n.  Hugo Weaving ~ The Right Hand Man 

Hugo Weaving: The Right Hand Man Plot/Comments:

Harry Ironminster, heir to the Big House, lives for racing his trap horses but blacks out when driving at speed, killing his father and losing his right arm in the process. A disappointment to his mother, physically and emotionally weak, his physical state becomes worse and his mental state declines as he is no longer able to be with his beloved horses.

Typical Hugo Weaving Quotes:

• After a 'we can still be friends', resulting from an abortive kiss: "I can't be your friend. I'm a servant. I'm his servant "

• Weaving used 6 months of hard gym/weight training to beef up for the part. During this time, he also underwent rigourous horse management and trap/carriage driving to convincingly handle the Leviathan and other carriages in the film.
• In a later interview: "For The Right Hand Man, with Catherine McClements, we were filming a love scene by the river, but it was actually Lane Cove Park. To get the angle of the camera looking up at me, naked, they had to elevate me. So I had to lie on the picnic table pretending Catherine was there . It was ridiculous and very funny. But if you don't worry about it, it's much easier."
• AFI Winner: Cinematography (Peter James).
• For some amazing publicity shots, see Hal's Hugo Weaving page .
• Stephan Elliott, writer/director of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Fraudsand was the 2nd assistant director on The Right Hand Man. Catherine McClements later worked with Weaving on The Blind Giant is Dancing and After the Deluge . See The Usual Suspects for a huge list of recurring Weaving co-workers.
• Rupert Everett was favoured choice for Weaving's eventual role of Tick in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. 
• DVD available on poor quality Region 1 disc Great Downunder Movies: grainy (from video?) picture quality, black and white band running along the bottom. Ridiculously cheap though: also has  Tim (Mel Gibson) and Chain Reaction on it.

The main problem with this film (which could have had so much potential as a grittier, Australian Merchant-Ivoryesque story focusing on class barriers) is that the script completely fails to develop any characters other than Harry.  Unfortunately Everett is so simpering in this role, that the audience has little sympathy with his character's predicaments.

Although the only nudity in the film is Weaving's (washing outside with a cold water pump, with McClements by the lake, and during an afternoon procreation session),  it is an odd, sexually sterile film. 
  The director deliberately shies away from the merest hint of homoeroticism: granted, a British version made at the same time would have gone completely the other way, but it seems strange here, given the plot, casting and the male bonding/servant element that there's not even a glance from Harry in Ned's direction. Because of this, the characters sometimes resemble The Fast Show's (Brit comedy sketch programme) Ted and his Lordship. Not good.
     Even more peculiarly, there's a total absence of any sexual tension at all (hetero or otherwise), giving the film a strangely whitewashed Mills & Boon, puritanical feel; given the relationship triangle and request that Ned impregnate Harry's fiancee, this is frankly just bizarre.
 
 

Hugo Weaving content: