Andrew Mackie is a film distributor and producer. His company Transmission Films acquired and released such indie hits as The King’s Speech and Lion. His executive producer credits include Ride Like A Girl, Tracks, Candy, Sweet Country, Holding the Man and On Chesil Beach. In 2012 and 2013 The Australian named him one of the twenty-five most influential people in the Australian arts. Andrew has always been fascinated by all things royal and has long felt that the Queen’s tour of Australian in 1954 was ripe with dramatic potential. The Tour is his first novel.
Today, Andrew Mackie is on the blog to answer our Ten Terrifying Questions! Read on …
Andrew Mackie (Photo by Alina Gozina).
1. To begin with why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled?
Inaugural school captain, Wamberal Public School. I think my name is still on the wall! Terrigal High. A few weeks at Macquarie Uni before I realised it wasn’t for me. And I’ve rattled around Sydney and the world ever since.
2. What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why?
At twelve I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark and wanted to direct films (it’s still probably my favourite film.) At eighteen I still wanted to direct films. At thirty, as a film distributor, I realised film directing wasn’t for me (too many meetings.) By then I was a ten year veteran of film distribution and starting to executive produce, so the cast was set.
3. What strongly held belief did you have at eighteen that you do not have now?
That I didn’t want to get married or have kids. I’m married with kids.
4. What were three works of art – book or painting or piece of music, etc – you can now say, had a great effect on you and influenced your own development as a writer?
Films have been my major influences. Raiders Of The Lost Ark (obviously), Goodfellas, Blue Velvet. Can I add some more? Die Hard. After Hours. Hannah and Her Sisters. And because I’m of a certain age, the movies of John Hughes. I’m a collector of Polish film posters – my favourite posters being Breaking the Waves and Last Year at Marienbad. Incredible illustrations. Google them – they’re amazing! I think I’ve more than used up my allotted three influences, but can I slip in the Peter Gabriel score for Last Temptation of Christ and ’80s synthpop new wave band Book of Love?
5. Considering the innumerable artistic avenues open to you, why did you choose to write a novel?
No meetings! It’s glorious. I’m an anti-social person with an advanced ability to fake social confidence, so to (mostly) be able to express myself without socialising is (mostly) pure joy.
6. Please tell us about your latest novel!
The Tour is based around the Queen’s 1954 tour of Australia – one of the biggest events in Australian history (we’re talking an Olympics-scale event). Elizabeth and Philip toured 57 or so Aussie towns, from the city to the country over two months. 75% of the population actually saw her with their own eyes. My book fantasises about what happened behind the scenes, through the eyes of two precocious twin sisters who are hired by the Palace as maids to accompany the Lady in Waiting. Of course, they hate each other and almost undo the entire tour.
7. What do you hope people take away with them after reading your work?
That no matter how shitty your relationship is with your sister, there’s always a way through it. Also, what a terrible job the Queen has.
8. Who do you most admire in the realm of writing and why?
Anybody who persists writing a novel, rewriting, editing and staying with a story until it leaves home. I know that’s a bit of a cop-out, but if you feel you have one in you, you must let it out. And having now been there, I greatly admire those who see the process through.
9. Many artists set themselves very ambitious goals. What are yours?
Well, right now it’s to convince Penguin to publish my next book! And to write it.
10. What advice do you give aspiring writers?
It should be called rewriting.
Thank you for playing!
—The Tour by Andrew Mackie (Penguin Books Australia) is out now.
The Tour
Nineteen-year-old identical twins Violet and Daisie Chettle can hardly believe their luck when they are recruited as maids to accompany the Queen's Lady-in-Waiting on the royal tour to Australia in 1954. It's just the ticket they need away from cold, grey England and the tension that's been brewing at home since the loss of their parents.
However, life on board the SS Gothic and indeed in the colony is far from the glamorous adventure they expected, and their relationship becomes even more strained when one twin discovers her sister's unconscionable act of betrayal...
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