Anthony LaPaglia - Balibo
The award-winning Adelaide boy stars in Balibo, a hard-hitting account of the disappearance of five Australian journalists in East Timor.
By Angus Fontaine
In October 1975, five Australian television reporters vanished while covering the Indonesian invasion of East Timor. Four weeks later, future East Timor president José Ramos-Horta compelled another journalist, Roger East, to his country to investigate the disappearance. The incendiary and tragic case of the Balibo Five has been brought to the screen by director Robert Connolly (Three Dollars) with Australian Emmy and Tony-winner Anthony LaPaglia in role of Roger East.
You're star and executive producer of Balibo. Why is the story so close to your heart? Balibo is an old wound for Australia. It came to me first as the book Cover Up by Jill Joliffe. I immediately thought: this is a great, great story. It doesn't have talking dogs but it's a movie that has to be made. For five years it got stuck in my brain. I did a ton of research, cross-referencing the book with eyewitness testimonies, reports from the inquests, old newspaper articles, talking with the families and friends. I came to realise what an amazing and dangerous story Balibo is.
Dangerous? Even after 34 years and three inquests? The death of the Balibo Five impacts hugely on the image and legacy of Gough Whitlam, who was having a little love affair with President Suharto in 1975. But Kevin Rudd's administration is involved too. They've appointed Richard Woolcott as their key man in Asia and he was ambassador to Indonesia at the time the Five were killed. Like the government, he knows much more than he lets on.
Did that make the film hard to make? Oh yeah. The Indonesian government threw up roadblocks, saying their view wasn't being represented - we said, make your own film! Then ASIO released Jill Joliffe's and José Ramos-Horta's file to the media, even though it's illegal to do so without two weeks notice. Some bullshit huh?
The story of the Balibo Five is tattooed on Australia's psyche. Yet very few of us have heard of your character Roger East. He was one of the most intriguing Australians I've ever come across. As a very young man he served on HMAS Hobart, one of the few ships to get out of Singapore when it was bombed to hell in WWII, and he was kicked out of the Navy for "mental illness". Actually, he took a leak on an officer - a dishonourable discharge! Then he bobbed up as a journalist - first westerner allowed into China, a correspondent in Vietnam, in America for the Civil Rights movement, in South Africa during Apartheid.
But Roger East in 1975 is far from gung-ho gonzo reporter. Roger had dealt in the worst of human nature and was burnt out. After Cyclone Tracy hit Darwin he got offered a government job to write pieces on the re-building. I think he went: fuck it, I'll go fishing, do some cheap stories and retire. But he knew it was lightweight work. Balibo was his chance to restore some of his own personal pride. He knew something fishy was going on in East Timor. But he felt bound to that brotherhood between journalists. I respect that. And being an old romantic, I empathised.
Sounds like Roger East and Balibo really got under your skin... As an actor, I'm a great believer that under every rock lies a truth. You investigate all those truths and mistruths before the camera rolls and, as soon as the director calls action, you throw it all away and by osmosis you've taken on the person's characteristics and instincts.
Even an Aussie accent... Ha! Well, now Without a Trace has wrapped up I'm looking forward to a nice retirement period getting it back full-time!
Balibo screens from 13 Aug.
