From the troubled genius of Sherlock Holmes, moustachioed precision of Hercule Poirot, the kindly wisdom of Miss Jane Marple and crumpled wiliness of Detective Jack Frost, to the hardboiled wisecracking Philip Marlow, obsessive and rough around the edges Vera Stanhope and the wealthy aristocratic feminist Phryne Fisher….
Amateur sleuths and police detectives are a mainstay of publishing, TV, movies and now streaming services.
Australian author Kerry Greenwood’s Phryne Fisher books set in 1920s Melbourne had a huge following even before they were turned into an equally popular TV series starring Essie Davis from 2012-2015.
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The combination of Phryne’s fearless attitude towards sleuthing and sex, and her glamorous lifestyle, made Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries a hit for the ABC. It recently led to a spinoff, Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries featuring the detective’s niece in the 1960s.
But Phyrne Fisher returns in a big budget big screen comeback, Miss Fisher & the Crypt of Tears.
Think Indiana Jones but with all the action carried out in ultra high heels and high fashion dresses.
Producers with screen ready films like this one have a tough choice to make during the Covid-19 pandemic. Hold on until people are able to return to cinemas, or make them available on line. The company behind Miss Fisher & The Crypt of Tears is going down the online path.
I spoke to the film’s star Essie Davis before that decision was made.
It also coincided with a rare down time for the actress. She plays outlaw Ned Kelly’s manipulative mother in the new film True History of the Kelly Gang and she plays opposite Ben Mendelsohn as parents of a terminally ill teenager in the Australian drama Babyteeth.
In the last few years she's played Lady Crane in TV epic Game of Thrones and Dowager Queen Elizabeth in the TV mini-series The White Princess.
Davis is also the star of an upcoming New Zealand film, The Justice of Bunny King. Sophie Henderson (Fantail) wrote the script, it’s the directorial debut of Gaysorn Thavat, and Davis' co-star is in- demand Kiwi actress Thomasin McKenzie.
It’s in post-production – one of the new films Kiwis can look forward too after all the current bingeing during lockdown.
Davis says she loves the film and loved her time in New Zealand.
“It’s about Bunny King who’s living on her sister’s couch and trying to get her kids out of foster care and back into her own care,” she says.
“Despite all of the hoops she has to jump through to prove that she’s a worthy parent, she has a positive attitude. It’s an uplifting film but it’s also incredibly powerful. I felt like a spokesperson for many women who don’t get to tell their story despite this being I believe a very common story. I’m extremely proud of it.”
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She also thoroughly enjoyed working with McKenzie.
“She’s absolutely delightful ,” she says. “She plays my niece in the film and ends up as another child Bunny has to rescue.”
Davis and McKenzie had previously worked on another shoot, on The True History of the Kelly Gang. Davis played the notorious bandit’s mother while McKenzie was Ned’s lover.
It’s based on Peter Carey’s Booker prize-winning novel The History of the Kelly Gang that was in turn inspired by a letter written by Ned Kelly and discovered after he was hung.
“It’s the story of being inside Ned’s mind from his childhood to his death. It’s about the bond between Ned and his mother Ellen and how powerful an influence that relationship was on his life,” Essie says. “It also explores what is nature and what is nurture and if you’re treated like a criminal, will you become one?”
“It’s an incredible film and not at all romanticised. It is very cutting edge and brilliant and bold.”
Back to Miss Fisher & The Crypt of Tears.
Much of the movie was shot in Morocco, though it’s set in Jerusalem.
The murder-mystery sees Phryne free a young Bedouin woman from prison, that in turn leads her to a dangerous investigation into the disappearance of the woman’s trip a decade earlier. Throw in some priceless gems, curses, secrets and greed and of course a lot of high octane action sequences.
I asked Davis if it was easy slip back into character after several years playing very different roles in between.
“She is a delight to play and such a beautiful, uplifting, joyous, naughty, heroic character,” she says. “It’s surprisingly easy to step back into her shoes after a time away. I feel like I could play her as a little old lady.”
She says she missed Phryne when the third TV series ended and read Kerry Greenwood’s novels to stay in touch with the character she adores.
But Davis only wanted to play her again if there was something new and exciting in the story, a new world to reach into and new things to discover about her.
“It was very important to me that this film was on a grander scale, that it was worthy of being in a cinema and that you’re moving forward in her relationship (with police detective Jack Robinson) and in her exploration of what it is to be an independent woman in the world. That she could take the audience on an international adventure with her.”
“It had to have a scale of love and naughtiness, frivolity and lots of beautiful frocks but also a social justice story. It starts not with a murder but a massacre,” she says.
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I asked about the perils of portraying a much loved literary character on screen. Honouring Kerry Greenwood’s Phyrne but also ‘owning’ this unconventional, wealthy and strong-minded 1920s woman.
“We’ve gone beyond what Kerry first created and I do feel like Phryne’s my own, in a way,” she says. “She’s a signature role in that she’s so universally loved by people around the world. It’s quite amazing how many people have fallen for her and are uplifted by her and find their own independent spirit through her inspiration.”
Phryne may be living in the 1920s but Essie believes she’s very much a woman for our times.
“She’s absolutely an important role model but not only is she an action hero and kind of a super hero, she really fights for the underdog. She stands up for women’s rights, she loves men, she can be very anti-establishment while knowing how to work within the system. She’s so witty and clever, so generous with her money and her home, yet she’s not going to allow anyone else be the boss of her,” Essie says. “Phryne does everything with such a positive spirit and I think that is one of the great inspirational things particularly for women of today.”
So what about other screen roles Davis is also proud of.
She played Amelia in the Australian psychological horror film Babadook in 2014 and also considers her admittedly small role in the Game of Thrones series as Lady Crane, another signature role because it reached such a massive audience and devoted fans.
From 15 April Miss Fisher & The Crypt of Tears will be available on Lightbox, Sky, Youtube, Apple and Google Play.
