Cassandra Magrath
Actress playing Ella

My Holiday…… I mean filming Summer Coda in Mildura.

It Begins: Fly to Mildura with Angus Sampson, Dan Freidrekson and Pacharo Mzembe and get dropped straight to The Grand our home for 2 weeks. Very happy to see it had a pool, gym and sauna, although I knew I would not be frequenting the gym. Nathan Phillips stayed in a caravan on the river, despite the fact it was incredibly beautiful and rich with wildlife, he was very happy it had wireless internet. A big BBQ was put on to meet the cast and crew. I had a wardrobe fitting that lasted about 25 minutes and that was the extent of my ‘work’ for that day. Had a lovely night meeting new crew and catching up with familiar faces.

For the next few days the ‘pickers’ were required to train in the art of orange picking. Which we did at orange world, a charming orange farm owned and run by Maria and Mario, the nicest people in the world. Nathan brought his portable ipod stereo and I don’t think I stopped laughing all day. It’s hard to explain how funny Angus Sampson is. If you try and imitate his commentary to others it never quite works because it needs to be said by him, in his voice. It was absolutely beautiful to pick oranges with old friends, with music playing and the sun shining. If only I’d put on SUNSCREEN!!!! Burnt my face. In particular my forehead. We had a read through that night with Alex and Richard Gray and looking in the mirror before hand I told myself ‘I’ts not that bad’, It’s just me being picky’. Well I was wrong. Everyone noticed straight away and it wasnt long before the make up department sent me some sunscreen with the instruction to wear it everyday. They must have thought ‘GOD actors can’t do anything on their own, they’re like little babies’ I vowed to not let my red face get me down as there were still a few days before I started filming.

Those first few days of orange picking practice for a couple of hours a day and read thrus at night were beautiful. Heaps of time to swim in the pool and shop in town. Rachael (Taylor) and Alex (Dimitriades) were flat out all the time, while the pickers roamed the streets in search of good coffee and enjoyed being out of the rat race of Melbourne. When we were filming, we were always outside in an orange farm, or a river bank with time between set ups to play guitar (I listened) or read the paper or get ‘flown’ by Nathan ( A yoga type stretch he had recently learned how to do to someone, think the ’superman’ you used to do as a kid but more sophisticated) or take photos. We often did line runs and had lengthy discussions about our characters and their relationships with each other but it never ever felt like work. As a supporting cast member you get the best of both worlds. You are in the movie and you get to enjoy time doing what you want. Main cast and crew don’t enjoy this luxury but ’someone’s got to do it eh?’ But all good things must come to an end. Sadly there is no more waking up in a fancy hotel, opening my door to see who is poolside, having people feed me, drive me and tell me how the day is going to go, no it’s back to reality, to bills, traffic and me working out my own schedule. Bit dull really… when you compare.

I really had a beautiful time that I will cherish. LOVE LOVE LOVED meeting Rachael, Alex and Pacharo and spending time with my beautiful Friends Angus, Dan and Nathan. Angus and I sat next to each other on the plane home and talked at length about how grateful we were to have had such a beautiful experience together that had also allowed us to spend time catching up as well. I know everyone else felt the same. Good work if you can get it!