Director Ol Parker knew two things for sure when he made the film Ticket ToParadise wrote: Bali is the perfect location and Julia Roberts and GeorgeClooney have to play the lead roles. He managed to tie the actors, but Baliwas still closed in 2021 due to corona measures when Clooney and Roberts hadtime. So there was no other option: Bali had to be brought to Australia.
By Michiel Vos
“We did not know how long we had to wait if we wanted to film in Bali andGeorge and Julia only had a limited time in their busy schedules, so it had tohappen during that period,” Parker tells NU.nl. Postponing the shooting andchoosing other actors was not an option. “In the first conversations about thecasting, I made one thing clear: Clooney and Roberts had to be it.”
“They are beautiful and brilliant actors. If you show a divorced couple, ithas to be believable that they were once together. We have thirty years ofimages of George and Julia’s friendship that make this past togetherauthentic. And They also have great chemistry together.”
Clooney and Roberts star in Ticket to Paradise the divorced parents of adaughter who falls in love with a Balinese and wants to marry him almostimmediately. The director had to convince one of the two actors, because thenthe other would follow. “I literally wrote her: ‘I’ll do it if you do it too’.Julia said exactly the same thing. That was really the only way for us,”Clooney tells NU.nl. “Poor Ol wrote the movie with no second option in termsof actors in his head, so it would only work if we both went for it.”
“It felt important to create something uplifting together,” adds Roberts. “Iread the script and there was so much fun in it. It was really a relief aftermany other scripts I read at the time and the news that you get.”
3:08 Afspelen knop
Bringing Bali to Australia
It was never Parker’s plan to film anywhere other than Bali, but he had nochoice. “We were forced to make a radical change. When it became clear thatBali was not an option when George and Julia were available, the questionbecame whether we should throw the project in the trash. Or find another wayto make it work.”
Eventually they moved to the Whitsunday Islands in Australia. Parker is facedwith the challenge of making it as believable as possible that the story takesplace in Bali. “We had a crew in Bali who shot some background footage. Andthey ended up in the film using CGI. It was certainly a challenge, but thatgoes for any film made in times of COVID-19.”
Cultural advisors became actors
The white beaches and palm trees are all right, but the atmosphere and cultureof Bali are just as important. “We hired advisors to teach us more aboutBalinese customs and a large part of our cast is Indonesian. None of them areprofessional actors,” explains the director. “The man who plays the father ofthe character Gede advised us on the rituals we wanted to show in the film.Then I saw how handsome and charming he is and I wanted him as an actor too.”
Still, Parker received some criticism online for the casting choices. He choseactor Maxime Bouttier, who has an Indonesian mother and French father, for therole of a Balinese man. Because he is partly of European descent, Westernbeauty ideals would be projected onto a Balinese character. “Maxime has ahouse in Bali. He lives there. We have spoken to many actors and he has becomeit. It was disappointing to read that. He was surprised himself. He seeshimself as Balinese. I don’t know a single Balinese person who had a problemwith this.”
Parker says it’s good to listen to the people who understand and treat thecustoms of another culture in a respectful way. “Reality is more important inthis case than how you want to portray it as a filmmaker. If I had somethingin my head a certain way and they said it wouldn’t be like that in real life,we didn’t do it in the film. There is nothing more fun than showing adifferent culture with great respect.”