Paperback Romance Interview
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Genre=Non-fiction;
Pages=2;
Characters=3,122;
June 3, 2001
My name is John Kinealy I am a cast technician (orthopaedic technologist) from Melbourne Australia and have been in this profession for 21 years. My love of my profession has given me many rewards, like having the opportunity to travel to many countries. I was part of an orthopaedic team that attended the Tsunami disaster in Papua New Guinea in 1998, that devastated the North West Coast. I am also the vice president of our national association as well as the founding editor of our national and state publications. In between all of this I apply the occasional cast and splint for ads and movies. The most recent was this S.A.C. with procell (gore-tex) liner. I think the colours look fantastic.
One of the more famous casting movies I did was Lucky Break or Paperback Romance, depending on where you live. I became involved in a sort of advisory capacity, and it sort of grew from there. First up I received a call from the Art Director Simone; she asked me general questions on a broad number of issues, which I gladly answered. From this my involvement snowballed from a few answers, to applying all of the casts and splints in the movie. I even get to star in it, but you don't know its me. I'm the one who cuts Sophie's cast off and the one who grabs hold of the saw as it is cutting up the leather couch. The only cast I didn't make was one that has main focus in the movie. That was made by a special effects guy and was already made before I got involved. All of the other casts are real, including the thermoplastic arm abduction brace worn by Rebecca Gibney. Both Rebecca and Gia were delightful to work with and I spent quite a few hours with both of them. The casts you see were applied at my work place (which is the hospital you see when she arrives to have it removed) and on different set locations, depending on the scene. The Austrian ski chalet and the Greek Island scenes were shot in a factory. That was an all day affair, as was the fracture clinic scenario, my wife is one of the extras with a S.L.C. I think its purple but it has been that long since I saw the movie I could be wrong.
The cast on Gia's leg is a fibreglass inside layer with a plaster outer shell. It is not the type of medical F/G that you guys are used to, but the industrial type. Never the less it is very well done. It has brass tubing that runs down both sides all the way to the plantar (sole) of the foot. It was then cut on both sides (Bivalved) in a wave type motion like this ~~~~~~~ and metal pins are inserted from both ends to lock both shells together. If you look very closely at the movie you can just see the pins sticking out of the heel area. I still have that cast it was signed by the crew and given to me, it sits in the corner of my office.
The movie took I think about 3-4 months to shoot but I could not actually tell you how many hours the actors spent in the casts. In general I think they enjoyed their time being casted and I know I certainly enjoyed casting them. I have these photos on my office wall as a reminder of the movie. I hope you enjoy them.
john
