Echoes of Paradise

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Echoes of Paradise

Directed by	Phillip Noyce
Written by	Jan Sharp Anne Brooksbank
Starring	Wendy Hughes John Lone
Release dates	May 1987 (1987-05) (Cannes) March 31, 1989 (1989-03-31) (United States)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	Australia
Language	English
Budget	A$2.6 million^[1]
Box office	A$19,851 (Australia)^[2]

Echoes of Paradise (also known as Shadows of the Peacock) is a 1987 Australian film directed by Phillip Noyce.

Production

The film was written by Jan Sharp who was then married to the director Phil Noyce. Sharp was going to produce but was held up making The Umbrella Woman so producing duties went to Jane Scott. The story was originally set in Bali, where the movie was to be shot, but before filming began The Sydney Morning Herald ran a series of articles suggesting the wife of the Indonesian president was corrupt. All Indonesian visas for Australians were cancelled and the script was rewritten to be set in Thailand, with several keys scenes shot in Sydney.^[3]

Phil Noyce later said the story was so distorted by this change they probably would have been better off not making the movie:

The original story was very different. It was really about the Balinese character's alienation and his coming to terms with it, coming to terms with a western influence and his traditional obligations, trying to work it all out. Wendy Hughes' character went through a very similar journey in the original story. It's just that the setting and the Balinese character were very different once we moved to Thailand.^[4]

Box office

Echoes of Paradise only grossed $19,851 at the box office in Australia.^[5]

References

^ "Australian Productions Top $175 million", Cinema Papers, March 1986 p64
^ "Australian Films at the Australian Box Office", Film Victoria Archived 9 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine accessed 24 October 2009
^ David Stratton, The Avocado Plantation: Boom and Bust in the Australian Film Industry, Pan MacMillan, 1990 p112-113
^ Interview with Phil Noyce, 8 September 1994 accessed 19 October 1994
^ "Film Victoria - Australian Films at the Australian Box Office" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 February 2011. Retrieved 8 November 2010.