Taglines: It’s Paradise, until everyone gets hurt.
Kill Me Three Times is a darkly comedic thriller from rising star director Kriv Stenders (Red Dog). Simon Pegg plays the mercurial assassin, Charlie Wolfe, who discovers he isn’t the only person trying to kill the siren of a sun-drenched surfing town (Alice Braga). Charlie quickly finds himself at the center of three tales of murder, mayhem, blackmail and revenge.
With an original screenplay by James McFarland, the film also stars Sullivan Stapleton (as a gambling addict who attempts to pay off his debts through a risky life insurance scam), Teresa Palmer (as a small town Lady Macbeth), Callan Mulvey (as a wealthy beach club owner simmering with jealousy), Luke Hemsworth (as a local surfer fighting for the woman he loves) and Bryan Brown (as a corrupt cop who demands the juiciest cut).
Kill Me Three Times was produced by Laurence Malkin and Share Stallings (the team behind Death At A Funeral and A Few Best Men) and Tania Chambers.
Director’s Statement – Kriv Stenders
When I first read James McFarland’s screenplay for KILL ME THREE TIMES, I was instantly struck by it. Here was the kind of rare and outstanding script that you only dream about. KILL ME THREE TIMES was a classic page-turner, something you could see come to life in front of you as you read it.
Everything about it impressed me – from its careful, intricate, clockwork-like construction, to its pounding rhythm and pace, to its intelligent and ironic humour. Then as I began to re-read it, I realized that this was also a script that just kept on giving. Each read presented even more discoveries and pleasures, and it soon dawned on me that this was something I simply had to be part of.
What I love about KILL ME THREE TIMES is that it is a movie totally and unequivocally meant for an audience to enjoy. It’s what I call a traditional, all-out “popcorn” movie – a fun, rollicking, sexy, thrilling and unashamedly entertaining piece of mainstream cinema that delivers all the vicarious thrills, spills, smart laughs and shocking surprises modern audiences expect and demand from this kind of movie thriller.
I also see Kill Me Three Times as a modern crime thriller conceived in the great tradition of classics such as Pulp Fiction and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. Packed full of double and triple crosses, sexy femme fatales, stolen loot, blackmail, betrayal, and murder, McFarland’s script cleverly re-works all these elements into a taut, tightly structured “Rashomon” style architecture. It’s a puzzle that finally reveals itself in a refreshingly fun, entertaining and memorably satisfying way. It’s the kind of movie I love watching, and it’s the kind of movie I am passionate about making.
I wanted Kill Me Three Times to be created in a vivid, visually dynamic high-key style. I saw it as a stylish, elegantly constructed, sexually charged and rhythmically unrelenting movie experience. I liken my vision of the film to that of a classic Rock N’ Roll song – all driving beat, strong pulse, aggressive youthful energy, and full of delicious hooks and riffs.
We filmed on location, against the stunning backdrop of Australia’s pristine beaches, coastlines and bushland. My concept here was to create a unique visual through-line, subverting the traditional dark, urban conventions of the crime thriller genre and contrasting these against the vivid light, colour and texture of coastal Australia. I intended to create our own distinctive visual brand in which the beach-side town of Eagles Nest, the stark sunlight, the black shadows, a sparkling ocean and the wild bush all came together to form an iconic visual landscape that closes in on, surrounds and seals our characters into their own original story world.
The final element that makes Kill Me Three Times such a strong, compelling and marketable film is the extraordinary cast the screenplay has attracted.
With these fine actors, I knew Kill Me Three Times would be breathtaking, commercial cinema of the highest order, defined by their brilliant performances, a strikingly dynamic and bold visual style and a wonderfully inventive screenplay that reminds audiences what great, popular story-telling and movie-making can actually be.
Kill Me Three Times
Directed by: Kriv Stenders
Starring: Simon Pegg, Teresa Palmer, Alice Braga, Sullivan Stapleton, Luke Hemsworth, Steve Le Marquand, Callan Mulvey, Bryan Brown
Screenplay by: James McFarland
Production Design by: Clayton Jauncey
Cinematography by: Geoffrey Simpson
Film Editing by: Jill Bilcock
Costume Design by: Terri Lamera
Set Decoration by: Louise Brady
Music by: Johnny Klimek
MPAA Rating: R for bloody violence, language and some sexuality / nudity.
Studio: Magnolia Pictures
Release Date: April 20, 2015
Visits: 56
