The Man Who Sued God [DVD]

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Among a number of plot points which creaked somewhat, I question Colin Friels' brother - ready to betray his brother for a promotion bribe one minute, and then taking up management of a class action against the briber/s the next. He's just had his fishing boat blown out of the water by a direct hit from lightening, and it's all covered by insurance. Until the small print comes into play, and the company refuses to pay, saying that the lightning strike was an act of God. There is no other recourse than the Courts, and our man sues God for the loss of his boat and livelihood. After the success of Spotswood and Cosi, Mark Joffe tried the Hollywood route with the misfire The Matchmaker. He returned to Australia with The Man Who Sued God, starring Billy Connolly and Judy Davis. FILMINK's Angie Fox reports. Billy Connolly stars as Steve Myers, bringing humour as well as the kind of depth and realness to his character with which he touched audiences around the world in Mrs Brown. Judy Davis is Anna Redmond, a well known but jaded media personality who inspires Steve to teach the insurance companies a lesson. Outdoor scenes for the film were shot in two weeks during February 2001. Originally producer Ben Gannon had wanted to shoot the scenes around Pittwater north of Sydney, but later settled on the small village of Bermagui, New South Wales on the state's South Coast due to the production values it afforded. Bermagui had been suggested by director Mark Joffe as it was his favourite holiday spot. [1] The fishing boat featured in the film was a charter vessel the ' Tarpin', hired from Bermagui Boat Harbour. [2] Indoor scenes and post-production were located in Sydney.

There wasn’t anything like a script at that stage, just this wonderful idea about the Act of God clause in insurance contracts, so the long process of getting the right screenplay began. In the DVD commentary, director Mark Joffe notes that one of the earlier drafts of the script had Billy Connolly’s character nearly drowning in the opening storm sequence, and to save himself from drowning, chopping off his toe. He jokes that to be truthful, the reason they didn’t do it had nothing to do with the concept; it was expediency - they couldn’t afford to go underwater, and do all that, but he doesn’t think it affected the film. Writer Don Watson agrees, though he thinks the drowning scenes were terrific. Joffe adds that the budget for the special effects etc, were astronomical.

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The Man Who Sued God is a 2001 Australian film starring Scottish funnyman Billy Connolly, who plays fisherman and retired lawyer Steve Meyers. His wife has left him for the owner of the caravan park she lives in and is thinking of leaving with their daughter. This suits Steve just fine as he gets to spend his days on his boat with his dog, until lightning destroys it. When the Insurance companies refuse to pay on the basis of it being an act of god, Steve contemplates legal action. His local church gives him the idea to sue God instead, holding the Insurance agencies responsible for using God as a legal loophole.

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. As the title suggests, the film tells the story of a man who decides to sue God when his fishing boat is destroyed by lightning and his insurance company refuses to pay, deeming it an 'act of god'. What follows is an at times hilarious and sometimes trite adventure through the Federal Court, in the public eye and amid various other unfolding conflicts.
“I thought it was a great idea, subversive and commercial. It was just something a bit left of centre and unusual, not the typical hokum that is out there. People have found the film unpredictable, which is nice, because if you feel you have to do a certain thing to be unpredictable you don't often end up with the kind of film you want,” says Joffe. on, a scene with Davis and Connolly seated on a headland: according to Jaffe, this was another difficult scene to do because of the weather. They were exposed to the elements, and being an important bonding scene, it took all day to shoot. The sound people suggested post-synching, but Joffe hates post-synch, in the belief that you never get the on the day performance again. Joffe thinks the grading helped even out the changing light, while most of the freshness of the performances were retained, with only a few lines post synched. The domestic special edition DVD release had good sound and image, and for once for an Australian film, subtitles for the hearing impaired. The film is also available in certain territories on streaming services. Mark Joffe has spent several summer holidays at Bermagui and admits that the feeling of the town inevitably permeated the screenplay.As well as the engaging leads, the supporting cast do good work, including Bille Brown as a sleazy lawyer for the forces of God and insurance, John Howard as the insurance man, Vincent Ball as a Catholic cardinal, Frank Whitten as an Anglican primate, and Linal Haft as a rabbi. Wendy Hughes is also on hand as the long-suffering ex-wife, while Colin Friels, Davis’s partner, does a tidy Scottish-accented turn as Connolly’s devious brother.