"Top End Wedding" brings rom-com in the Northern Territory of Australia

You have never seen a com-rom like that.

Sure, High-end wedding You'll be treated to stereotypical elements like going home, family tragedy, car trouble, an airport scene right on the doorstep and a bunch of bridesmaids.

But this is not in Love actually London, You have an emailin New York, or The wedding of my best friendis Chicago. It takes place in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Co-written by the actor Larrakia Miranda Tapsell and Joshua Tyler, and directed by Sapphiresthe master Wayne Blair, High-end wedding follows diligent Sydney lawyer Lauren (Tapsell), whose commitments to Ned (Gwilym Lee) takes them to their home in the territory to see her parents.

The only problem is that his mother (Ursula Yovich) left in a state of OPEN and that it remains only 10 days before the wedding – it's all the time that Lauren has the right to Interrupting the work of his intense but positive boss, Hampton (Kerry Fox).

The film is loaded with pre-wedding nervousness and the atmosphere of the family reunion Mom Mia!, Sweet Home Alabama, Bride on the run, or My big Greek wedding, but has a unique Australian voice, as we see Lauren reconnect with her family roots in the Top End.

"It was such a learning curve that I understood what my gauge was, because it's not Reese Witherspoon's, or Katherine Heigl's or Julia Roberts's, I have to find mine," Tapsell said on scene at the premiere in Sydney.

The brilliant writing of Tapsell (herself an unconditional fan of Nora Ephron) and her humorous timing will delight you from the beginning, with an invaluable scene in which she decides that a powdered almond croissant is the best choice possible while wearing a dark and crisp suit important meeting. This is not it.

Hijinks aside, it's the way Lauren chose to connect with her identity and understand what love, family and community represent for her, which are at the heart of the film.

"I think it's also very important that people adopt Australia as more inclusive, that incorporates their qualities and their differences and that is not obliged to conform to a particular way of life to be considered as an Australian, "said Tapsell. Mashable.

Lee, who read the scenario on a dark and cold day in London in 2017, is perfectly chosen to embody Lauren's charming and clumsy fiancé, the opposite of his role as a strangely incarnated Queen May Brian May in Bohemian Rhapsody.

"I just remember the first reading, this idea that it's never too late to contact your family, even if you think that's the case – and even if it does not happen It does not pbad very well, just trying to reach out and sending your love to those around you is so important, "said Lee to Mashable.

But aside from the vibrancy of its human characters, the film portrays Australia as you may have never seen it before.

High-end wedding is a crazy drive from Sydney to the Australian summit – the tip of the Northern Territory – through the city of Darwin, the city of Katherine, in the huge and beautiful Kakadu National Park, to the magnificent Tiwi Islands . Tapsell herself grew up around Kakadu.

These are not the sinister international audiences of the sinister hinterland who have seen countless times Australian films like Mad Max, Wolf Creek, or even the cult thriller of 1971 Wake up in fear. Instead, it's a sincere love letter to the territory.

"It was really nice to show the territory in which I grew up … and that it's incredibly romantic."

"It tends to have a lot of negative connotation, like the fact that it's full of hicks, and that it's just a dangerous place to go because of all the animals that live there," he said. Tapsell to Mashable.

"But I think it was really nice to show the territory in which I grew up, and that it is accessible, that it 'sa nice place to go and that it' s not. he is incredibly romantic. "

With Tapsell and Tyler's script in hand, director Blair really celebrates the country's beauty and the characters' deeper ties to their country.

"We went to six different places and fired in many countries, so we had the traditional houses of all the countries of the Northern Territory and Adelaide together, and it was fantastic," he said. said Blair at the premiere in Sydney. "But when you arrive in Kakadu and you shoot the sunrise on a Sunday morning, nothing like that."

However, filming in the territory is not without difficulties, especially for Lee, who pbades a scene kneeling in a river while Tapsell discusses on the shore with another character.

"It was a nerve-wrecking day, when we see on the call sheet that there is a" crocodile finder ". This kind of mind concentrates, "said Lee at the premiere in Sydney.

Once the film is finished in the beautiful Tiwi Islands, the feeling of belonging and the identity of the characters are really put forward. In fact, the filmmakers have so implicated the inhabitants of the Tiwi Islands that the dividing line between art and reality has become slightly blurred.

"I think some of them thought that not only was it my wedding proper, but I do not think they understood that we were filming," he said. Tapsell at the premiere in Sydney.

"Some of my grandmothers, they actually took Gwilym aside at one point and said," Listen, buddy. … I loved that they protect me so well. "

Of course, you can not have a romantic comedy based on the wedding without a dream team of bridesmaids (the excellent Shari Sebbens, Elaine Crombie and Dalara Williams) and a choreographed dance scene. In fact, it was the night scene of the hen who had Tapsell furiously writing to a Mrs. Janet Jackson.

"I love Janet, I had to have 'Escapade' in the night scene of the pool," Tapsell told Mashable. "Of course, Miss Jackson does not normally give her songs voluntarily, she often says loudly that she does not.

"Producers have asked me to write to him.I was just saying:" Dear Miss Jackson, I want you to know what a great fan I am.There are so many natives who love your music a very authentic and shameless native film, it would be really great. "

"We received the call from Sony, the producers did and they responded:" Miss Jackson responds in the affirmative. "Well, I lost my head, I was out of me."

High-end wedding is at the cinema on May 2nd.