The Making of Perfect Strangers

This making-of documentary mixes insightful interviews, movie clips and footage of the Perfect Strangers film crew at work on the West Coast. Gaylene Preston's twisty thriller follows two strangers on an isolated island. Actors Sam Neill and Australian Rachael Blake describe their roles, and how Blake's character is "utterly magnetised" by the man she meets. Neill says that the "wild and unpredictable behaviour" in the finished film reflects the wild locations where they made the film. Gaylene Preston discusses what spurred her to write the script, and there's a look at the special effects used to create a storm at sea. 

I think of that film as being a bookend to Mr Wrong. They are both spooky thrillers with an allegory travelling through. In the case of Perfect Strangers, it is about the dangerous deception of desire, that suggests the prey becoming the predator. In the right mood you may find it funny. In a different one, you may just be terrified.

– Gaylene Preston compares Perfect Strangers to her first feature Mr Wrong, in her 2022 autobiography Gaylene's Take - Her Life in New Zealand Film, page 341

Key Cast & Crew

Anne Chamberlain

Field Director

Rachael Blake

Subject

Gaylene Preston

Director, Producer, Subject

Joel Tobeck

Subject

Alun Bollinger

Subject

Robin Laing

Producer, Subject