Sigrid Thornton in Slant. Photo by Charles Alexander.

The Australian screen industry boasts many adored acting icons, but very few surpass the legendary status of Sigrid Thornton.

From her work on Australian television show’s like The Sullivans, Prisoner, SeaChange and Wentworth, to highly-acclaimed and internationally recognised feature films like The Man from Snowy River, Sigrid Thornton’s performances always leave a lasting impression.

Thornton’s latest role as the unhinged alcoholic matriarch, Vivianne Verity, in the new Australian black comedy, Slant, is no exception.

Set in an eerily quaint inner Melbourne suburbia circa Christmas 1999, Derek Verity (Nikou), a career crazed journalist, is tasked with writing his very first exposé piece on the suspicious disappearance of a local mother-turned-infamous socialite. But when a dark family secret of his own threatens to destabilise his career, Derek’s ambition drives him to get the scoop at all costs, causing his personal and professional lives to violently collide.

The debut feature from director James Vinson and writer Michael Nikou, Slant co-stars a bold Australian ensemble alongside Thornton including the Kate Lister (Clickbait), Pia Miranda (Looking For Alibrandi), Neil Pigot (Red Dog), Michael Nikou (Fisk), Ra Chapman (Wentworth), Shannon Berry (The Wilds) and Elle Mandalis (Head On).

Cinema Australia recently grabbed a few moments with Thornton to discuss the film.

Ryan A. Murphy, Michael Nikou and Sigrid Thornton in Slant. Photo by Charles Alexander.

“I’m such a strong supporter of smaller films like Slant. We should be making many, many more of them in Australia.”

Interview by Matthew Eeles

Slant is your first feature film since Scare Campaign in 2016. You’ve obviously been extremely busy working on television shows like Wentworth and Amazing Grace, but how did it feel being back on a film set?

I’m glad that someone else is seeing it in terms of a timeline because it’s really rare that I will look at it in those terms. [Laughs]. But Slant has been a very different experience compared to Scare Campaign. I’m delighted to have worked on Slant. I should also mention that I have been doing a lot of theatre as well as TV. I think that the difference is overplayed between film and television. It depends on how many cameras are at play, obviously. The thing that I really enjoyed about Slant is that it was mostly a single-camera shoot. We obviously used a couple of cameras on occasion, but this was mostly a single-camera shoot. I came up with single cameras, you know, in the days of Crawford Productions many years ago. My film training was in television, but it was all single camera. So that’s one similarity between old-style TV and feature filmmaking, but I don’t think there’s a great deal of difference. You are still working for a camera close or wide, and the timeframe is often quite different. Often there’s more time in terms of feature filmmaking. But I actually think that in our case, we had a fairly luxurious amount of time given that it’s what people call a “no-budget film” because it was made for under one million. We had an incredibly slick and professional outfit, and we had a reasonable amount of time to achieve the aims of the film.

You’re right, it is quite a remarkable achievement considering it’s an independent production. Tell us about your character, Vivianne Verity, which is such a great name.

Vivian is a woman with multiple neuroses and problems with substance use. She has had thwarted ambitions for her own life and has worked over a long period of time. This has twisted her up inside, I suppose. She takes some of that out on her sons, but she loves them all the same. And part of the message of this film is that every family has a level of dysfunction. The dysfunction in this family is magnified at various points throughout the film. It is partly a comment on the love between blood and extended family. This film is a lot of things actually. I’m making it sound extremely serious, but if anything, it’s a black comedy with some great horror elements. It’s a genre-bending picture, and that’s one of the things I like so much about it. Vivianne goes along for that ride. She’s the film’s transition into a different genre.

As far as your performance goes, you take yourself to some deep, dark places as Vivianne. How much fun is it to perform someone as damaged as Vivianne?

It’s always incredibly fun to perform someone so out of the ordinary. It doesn’t sound like it would be fun, but it is. [Laughs]. It is a deep, deep dive, but she’s a great character. She has enormously strong personality traits, and that’s always the best stuff to sink your teeth into as an actor. She doesn’t hold back on anything, and it enables the actor to really push the boundaries. But I also had this incredible team of actors around me, which was a real gift. This character that writer and actor Michael Nikou created has been a gift. Working with James Vinson, our wonderful director, enabled me and the entire cast to really walk that tightrope more consistently, as it were. Even the film is consistent in its inconsistencies. [Laughs]. And I say that in terms of it being a genre-bender, but James had an overarching vision that was very clear, and he was always on hand to anchor that vision.

Michael Nikou in Slant. Photo by Charles Alexander.

Most of your scenes are opposite Michael Nikou, who also wrote the film. It’s hard to believe that this is Michael’s first feature film. He’s quite terrific here. Can you tell us about working with Michael as an actor?

It was a joy. Actors often say this when they’re marketing or publicising a film, but we did become a genuine family. It’s an experience I won’t forget anytime soon. Most of my life has been spent working as an actor, and Slant is a particularly fond film for me because Michael and his team were such a joy to work with. They’re all so committed to this film. They’re all so talented. I look forward to seeing them all take off with giant wide wings. Michael’s terrific in the film, but he also always had his different hats on. Even though he’s the writer and one of the producers, he managed to straddle those roles with tremendous gravitas for someone who’s so new to filmmaking. Anyone could give him a task, and he’d find out how to do it, if not on YouTube, then somewhere else. [Laughs]. And that’s a joke, really, but he’s just enormously resourceful as an actor and as a person.

I spoke with Michael recently, who told me that a lot of the characters in Slant are based on his actual family. Were you aware of that while you were making the film?

Yes, definitely. Which was also another thing that we reveled in because Michael’s close with his family, but he really took them out to play in this giant creative sandpit. I’m sure they all see great humor in the film. We all really enjoyed that connection because we’d become a family while making the film, and we were dealing with someone who was involved in more ways than one. I’m sure he would have said this to you in your interview with him, but he’s taken a whole lot of ingredients and mixed them all up in a great big cake, and one of those ingredients is his family.