Going deep inside EASY VIRTUE

Stephan Elliott cheated Death. Could he do it again?

The director of THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT survived a ski accident that made the alpine tumble in the ABC Wide World of Sports‘ opener look like a knee-scraping sidewalk stumble. He broke just about everything but his skull and was reconstructed in a metallurgic manner that would make Col. Steve Austin envious. But perhaps, the filmmaker had injured his head as well. While recovering, he agreed to adapt a Noel Coward play that had already been filmed by… Alfred Hitchcock! Maybe it was the drugs. Maybe it was the challenge. Either way, Elliott could assure himself all risk is relative. That which does not kill us, only makes us cockier, I suppose.

So, he teamed with Guiness World Record-holder Sheridan Jobbins to rework Coward’s EASY VIRTUE, bravely, for the big screen, maintaining the Brit wit’s satirical snipes and Aussie helmer’s trademark camp and hype. The filmmaker encouraged outsized performances – from Kristin Scott-Thomas, Colin Firth and wank Yank, Jessica Biel – and supervised a soundtrack that includes old standards (Makin’ Whoope, Let’s Misbehave) re-imagined by the cast and contemporary tunes (Car Wash, Sexbomb) re-arranged to emulate hits of the bygone era. Elliott’s brazen cross-pollination of acting and musical styles lends the movie a sense of amatory mischief both true to the source material and familiar to its modern audience. And heck, if anyone doesn’t like it, Elliott would surely tell him to kiss his EASY VIRTUE… or his gender-appropriate titanium rod.

I caught up with the collaborative cunning linguists, Stephan Elliott and Sheridan Jobbins, for a conversation that runs the gamut from boobs to bon mots to glitter poo. Noel Coward would be so proud.