The Gift
( dir. Paul Cox
)
1988
Z1368058
1988
single work
film/TV
children's
The story of a Greek family living in suburbia. The two children win an unexpected prize that disrupts their lives, teaching them that it's not always easy when you get something for nothing.
According to Patricia Edgar, she and writer-director Paul Cox did not see eye-to-eye on the production:
He had spent twenty hours reshaping The Gift, following my viewing of his edit of the film. I found the film unstructured and lacking in the narrative core that most children need to understand a film. This had been a problem throughout the entire production of The Gift. Touch the Sun's distributor, Revcom, was very unhappy too, as it was worried about sales. I had introduced Jeff Peck to Paul Cox to give help with the script, but every time Jeff added to the script, Paul took his revisions out. By the time Paul shot the film, he did what he had wanted in the first place. When I saw the film in its final form I insisted on changes and Paul was incensed.
Source: Patricia Edgar, Bloodbath: A Memoir of Australian Television, Melbourne: Melbourne UP, 2006, p.192.
