Cromwell calls Miller 'a bully' who wanted control back from Noonan

This kinda explains the reasons behind the animosity between director Chris Noonan and producer George Miller.

JC: Babe was magic from day one. I loved [director/co-writer] Chris Noonan. [Co-writer/producer] George Miller didn’t want me in the picture—he wanted an Australian, and he was gnarly to me for the makeup test. I had grown the sideburns because I saw [Hoggett] with sideburns. Chris introduced me. George said [Grunts dismissively.] “Lose the sideburns.” And I went “No.” [Laughs.] And he went sort of [shrugs petulantly], ’cause he’s a bully. He was actually wonderful to me in the second Babe. But he was not on the first one. As we went on, he gave Chris just the worst time ever. He got so bad, he called him off the set. We were shooting out in the field, and he and his hatchet men took him down to the middle of the field and they were—I could see they were berating him. The first AD was standing around, and no one was supposed to go down, and I said, “Oh, *beep* that.” So I went down and stood next to Chris so George couldn’t do it.

AVC: What was the issue? What was he angry about?

JC: Honestly? I think George got the idea to do—he read the book, his daughter gave him the book, and they read it on a plane, and he waited a long time until the CGI and the puppetry were good enough to do the picture. He had done Road Warrior and all these pictures, but he thought “Oh, if it doesn’t really work, I’d rather not take the heat, so I’ll give it to Chris Noonan.” But then as they got rushes and they saw how wonderful this thing was, I think George wanted it back. He wanted control. He wanted to weaken Chris’—he was evidently brutal with Chris in the editing process. I’ll never work for him again anyway, so it doesn’t matter. [Laughs.] But I am fond of him; I think he’s really talented. And you know, they sometimes do that, they get a burr up their behind or something.

But, the animals were unbelievable. The trainers—the trainers!—the woman who did the sheep was so brilliant. Of course that was the highlight. I loved every day. That day was—the sky was cloudless blue. The grass on this pitch was green, green, green. Eucalyptus trees at the end, and then through the eucalyptus trees, you could see the sea, and at the other end you could see this beautiful Victorian viewing stand, filled with 200 local Australians that were entertained by the second AD or third AD for hours. He told jokes, he was a delight. We’d do all the scenes on the fairgrounds and then comes the time to do the last shot. They let one pig out and that pig saw the ocean, looked at all the people, and said, “I’m getting out of here.” [Laughs.] And he ran, and they all chased him and everything… So they got another pig, and said “Okay,” and it’s deathly quiet, and they say “Action.” That little pig walked to the sheep, sat down, looked at the one sheep, the one sheep looked at Babe. Babe got up, started through the course, and 12 sheep in unison, perfectly—with no commands!—I mean, every animal sequence was a trick. There were always trainers giving commands—on your mark, you know, or whatever it was. Because the conceit was that these animals, to show their intelligence, did moves with their head that animals don’t do. They don’t talk to each other and walk that way and look this way. Human beings do that. That’s why we walk into walls and they don’t. So the sheep went toward me and into the gate, and I pushed the gate closed, and you could actually hear the lock go “Cloink.” And the crowd, just like in the movie, erupted. I mean, it was fabulous.

So the next shot was where I say, “That’ll do, pig. That’ll do.” And I said to Chris—I knew what I wanted to do, but I said to Chris, “Where do you want me to take it?” He said “Why don’t you take it right into the camera?” Which you never do. Now, I had been on this picture for five months, and every day I got made up, but I never paid any attention to the production, because I’m talking to the makeup person to hear all the latest scuttlebutt. So Chris says “Action,” and I turn to the camera, and I look in the lens, which had a big filter on the front of it, and it’s my father staring back at me. And I said—what I heard come out of my mouth, in my head, was, “That’ll do, Jamie. That’ll do.” Which was an acknowledgment from my father for actually showing up for five months without bitching and moaning. I had such a sweet time on that picture. I adored everyone. The moment really works, because I was really touched.