, 1993 p. 298
^Paul Kalina, "Frank Howson", Cinema Papers, November 1989 p. 45
