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Spin Out stars’ bizarre small town experience

Xavier Samuel did some crazy stunts for 'Spin Out'.

Xavier Samuel did some crazy stunts for 'Spin Out'. Photo: Sony Pictures

New larrikin Aussie rom-com Spin Out, directed by Doug Anthony All Star Tim Ferguson and Marc Gracie, is a hoon pride hoot featuring a will-they-won’t-they stand-off between two young friends Billy and Lucy.

Played by rising stars Xavier Samuel (Fury, Love & Friendship), and Morgan Griffin (Unbroken, San Andreas), it takes place over the course of one dusty ute muster and a drunken Bachelor and Spinster ball.

Shot on location in the rural Victorian city of Shepparton with locals jumping in as extras and lending out their vehicles, Samuel and Griffin are required to pull off the sort of hands-on stunt work that might get them a call from Mad Max: Fury Road director George Miller.

The New Daily caught up with them and co-star Travis Jeffery, who plays their hapless bestie Sparrow, at Melbourne’s Como Hotel, where their wisecracking camaraderie saw Griffin offer to do burn outs down Chapel Street.

“We did way more than stunts you’d think and it’s actually kind of exhilarating,” Samuel grins.

He’s particularly proud of a quarry set piece that sees Billy and Lucy attempting lazy Susans in their utes while dodging rocks and trees.

“We’d finish, the dust would settle and there’d be two inches between us.”

“The more we did that routine, the more dust we unsettled,” Griffin reveals.

“There was one minute I came round the rock right behind Xavier and I could not see anything in front of me. I’ve got a video of me doing donuts for seven minutes on my phone. I’m so proud.”

They will team up next in horror film Bad Blood, but for Spin Out, they had to find a different groove, watching old screwball comedies like His Girl Friday starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell.

“They’re always one upping each other and even if someone has a glass of champagne or lights a cigarette, there’s a physical fluidity, the comedy has a kind of dance to it,” Samuel says.

Morgan

Morgan Griffin plays Lucy. Photo: Sony Pictures

Having worked on several war shoots including Unbroken and Gallipoli, Jeffery admits he was nervous about carrying a lot of the humour in Spin Out, but relaxed when Ferguson gave him the thumbs up.

“If Tim Ferguson thinks you’re funny, you’ve made it. Sparrow was written so well and he really sets the tone because it’s the sort of film that you can’t do by halves, you have to go the whole way and celebrate the outlandish nature of it.”

That includes a gross-out scene involving a Portaloo and a firecracker, which Ferguson, talking later on the phone, reveals was lifted from a real incident involving his brother.

“Certainly some of the more tawdry aspects are from my own youth,’” he laughs.

Will they or won't they? Photo: Sony Pictures

Will they or won’t they? Photo: Sony Pictures

Ferguson says co-writing the film with Edwina Exton was invaluable.

“Then you know at least two of you think something’s funny. You go crazy if you’re doing it yourself. It was much the same thing directing with Marc.”

While shooting in Shepparton gave the film an extra layer of authenticity, I note the three leads look a bit squeaky clean.

It’s something Samuel says came back to bite them when shooting footage at a real ute muster.

L-R: Samuel, XX and Jeffery with Ferguson. Photo: Sony Pictures

L-R: Samuel, Griffin and Jeffery with Ferguson (front). Photo: Sony Pictures

“The first ten minutes we were there we went over to some guys, asked them how they were going and if they thought we were a bit overdressed,” he says.

“They ripped the shirt off me, threw it in a fire and pissed on it.”

Ferguson laughs at the recollection. “Well, you know, you ask a silly question, you’re going to get a silly answer. They really are very good-looking and have all their teeth, so their fashion sense was baptised by fire.”

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