The Proposition (2005)

Director:

John Hillcoat

Writer:

Nick Cave (written by)

Release Date:

6 October 2005 (Australia)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Western

Tagline:

This land will be civilized.

Plot:

A lawman apprehends a notorious outlaw and gives him 9 days to kill his older brother, or else they'll execute his younger brother.

Plot Keywords:

Doctor | Murder | Flogging | Dust | Severed Head

Awards:

13 wins & 24 nominations

Cast

Richard Wilson	...	Mike Burns
Noah Taylor	...	Brian O'Leary
Jeremy Madrona	...	Asian Prostitute
Jae Mamuyac	...	Asian Prostitute
Guy Pearce	...	Charlie Burns
Mick Roughan	...	Mad Jack Bradshaw
Shane Watt	...	John Gordon
Ray Winstone	...	Captain Stanley
Robert Morgan	...	Sergeant Lawrence
David Gulpilil	...	Jacko
Bryan Probets	...	Officer Dunn
Oliver Ackland	...	Patrick Hopkins
Danny Huston	...	Arthur Burns
David Vallon	...	Tom Cox
Daniel Parker	...	Henry Clark
Carl Rush	...	Robert Borland
Garry Waddell	...	Officer Davenport (as Gary Waddell)
Iain Gardiner	...	Officer Matthews
Emily Watson	...	Martha Stanley
Bogdan Koca	...	Paul Broussard
Sue Dwyer	...	Mrs. Broussard
Lance Medlin	...	Dan O'Reilly
John Hurt	...	Jellon Lamb
David Wenham	...	Eden Fletcher
Rodney Boschman	...	Tobey
Boris Brkic	...	Officer Halloway
Ned Rose	...	Old Aboriginal
Leah Purcell	...	Queenie
Tom Budge	...	Samuel Stoat
Tommy Lewis	...	Two Bob (as Tom E. Lewis)
Ralph Cotterill	...	Dr. Bantrey
Max Age	...	Thommo
Jerry Solomon	...	Blinky

Directed by
John Hillcoat

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Nick Cave		written by

Produced by
James Atherton	....	executive producer
Chris Auty	....	executive producer
Gina Black	....	line producer
Chris Brown	....	producer
Pam Collis	....	associate producer
Sara Giles	....	executive producer
Michael Hamlyn	....	executive producer
Michael Henry	....	executive producer
Norman Humphrey	....	executive producer
Robert Jones	....	executive producer
Chiara Menage	....	producer
Jackie O'Sullivan	....	producer
Christopher Simon	....	associate producer
Cat Villiers	....	producer

Original Music by
Nick Cave
Warren Ellis

Cinematography by
Benoît Delhomme

Film Editing by
Jon Gregory

Casting by
Nikki Barrett
Gary Davy

Production Design by
Chris Kennedy

Art Direction by
Bill Booth
Marita Mussett

Set Decoration by
Jill Eden

Costume Design by
Margot Wilson

Makeup Department
Lea Dixon	....	hair stylist
Lea Dixon	....	makeup artist
Bronwyn Fitzgerald	....	hair stylist
Bronwyn Fitzgerald	....	makeup artist
Sally Gordon	....	key hair stylist
Sally Gordon	....	key makeup artist
Anita Lowe	....	key hair stylist
Kym Sainsbury	....	special effects prosthetics
Zeljka Stanin	....	hair stylist: Guy Pearce
Zeljka Stanin	....	makeup artist: Guy Pearce

Production Management
Libby Mourant	....	production manager
Louise Seymour	....	post-production supervisor
Graeme Suhr	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Vera Biffone	....	second assistant director
Darren Mallett	....	first assistant director
Peter McLennan	....	second second assistant director
Chris Sheen	....	third assistant director (as Christopher Sheen)

Art Department
Kim Prentice	....	art department assistant
Steve Taylor	....	property master
Marko Anttonen	....	set designer (uncredited)

Sound Department
Mark Appleby	....	assistant sound re-recording mixer
Anna Bertmark	....	assistant sound editor
Alison Bown	....	dialogue editor
Richard Davey	....	sound re-recording mixer
Paul Davies	....	supervising sound editor
Anthony Faust	....	adr mixer
Nick Foley	....	adr recordist
Jack Gillies	....	sound effects editor
Chris Goodes	....	adr recordist
James Hamilton	....	foley editor
Ian Morgan	....	supervising dialogue & adr editor
Andrew Neil	....	adr recordist
Anne Pamphilon	....	sound post-production coordinator
Stacey Parish	....	assistant sound
Jenny Sutcliffe	....	boom operator
Ted Swanscott	....	adr mixer
Jessie Taylor	....	assistant sound re-recording mixer
Craig Walmsley	....	sound recordist

Special Effects by
Joe Amalfi	....	special effects technician
Steve Courtney	....	special effects supervisor
Neil Lorenz	....	special effects technician
Owen Pawsey	....	special effects technician
Rhiannon Porter	....	special effects coordinator
Kym Sainsbury	....	prosthetics creator

Visual Effects by
Andy Burrow	....	scanning and recording manager: Framestore CFC
James Clarke	....	visual effects
Kate Cuffin	....	compositor: Framestore CFC
Oliver Deen	....	editorial assistant: Framestore CFC
Oliver Deen	....	visual effects editorial
Paul Doogan	....	scanning and recording
Robert Duncan	....	visual effects supervisor: Framestore CFC (as Rob Duncan)
Ben Gillingham-Sutton	....	digital cleanup artist
Adam Glasman	....	colourist
Joe Godfrey	....	scanning and recording & digital cleanup
Charlie Habanananda	....	digital intermediate data operator
Alistair Hamer	....	film mastering engineer
Piers Hampton	....	visual effects producer
Jan Hogevold	....	production Executiveo: Framestore CFC
Jason Horley	....	matte painter: Framestore CFC
Brian Krijgsman	....	assistant digital colourist: Framestore CFC
Dan Lavender	....	technical director: Framestore CFC
Kevin Lowery	....	scanning and recording
Roz Lowrie	....	head of visual effects editorial: Framestore CFC
Claire McGrane	....	senior producer: Framestore CFC
Sarah Micallef	....	visual effects coordinator: Framestore CFC
Maria Michalopoulou	....	data operator: Framestore CFC
Stuart Nippard	....	data operator
Cal Sawyer	....	head of data operation: Framestore CFC
John Sharp	....	compositor: Framestore CFC
Matina Skouteri	....	scanning and recording operator
Donna Smith	....	editorial assistant: Framestore CFC
Paul Stamp	....	technical assistant: Framestore CFC
Maria Stroka	....	DI producer
Paola Varvaro	....	digital cleanup artist
Stephen Willey	....	systems engineer
Annabel Wright	....	digital cleanup supervisor
Nathan Hughes	....	digital matte painter (uncredited)

Stunts
Ric Anderson	....	stunt coordinator
Angela Moore	....	stunt assistant
Angela Moore	....	stunt double
Darko Tuscan	....	safety supervisor (as Darko Tuskan)

Camera and Electrical Department
Kerry Brown	....	still photographer
Simon Finney	....	director of photography: second unit
Stephen Head	....	best boy electric
Lee Mariano	....	second assistant camera: "b" camera
Brett Matthews	....	first assistant camera
Graham Rutherford	....	gaffer

Casting Department
Brendan Donnison	....	adr voice casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Flip Wootten	....	costume stand-by

Editorial Department
Bill Collis	....	assistant editor
Adam Glasman	....	colorist
Brian Krijgsman	....	digital grading assistant
Claire McGrane	....	senior digital intermediate producer
Ian Seymour	....	first assistant editor
Maria Stroka	....	digital intermediate producer

Music Department
Jake Jackson	....	music scoring mixer
Gerard McCann	....	music editor
Gerard McCann	....	music supervisor

Other crew
Ric Anderson	....	horse master
Erich Bailey	....	unit assistant
Gavin Baskett	....	production runner
Katie Brock	....	animal wrangler
Megan Clarke	....	travel coordinator
Tony Clarke	....	location manager
Steve Courtney	....	armorer supervisor
Geoffrey Cox	....	script editor
Annalise Davis	....	research assistant
Jennifer Des Champs	....	production coordinator
Steven Elliott	....	assistant to director
Nicki Ellis	....	assistant production coordinator
Wayne Glennie	....	wrangler
Andrew Hardwick	....	assistant production coordinator
Kelly Head	....	first assistant accountant
Tony Jablonski	....	horse coordinator
Rachel James	....	post-production accountant
Kylie Jones	....	unit assistant
Kevin Kasper	....	head wrangler
Michael Larcombe	....	scorpio technician
David Mason	....	unit assistant
John Medland	....	animal wrangler
Donna Morton	....	assistant horse coordinator
Damon Murray	....	title designer
Neil Peplow	....	head of production
Rhiannon Porter	....	armory technician
Nathalia Rayfield	....	assistant to producer
Don Ross	....	wrangler
Don Ross Jr.	....	wrangler
Mick Roughan	....	safety assistant
Sophie Siomos	....	financial controller
Richard Smith	....	production runner: UK
Stephen Sorrell	....	title designer
Deborah Sutherland	....	production accountant
Troy Thomson	....	wrangler
Lucy Whitton	....	researcher
Rachel Willis	....	assistant: Nick Cave

Thanks
Laura De Casto	....	very special thanks
Hamish McAlpine	....	very special thanks

Production Companies

• Autonomous
• Film Consortium
• Jackie O Productions
• Pacific Film and Television Commission
• Pictures in Paradise
• Surefire Film Productions
• UK Film Council

Distributors

• A-Film Distribution (2005) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Califórnia Home Vídeo (2006) (Brazil) (VHS) (DVD)
• Cinema Mondo (2006) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar (2005) (Australia) (theatrical)
• First Look International (2006) (USA) (theatrical)
• First Look International (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• LK-TEL (2007) (Argentina) (DVD)
• LK-TEL (2007) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Maple Pictures (2006) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Pan Vision (2006) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Russian Report (2006) (Russia) (all media)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2007) (Germany) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures (2006) (Australia) (DVD)
• Tartan Films (2005) (UK) (theatrical)
• Tartan Video (2006) (UK) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Framestore CFC (visual effects)

Other Companies

• Air-Edel Recording Studios  music recorded at (as Air Edel Studios, London)
• Atlab  film lab: rushes
• Bank of Ireland  production financing provided by
• Clarity Post Production Sound  foley recording facilities
• Clarity Post Production Sound  sound post-production
• Cutting Edge Post Pty. Ltd.  telecine: rushes (as Cutting Edge Post, Brisbane)
• Fatts  post-production script service
• Framestore CFC  digital intermediate
• Goldcrest Post Production London  post-production facilities (as Goldcrest Post Production)
• Goldcrest Post Production London  sound mixing facilities (as Goldcrest Post Production)
• Mayflower Studios  adr recorded at
• Miles Murray Sorrell Fuel  title design (as Murray & Sorrell Fuel)
• Mute Records  soundtrack
• Panavision Australia  camera equipment
• Paul Davies Sound Design  sound post-production
• Salon  Avids
• Soundfirm  adr recording: Australia (as Soundfirm Pty Ltd)
• Spectrum Films International  stills processing (as Spectrum)
• Technicolor  film lab: post-production
• Tru-Cut  negative cutting

Also Known As:

The Proposition - Tödliches Angebot (Germany) (Germany) (DVD box title) [de]
A Proposta (Brazil) [pt]
Paranomi dikaiosyni (Greece) (DVD title) [el]
Proposta, La (Italy) (DVD title) [it]
Propuesta de muerte (Argentina) (DVD title) [es]
The proposition - ehdotus (Finland) [fi]
Uvjeti predaje (Croatia) [hr]

MPAA:

Rated R for strong grisly violence, and for language.

Runtime:

104 min | Canada:104 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

Australia | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Netherlands:16 (DVD rating) | Singapore:M18 | Norway:15 | Ireland:16 | Australia:MA | USA:R | UK:18 | Hong Kong:IIB | Finland:K-15 | Germany:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Argentina:13 | Sweden:15 | New Zealand:R16

Filming Locations:

Queensland, Australia

Company:

Autonomous

Trivia:

Nick Cave finished the script in three weeks.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the captain takes a drink, he takes the bottle cap off and sets it beside the bottle on the right side of the desk and pours his drink. In the next instant the cap is in his left hand as he caps the bottle.

Quotes:

[last lines]
Arthur Burns: You got me, Charlie. What are you going to do now?

Soundtrack:

Peggy Gordon

Like Cain & Abel (with an extra brother...)

A real treat of a Western - gritty, bloody, unjust & riddled with flies. An apocalyptic glimpse of some hard family lessons from Nick Cave. Brilliant performances all round thanks to Ray Winstone, Emily Watson & Guy Pearce in particular. Visually stunning due to the location (anyone with the ability to remove a lens cap or activate a camera would capture something beautiful in that wonderful country Australia! But these scenes just envelope you and burn into your brain - in a good way). Tempting to add more to this scant comment box but it might just take something away from your viewing pleasure. And that would be a travesty because this is definitely a film to go in "fresh" to.