Peter Wells: Desperate Remedies and making queer films...

Interview – 2014

Peter Wells, who died in February 2019, was an accomplished writer/director who explored gay and historical themes in his work. Among his screen credits are groundbreaking TV dramas Jewel’s Darl and A Death in the Family. Wells also created stylish feature Desperate Remedies with co-director Stewart Main. In later years he collaborated with Annie Goldson for documentary Georgie Girl.

In this 2014 ScreenTalk interview, Wells talked about:

The idea for My First Suit coming from his co-director Stewart Main
Knowing that his TV drama Jewel’s Darl would enrage people
How actress Georgina Beyer was perfect for the role of Jewel
Filming a scene in front of a real protest against homosexual law reform
Having big problems with TV executives over the drama
Why AIDS drama A Death in the Family won so many viewers
Turning a desire to save at-risk architecture into The Mighty Civic
How budget constraints helped give movie Desperate Remedies its distinctive style
Having to convince the NZ Film Commission about casting choices
Telling the story of Georgina Beyer in Georgie Girl
Realising that queer filmmaking does have a future

This video was first uploaded on 12 May 2014, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Interview, Camera and Editing – Andrew Whiteside

They were both conscious attempts to kind of break a taboo that had been in New Zealand filmmaking, which was that you didn't really ever show stories from a point of view of gay characters at all. So both of them were a conscious effort to break this drought.
– Peter Wells on breaking barriers with My First Suit and Jewel's Darl, which were both part of anthology series About Face

Peter's Full Profile