Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk with Aviva Insurance.
Now, a new Netflix limited series called Kylie is out now. You may already have watched it. The documentary examines the influential career of pop icon Kylie Minogue. It's directed by BAFTA and Emmy Award winning Michael Hart. And I'm delighted to say that he joins me now. Hello, Michael.
Thanks, Claire. How's it going?
Chapter 2: What is the focus of the 'Kylie' documentary?
Great to have you with us. I say influential career of pop icon Kylie Minogue, but it's a really personal film that you've made, isn't it?
Yeah, it is. You know, that's what we were trying to do. You know, we wanted to use the music as a way into Kylie as opposed to the other way around where we're using her to
deeply deeply intimate and personal film that that was always our intention from the start and she delivered and you know it goes a long way in a three part series that you have that level of emotional honesty which can be hard to get but you know I kind of spent a long time with her we spent two years making this film and it wasn't long until we kind of connected and that emotional honesty started to flow when we were filming with her but yeah
And then it seems to me from what I've read that she sought you out, Michael. I mean, you come off the back of Beckham, of course, and still that gorgeous film about Michael J. Fox that you made. So is that right that she came to find you essentially?
I would love for that to be true, for me to be able to say Kylie Minogue sought me out. No, that actually isn't true. The person who sought me out was the producer, John Batzik. He's an Oscar winner, a double Oscar winner. And he had been chipping away at this project for about maybe 10 years, you know. So he was trying to get Kylie on board as soon as she
that she may want to do it John produced Beckham and I edited it as well with with John but he he kind of had an instinct when he worked with me that I'd be a good fit with Kylie and he mentioned it to her and so um I wasn't even sure myself I remember going to meet her and we were put together in the Chateau Marmont in LA I was uh I was on a different edit on a project called Deaf President and I went to meet her but I definitely I didn't think I'd get the job um
John loved how I worked and how I worked and how I edited and my kind of storytelling sensibilities. But I still didn't think I'd get the job. So I went along thinking this would be something cool to tell my mum in Donegal. And I went to the Shadow of Marmont and had a drink with Katie Minogue. Maybe I'll get a selfie. But we, you know what, we really clicked when we were there.
And that's what John was trying to see, if there would be a chemistry between the two of us. The restaurant was really dark and we were waiting for her. And when she came in, I always remember... She was like this kind of beam of light. I think that's how Nick Cave described her in the documentary in episode two. But she really was. And I remember thinking, if I can...
if I can take this energy that came from her, which was completely intoxicating, and turn it into a movie in a similar way that we did with Michael J. Fox. You know, we want to take the essence of him, not necessarily just a story or his character, the kind of energy and a vibrancy from him. And it was the same. I felt it was a slightly different energy, but from Kylie.
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Chapter 3: How did Michael Harte connect with Kylie Minogue?
It was like, you know, she's a musician. She's also... you know, a fashion icon, but also she's an actor. So I had hundreds of episodes of Neighbours to go through in her movies and everything that goes with that. But also her brother was a cameraman. So he would follow her around for 30 years, kind of come and go. And as I would watch it,
I remember thinking this is, you know, she's been on TV since she was six years old, maybe even younger. I had so much material. I started to think myself, this is like the Truman Show. You know, she has lived her life in front of a lens. Yes. And and so and also I think that goes a long way to.
why people kind of connect with Kylie, you know, because they've watched her grow up and because they've seen her develop and rise and fall and rise again, you know, we're not just connected to her music, we're actually connected to her as a person because we've watched her grow up and we've grown up with her.
Exactly, we've grown up with her and, you know, to my mind, when I was growing up, she was the shiny, happy actress in Neighbours. Then she became the stock Aiken and Waterman singer with all of those kind of cheesy pop songs for a while. And then when she moved out of that, I think the whole world was sort of going, oh, why is she doing a song with Nick Cave? Why is she going out with that guy?
It was like we had decided, we'd all decided to label Kylie Minogue. And when she tried to break away from what we had perceived her to be, we weren't necessarily comfortable with it often.
No, that's so true, Clare. That's a really good point. And one of the first things she said to me when I interviewed her was, I don't like to be trapped in anything. I don't like to be defined in a certain way. And it really struck me when she said it. So when I would look through the archive, I had that in my head.
And what I've noticed, what I noticed from watching like 30, 40 years of material is Is that she always felt that even when she was 19 years old, you know, she goes on the Terry Wogan show and they say, you can't, you can't be a singer because, you know, you're an actor. Or like you said, when in 1991, she decides to change her image, completely change her image.
And they're like, you can't dress like that because you are a pop star. But she always kind of refused that. to be defined and never to be told who you are. This is who you are and this is how it's going to be. She always refused that. And actually she came up with massive, massive criticism for it, but continued on her course. And to this day, it's the same.
She would talk about her age, and some people would say, you can't be a pop star now, you can't sing about those things at this age. And she just refuses to accept that. And sometimes I think it goes a long way. When I see the footage, I can see the connection between her and the LGBTQ community as well, because...
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