“I’m only waiting”:David Gulpilil.Credit:Miles Rowland and Bing Rowland.
“I’m only waiting,” the great Aboriginal actor,dancer,singer and painter says in a new documentary. “I’m walking like across the desert of country – long,long way – until the time comes for me.”
After five decades of mesmerising performances on screen and stage,Gulpilil has been feted one more time – hopefully not the last time – at the world premiere of Molly Reynolds’My Name Is Gulpililat the Adelaide Festival on Friday night.
The documentary shows him looking back at a life of extremes since British director Nicolas Roeg cast him in the 1971 filmWalkabout and looking forward to one more event – the funeral that will be a final return to his country in Arnhem Land.
The extreme highs included becoming an international star afterWalkabout screened at the Cannes Film Festival,dining with the Queen and,as he says in the documentary,meeting John Lennon,Jimi Hendrix,Muhammad Ali,Clint Eastwood,Bruce Lee and Bob Marley,who showed him how to smoke what he calls ganja.
“I came to love David”:director Molly Reynolds with David Gulpilil while making My Name Is Gulpilil.Credit:Bonnie Paku
He has brought a riveting presence and loose-limbed charisma to such films asStorm Boy,Crocodile Dundee,Rabbit-Proof Fence,The Tracker,Ten Canoes,Australia andCharlie’s Country.
Loading