Hooked On A Feeling

Newcastle Herald

Saturday August 5, 2006

MICHAEL GADD

Khoa and Anh Do know all about urban fairytales. In many ways, they are living one.

The brothers account for the writer, director and star of Footy Legends, a low-budget feel-good film about the quintessential Aussie themes of footy, family and multiculturalism.

While the movie isn't autobiographical, it draws from the Do family's experiences as immigrants in the suburbs of Sydney, who love rugby league and each other.

In 1980, the Do family arrived in Australia on a fishing boat from Vietnam. Khoa was two and Anh was four.

Both have studied law but not finished their degrees.

Khoa, now 27, has excelled as a filmmaker, a social worker and was named Young Australian of the Year in 2005.

Anh is a stand-up comedian, a TV and film actor, and has put his business law studies to good use as co-producer on several of his brother's films, including Footy Legends.

But their heroes remain former Newcastle Knights halves pairing and brothers Matthew and Andrew Johns. Khoa, if you like, can be Andrew, the younger, quieter, but more decorated achiever. Anh can align himself to Matthew, the public face and a talent with surprising depth.

While Footy Legends is more about family and friendship than it is about rugby league, it's easy to see that rugby league is more than a game to these brothers.

"Andrew Johns is without doubt my favourite footy player," Khoa says. "I used to play halfback. I used to study him, watch Friday Night Football and say I gotta try that on the weekend . . . never pulled it off but I tried it anyway. I have about 1 per cent of his ability."

Khoa's modesty extends to all of his achievements. When he talks about The Finished People, a film he made with a group of street kids which ended up with four AFI Award nominations and an IF Independent Spirit Award, he passes credit onto the kids.

He speaks softly, but quickly, and is naturally funny, just like his brother, although he prefers to remain in the shadows.

Anh nominated Khoa for his Young Australian of the Year award. Anh's lawyer wife Suzanne also has co-writing credits on Footy Legends.

The film, released nationally this week, tells the story of Luc Vu (Anh Do), an orphaned Vietnamese-Australian obsessed with football, out of work and contending with welfare authorities who are threatening to take away his little sister.

Non-mainstream but quintessential Australian stories are a common thread to Khoa's work.

The Finished People was a story told by street kids about street kids.

His first writing effort, Delivery Day, was a 30-minute short about migrant outworkers who labour away on sewing machines in their garages Do's mother is a factory seamstress.

It too was nominated for an AFI Award in 2001 and won awards at film festivals in Berlin, Chicago, Giffoni (Italy), New York and Palm Springs.

While their parents struggled to make a living in their adopted country, Anh and Khoa have only fond memories of their childhood.

"There were days when I had to go to school with sticky-taped shoes cause I had to wear my brother's hand-me-downs, that kind of thing," he says. "But when I look back on it, it was great. When you grow up without many material possessions you learn to entertain each other. We grew up telling stories to each other and it made us really close as a family.

They say in Sydney's outer suburbs, it was rugby league that brought communities together.

"There wasn't a lot for us to do," Khoa says. "So we started playing footy. It became our dream, and every other kid in the neighbourhood's dream to make it as a footy player. So we spent all the time we had kicking the ball around until there was no light left and all the leather came off the ball."

In Footy Legends, the Do brothers have entered a well-worn but much-loved genre.

Obvious comparisons have been made with British feelgood flicks such as Billy Elliott, Brassed Off and The Full Monty, and Australian underdog tales such as The Castle and Crackjack.

Khoa and Anh appreciate any association with such work.

"I grew up loving sport and loving feel-good movies," Khoa says. "I thought wouldn't it be great to make a feel-good sports movie, set in the era that we know and love, and about our favourite sport, rugby league."

Surprisingly, it hadn't been done before. Footy Legends is the first Australian feature film to include extensive rugby league action.

Even before major funding bodies jumped on board, the project had support from an impressive cast.

Angus Sampson (Thank God You're Here) plays Luc's teammate and Claudia Karvan (Love My Way, Secret Life of Us) is a social worker.

But the most enthusiasm was saved for Peter Phelps (Water Rats, Police Rescue, Heartbreak High, Lantana), who agreed to play Billy Major, the coach of a team of rugby league legends who would be the centrepiece for the film's emotional climax.

"He was aware of my earlier work," Khoa says. "And he's the type of guy who supports projects he believes in. He thought this was a positive film that could make people laugh and cry, and do more than just entertain people. He said straight away he'd love to be a part of it."

Then Khoa told his parents.

"They said, 'What? Peter Phelps from Sons and Daughters?"

"One of the first shows they watched religiously was Sons and Daughters. I think they were more excited about Peter being in it than Anh starring in it and me directing it."

Khoa is vehement that Footy Legends in not an ethnic film but a realistic story about real Australians, a potentially classic generation Y story. Where films such as The Wog Boy reclaimed derogatory and racist terms through the use of humour, Footy Legends is about a group from all corners of the globe, united in their love of rugby league, as mates and as Australians.

"We wanted this to be as real and authentic as we could," Khoa says. "I grew up playing footy with guys of eight different cultural backgrounds yet they were Aussie in every single way. Ethnicity was never an issue. We were all mates and we lost many games together. But we'd always find a way to lift ourselves and lift each other up."

"That's what we really wanted to show in this film. It's about lifting each other up and being together. And that's what it's like growing up in the suburbs. If you look at this cast, they're all Australians. Me and Anh, you can't get two prouder Aussies than us."

The Dos found a brotherly sixth sense similar to that of the former Knights halves pair, Andrew and Matthew, while on set.

"When we used to play we had a sibling understanding, like the Walters or Johns brothers. Khoa would throw a flick pass to me and he wouldn't even have to look," Anh says.

"When we were filming, there were times that Khoa would give me a look and a grunt, I'd go, 'no worries Khoa, sweet'. . . And then people would be going, 'Did Khoa say something?' It meant we got a lot of early marks on set."

Intimate knowledge of Anh's personal life gave Khoa ammunition as a director.

"I'm privy to so much of his life," Khoa says. "Instead of telling Anh, 'I want you to be humiliated in this scene', I'd go, 'Remember that time you had to do the 50 metre freestyle but you couldn't finish and the PE teacher had to jump in and pull you out . . . then I'd say action."

"He goes, 'Mate, under 13s semi-final, you knocked on over the line, remember that'," Anh recalls, still clearly devastated. "And I'd be ready for the scene."

While the film isn't autobiographical, Khoa and Anh have definitely written what they know.

"There's a scene when one of the guys gets rejected devastatingly by the girl he has a crush on, his next door neighbour and I know for a fact that Khoa wrote that from personal experience," Anh laughs.

In the film, Anh's character Luc gathers his school footy mates to compete in a competition that if they win, would raise enough money for him to maintain custody of his sister and keep his family together.

But in a final showdown they face their childhood idols, Brett Kenny, Bradley Clyde, Gary Larson, Cliff Lyons and Rod Wishart, under the tutelage of Phelps as coach Major.

With a team full of league legends who look as though they could step back into NRL first grade tomorrow at his disposal, Khoa often had the last laugh on set.

"He's a smart arse," Anh says of his brother. "He loves directing because it means he can tell me to tackle Gary Larson 10 times in a row. The very first day on set with the legends, I had to tackle Brad Clyde. I get some help from the rest of the team but I was the first one to make contact. My nose hit Clydey and it wasn't broken but tears started coming out. I was so embarrassed."

The former rugby league stars may have been intimidated by the bright lights and cameras, but their hosts were far more star struck.

"My heroes when I grew up were mainly Brett Kenny and Peter Sterling," Anh says. "For a few years I got a mullet hair-cut to look like Sterlo. A Vietnamese kid with a mullet looked pretty funny. Give me another 20 years and I'll look just like he does now."

Khoa says Kenny and Wishart evade tackles like it's 1981.

"They're amazing to watch and to top it off, to have Matt Johns and Andrew Voss . . ."

While the commentators play themselves in the film, they faced the same challenge as John McEnroe in the film Wimbledon as they commentate for the cameras, not to the action.

Johns is a stand-out, and not surprisingly, a natural talent on screen.

"He's just a special talent," Anh says. "On screen he just lights up the camera."

Anh says while Johns was a consummate professional, he and the cast struggled to keep a straight face when Reg Reagan's closest confidant was in action.

"He's incredibly difficult to work with. It takes 10 goes before there's something we can use. It's not his fault, he's just so funny and such a brilliant improviser that he brought everyone unstuck."

In contrast to Johns, who was given scope to combine his real-life expert analysis and larrikin roles, Anh had to forget his bread and butter profession.

"I really had to work hard on turning off the stand-up comedian," Anh says. "So many times I had to stop myself from pulling a funny head or do something silly, I had to remember I was supposed to as straight and natural as possible."

But to play a star footballer was a fantasy he had no trouble living out.

"This movie shows me living out a dream, to be a decent rugby league player," he says, unable to turn off his comedic side. "Khoa and I are working on another film now in which I'm going to play a guy who's actually attractive to women. And in the next one, I'm going to play a guy who's rich."

"When you grow up without many material possessions you learn to entertain each other. We grew up telling stories to each other and it made us really close as a family."

© 2006 Newcastle Herald

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