ABC RADIO INTERVIEW

22 April - 9AM with Alex Easton and Jane Larkin on THE EDGE

ALEX EASTON: You've got a top athlete in your midst today, or at least on your radio - Jane Larkin - a Meridan Plains local on the Sunshine Coast. Jane's a former National level Australian sprinter who, after retiring from athletics has made quite the remarkable transition into the entertainment industry. She's now had speaking roles in major productions: Ron Howard's "Thirteen Lives", Netflix's "Boy Swallows Universe" and "Darby and Joan". She's now written, directed and starred in her own feature film about hers and others lives as elite sportswomen. The film is called THE EDGE - it's having its world premiere at the Gold Coast Film Festival on May 2 and pouts the Sunshine Coast front and centre. Jane, thank you so much for joining us.

JANE LARKIN: Oh, thank you.

ALEX: This is quite the kick off to, you know - going from being an elite sprinter to. Now I've got a speaking role in "Boy Swallows Universe" and Ron Howard films. How did you do that?

JANE: There are some precedents. I really grew up idolising Arnold Schwarzenegger and "The Rock". They obviously went from sport to the World of Film and TV too, but I wanted to be the female (hopefully) version of that. They're both performance based careers you. You really have to get out there and put it all on the line, and I loved them both. And I saw storytelling in a sports sense kind of the natural progression, even though it might be an unusual one.

ALEX: So, that takes us nicely to your film - THE EDGE. Tell us a little bit about that.

JANE: THE EDGE is about three female elite athletes and I grew up idolising obviously all these sports films - "Remember the Titans", "Chariots of Fire" but they all had male protagonists, so this is about a Japanese Paralympic swimmer, it's about an Aussie sprinter, and then a First Nations powerlifter. So, the three girls all live together, train together, they have their personal struggles and their struggles in sport.

ALEX: Right, so then, what is it? This could just be a story about three people from different disciplines, just living together, but you're trying to get at something deeper there - tell us about that.

JANE: Yeah, well, hopefully it's open to interpretation, but I really want people to see that athletes, we often just see them at their peak, and they're performance robots, but they're people too. And so I am trying to showcase that they have lives outside of what their athletic endeavours may be. And I didn't want to fall into this trap of there's one female athlete stereotype. I wanted there to be three-dimensional characters, and really different characters across the disciplines and that's why we get to follow all three of the girls.

ALEX: Right, you've got Leisel Jones, Sally Pearson, in there, both Olympic Gold Medallists, so those are names that would be pretty well recognised. You've got Riley Day, and Paralympians Mei Ichinose, and our very own Braedan Jason who's out in the Sunshine Coast office right now.

JANE: Yeah, I waved to him earlier this morning!

ALEX: Braedan was telling me an interesting story - he was initially going to be playing a character role in the film, but then got written out due to COVID.

JANE: Yeah, I really wanted authentically Olympic / Paralympic characters to be in the film as much as possible. And so you know, knowing Braedan and Mei Ichinose who obviously trained out at the Uni of the Sunshine Coast, along with me, I was in the athletics department, they were in the swimming department. It was sort of like a West Side Story Jets and Sharks situation... No, it wasn't, it wasn't at all - we were all very friendly. But I wanted him to be a part of that, but it is a big commitment with training, and I mean COVID was just another spanner in the works. I can't believe how long ago we started that journey, but yeah, that was really disruptive to the filming process.

ALEX: Now, these are all people who the thing that they've trained in is the sport that they're very good at, so going from that into acting, how did you manage that?

JANE: I very much saw the transition as, you know, I wanted to take everything that I'd learned from sport and implement that in Film and TV. So, I trained for it. I took every class I could. I researched, I practised everyday. I figured I was talented enough, that if I, you know, if I applied the discipline I'd learned in sport, hopefully I could achieve things. And I'm very determined when I want to be, and so I think I applied that to the film, but also just to acting in general.

ALEX: That's obviously worked out pretty well for you, but then you're obviously dragging Sally Pearson, and Leisel Jones and Riley Day and Braedan into that behind you as well. How did you go? Did you have to spend much time coaching them?

JANE: Um, I called in a lot of favours, I think I assured them that it would only be like a day. I'm like, "Look, you pretty much just have to do what you always do. Leisel and Braedan, you're commentating, you're good at that sort of thing, let's get you in here." I think Riley was like, "really - I have to do that many runs for a single scene?" And I was like, "Yes, but it's okay, it will just be one intense day". And I think they were all like "all right, Jane" but they were all champions. - Sally... Riley - and good on them for coming down and lend some authenticity to the project.

ALEX: Yeah, now this film - THE EDGE - was filmed entirely on the Sunshine Coast, around the University of the Sunshine Coast. Is that something that you were planning to do? Did COVID play a role in that?

JANE: I very much felt like the Sunshine Coast as a region was almost a character. I grew up here. Great sporting facilities here. I did my doctorate and a couple of my other degrees out at the UniSC. Juts really love the facilities here and wanted it to be here. I was lucky enough to get council support and then the uni let us shoot here too which was amazing. Whether it was COVID or not, it was important to me to keep it true to its roots, which was Australian, which was regional, which was Sunshine Coast.

ALEX: There is a very strong sporting community here on the Sunshine Coast and more broadly. I mean, obviously hoping it will go down well by critics and everything when it screens at the Gold Coast Film Festival but are you getting much buzz within and around the athletics community around Queensland?

JANE: Trying to. I've reached out obviously to Queensland Athletics and Athletics NSW. I mean, Lynchy, who runs it - Matt Lynch - he actually commentates in the film too, because, again, I called in all my favours. But obviously the athletics community has been very busy lately with the recent Nationals - some amazing performances there, so I think we're trying to hype up in the lead up to the Gold Coast Film Festival, and then, you know, beyond.

ALEX: Alright. Jane Larkin, thanks so much for joining us and best of luck, I hope the screening at the Gold Coast Film Festival goes amazing - I'm sure it will.

GCFF Tickets

JANE: Yeah, thank you - 2 May. Get your tickets still!

ALEX: Jane Larkin is a former Australian level National sprinter and the writer, director and star of THE EDGE.