I wanted to help David Gulpilil: director
When Australian director Rolf de Heer heard his friend David Gulpilil was in jail, he headed straight for Darwin.
But when he arrived, he almost didn't recognise the man staring back at him.
"I remember that first day very well.".
"He was just lifeless," de Heer recalls.
"I thought Jesus Christ, what's happened to him?"
De Heer knew he needed to help.
"I did think, the only thing I can do is make a film, but I don't know if he's capable, if he wants to," he says.
Gulpilil, who first worked with de Heer 14 years ago on The Tracker, had been jailed in 2011 for assaulting his wife and has a well-publicised history with alcohol abuse.
De Heer floated the idea of going back to acting on that visit and Gulpilil responded: "I want to make another film with you."
The result is Charlie's Country, a remarkable film about Blackfella Charlie, who's having trouble dealing with the intervention in his remote community and takes off to live the old way, which sets off a chain of unexpected events.
When it screened at Cannes Film Festival, Gulpilil earned rave reviews and was awarded the Best Actor prize in the Un Certain Regard section.
"Well it's the best role he's ever had," de Heer says, adding it's only the second starring role he's had apart from The Tracker.
"The parts that get written in effectively white films for Aboriginal people tend to be limited in scope, and David puts a great amount in."
Written by Gulpilil and de Heer, it has some similarities with the Indigenous actor's experiences, although it's not autobiographical.
Gulpilil is in a vastly different place personally since Charlie's Country, de Heer says.
"He hasn't has a drink since he went to jail. That's three years now," he says.
"He's much healthier and clearer-thinking for it of course, and he's less of a ratbag, because occasionally he was."
De Heer says Gulpilil's priorities have also changed for the better, with the actor working towards moving back to his traditional lands - a place he reconciled with while making Charlie's Country.
When Gulpilil couldn't make it to Cannes, it was because there were land management issues that Gulpilil wanted to be a part of.
"That that was more important than going to Cannes, was for me, this giant leap forward for him," de Heer says.
"It doesn't mean he wasn't completely blown away by winning Best Actor in Un Certain Regard.
"He wept. He wept with joy and a deep understanding of this salvation that he'd found, doing this film."
* Charlie's Country releases in Australian cinemas on July 17
