Adrian Van Rossum:Screenwriter and Director

Mid-life crises come in all shapes and sizes. Some blokes buy a Harley Davidson, get a red sports-car or start hitting the gym harder than a ferret on speed. But for his own mid-life crisis, Adrian Van Rossum decided to mortgage his house and make a movie.

Crazy or an inspired creative?  You can be the judge when you see “Blokes”.

Adrian started writing “Blokes” back in 2007 when he wound-down his North Queensland wedding and events video production business ready for a two-year work stint in England. The seeds for the project, however, were planted some five years earlier.

“I went on a 3000 kilometer 4x4, camping and fishing trip with seven mates to the gulf back in 2002, shot some footage and turned it into a home-movie come documentary,” Adrian said. “Bootleg copies of ‘Gulf 2002’ spread faster than a rash in a Kalgoolie knock-shop and soon complete strangers were stopping me in the main street of Ayr saying ‘liked your film mate’.”

“It got me thinking, ‘Could people be entertained by a movie about politically incorrect blue-collar blokes who go fishing, four-wheel-driving and getting blinder than a welder’s dog?’”  

“Imagine if we had a funny script, hired some actors and spent some dough to make a decent fist of it.”

Three years and more than $80,000 later and Adrian’s editing the “Blokes” footage in Townsville, when he’s not working at his new job as an audio-visual technician at James Cook University. “I’m on the second-last scene of the rough cut,” Adrian said.

“There are a few months of post-production and fine-tuning to go then we’ll enter it into film-festivals around the world and hope someone picks it up for distribution on DVD or in theatres.”

“It’s a big gamble, but so is your wedding day or having superannuation in the hope you seeing 70.”

Making a movie seemed an obvious choice for the 36-year-old given his career trajectory.

Burdekin born and bred, Adrian did a journalism cadetship at the Lower Burdekin Newspaper Company in the 1990s and braved Toowoomba’s brass-monkey weather to finish a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Southern Queensland. He went on to write for the Townsville Bulletin, Keighley News in England, the CSIRO, Ayr Advocate, Home Hill Observer and the Burdekin Grower.

After a stint as a press officer and speechwriter for a Queensland politician, Adrian threw his pen on the dashboard of life for eight years to run his own video production company Heartlink Films.

In all this time, Adrian never lost his love of creek-huts, 4x4 trips, camping, the great outdoors and the laid-back North Queensland lifestyle.

“Like most blokes in their 30s or 40s I started to re-evaluate my life, the notorious mid-life crisis if you like, and I think a lot of this comes out in the script,” Adrian said.

“The movie tackles a lot of serious manhood stuff like job satisfaction, marital problems and the importance of mateship to help us mere-males copes with all the pressures and expectations of modern life.”

“Underneath all the jokes and comedy in the film I think most blokes can relate to some of the serious stuff we hit on.”

“Blokes are usually guarded, reserved and emotionally constipated in day-to-day life and it can take a major crisis or a three-week fishing trip in the bush to get a glimpse under the bonnet of an Aussie bloke’s brain.

“And let me tell you, In “Blokes” it’s pretty dirty and greasy under the bonnet, but it ticks over just fine.”

And what next for the aspiring filmmaker?

“I’d love to do a sequel to the film – “Blokes 2 – Older, Fatter, Dumber” – but first we’ll have to see if our first crack appeals to the city-folk and gets legs.”

“If not, I can always join the other mid-lifers and get a sports-car, 20-year-old piece of brisket (girlfriend) and try and dye all my grey hairs out.”   

 “Blokes” screenwriter, director and cinematographer Adrian Van Rossum.