Quigley Down Under
Short description
Matthew Quigley, an American sharpshooter, travels to Western Australia in 1860 after answering an advertisement placed by Elliott Marston, the wealthy English owner of a large ranch. Quigley believes he has been hired to deal with the wild dogs on Marston's land, but he soon learns the real work is killing the Aboriginal people living there. He refuses and turns against his employer, becoming the target of a hunt across the outback. A woman known as Crazy Cora, whom Quigley defends in the port town of Fremantle, travels with him, and the two depend on Aboriginal people who shelter them in the desert.
The film is a Western directed by Simon Wincer, the fifth of the thirteen features he has directed, following The Lighthorsemen and preceding Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man. John Hill wrote the screenplay, and Stanley O'Toole and Alexandra Rose produced it for United Artists, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Pathé Entertainment. Tom Selleck plays Quigley, with Laura San Giacomo as Cora and Alan Rickman as Marston; Chris Haywood, Ron Haddrick and Tony Bonner appear in supporting roles, among a credited cast of forty-seven.
Released in October 1990, the film runs 119 minutes and took about 21 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.9 from roughly 24,000 votes, and on TMDB a 6.7 from several hundred. A critics' rating of 5.6 from 21 reviews places it below both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film was intended to be a sequel to "The Hunter" with Steve McQueen, but the actor soon fell ill, and the project was cancelled. Throughout the 1980s, the project was revived several times with different stars. Harrison Ford was offered the lead role, but he turned it down because he found the character too similar to Indiana Jones. In 1985, the role of Quigley was first offered to Tom Selleck, but he had to decline due to a busy schedule filming the series "Magnum, P.I." When the series ended in 1988, Selleck inquired whether the role of Quigley was still available, and then accepted it.
- Alan Rickman agreed to star in the film because filming took place in Australia, and he had always wanted to visit there.
- Three rifles were created for the film, one for shooting, another as a club, and the last – in case something happened to one of the first two. After filming ended, Tom Selleck asked permission to keep the weapons for himself. Many years later, he sold two of the rifles at auction for charity, and donated the third, along with its leather case and knife, to a museum.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
