No music has been used on the soundtrack.
Writer-producer-director Bill Bennett went into the production knowing he had no margins for error, yet he took the least
tried, most adventurous course to realize his vision for the film. He had a sixty page scene
breakdown including some dialogue: he was going to ask his cast to improvise and he was going
to shoot it from the hip, literally. He could risk that, because he had cinematographer Malcolm McCulloch, with whom he had
worked previously on commercials. "You could make this look like any other film," said
McCulloch, "But Bill wanted to be brave with it. It's daring and exciting, that's why I wanted to
do it." Besides, he said, "Bill and I have worked together before and we're great mates."
What made it especially tough for the filmmakers was the unusually short time available for pre-production. The
overwhelming challenge of making this movie, said co-producer Corrie Soeterboek, was
always the short lead-up to the shoot. In just eight weeks, the twenty-four cast and thirty-six crew members had to be
assembled, the script rehearsed, the production designed, the locations found and locked in, the
travel and accommodation booked, with Bill Bennett wearing three hats as writer, director and
producer.
The film in 1997 was nominated for 11 AFI (Australian Film Institute) Awards including Best Actor (Matt Day), Best Actress (Frances O'Connor), Best Supporting Actor (Chris Haywood), Best Original Screenplay, Best Costume Design, and Best Cinematography. In the end, the film won 5 AFI Awards including Best Film, Best Director (Bill Bennett), Best Sound, Best Editing, and Best Supporting Actor (Andrew S. Gilbert).
All but one of the scenes were improvised by the actors and director, working from a scene-by-scene treatment of approximately 65 pages.The one scene which was fully written with dialogue was the "bacon" scene in the diner between the two cops.