Much anticipated Aussie flick 6 Festivals was recently released on Paramount+, and between you and me, it’s bloody sick.
If you haven’t yet seen it, first of all, what are you waiting for? But also, I’m not one to judge, so to get you up to speed, the movie follows three teenage besties Maxie, Summer, and James (played by Rasmus King, Yasmin Honeychurch and Rory Potter respectively) who try to attend six music festivals in as many months after a cancer diagnosis turns their world upside down.
It’s a proper heartwarming affair, expertly written and directed by director and producer Macario de Souza — who you might know from his stage name, Kid Mac.
Plus, it’s jam-packed with actual festival footage from class acts like Dune Rats, G Flip, B Wise, Peking Duk, Ruby Fields, Jerome Farah and Kobie Dee. A wonderful celebration of Aussie talent – j’adore, honestly.
We caught up with stars of the film Rory, Yasmin, and Rasmus to get all the sweet goss on what it’s like filming with such a star-studded lineup of Aussie musical talent, and all other behind-the-scenes juiciness. Enjoy!
PTV: Congrats on the release of 6 Festivals — what are you most excited for the public to experience when they see it?
Yasmin: Thank you so much! I am excited for everyone to experience the very real feeling of live Australian music festivals and how electric the atmosphere feels.
Rory: I’m most excited to see their reactions to the ways we shot at the festivals. Mac really wanted to create an authentic festival experience for Summer, Maxie and James, so I’m hoping the public really resonate with the trio’s mischievous and fun navigations through the unique world of Aussie music festivals.
The film touches on some pretty heavy subject matter — how did you stay on top of your mental health while shooting, and post-production?
Yasmin: I think the film beautifully addresses some heavy subject matter but I’m proud to say that we don’t glamorise any of it. I kept on top of my mental health by just communicating with my co-stars, Mac, as well as my friends and family. Journaling really helps me to get things onto paper and transfer my thoughts and energy into something physical. Also just making sure I got plenty of sleep was important.
Rory: Immediately the whole production became this close-knit family, which was awesome when those heavier themes in the film came up. Mac was always there to talk things out, as were the other cast members, and everyone is still regularly staying in touch.
Rasmus: I did a lot of research into what Maxie was going through and of course I felt for him, but that’s also what I love about acting, that I get to hop into someone else’s shoes and experience their life.
At the same time, it also hits the dizzying highs that come from music festivals — it looks like you were all having genuine fun. What was it like acting with a backdrop of a real-life music festival, and all the unpredictable challenges that come with that?
Yasmin: We really were having a great time. I mean I was completely nerding out and loving being side of stage and watching the artists transform. It was a super dope experience, and definitely unpredictable. Once the security guard thought we were all actually sneaking into the festival and we had to explain we were shooting a movie.
Rory: It was pretty nuts at times. People would be running up to the camera mid-scene or interacting with us while we were shooting, not realising that we were actors or that a camera was on us. While it was sometimes tough to focus with so much going on, it also really helped with getting into character. We also nearly got kicked out five minutes into Yours and Owls. An organiser walked over to us noticing we had no wristbands and thought our “shooting a movie” excuse needed work!
Rasmus: Some funny stuff went down here and there when people didn’t see the cameras. One time I was having an argument scene with my brother Kyuss — who played my on-screen brother, Kane — and people jumped in thinking we were having a real fight. Once to protect me and then another time to back Kyuss. It was pretty heavy!
Another funny moment during filming was during a scene where I run behind a bar to steal a six-pack of beers. I then had to count to three before running back out to camera. But while I was out back, an actual security guard grabbed me and pinned me down. I tried to explain that I was filming a movie and he said “Yeah Right….like I haven’t heard that one before”.
I hear Mac booked a house in Byron for a few weeks for you all so you could form real friendships that would carry over on screen — what was that like?
Rory: The Byron trip was great as it kind of cleared away any of that awkwardness by the time we got to filming, because we’d genuinely become good mates with each other. We hung out, watched movies, went swimming and surfing, and generally just cemented our friendships in those first few days. This meant that by the time we got to filming we were already super comfortable with each other, and that chemistry really helped in those stressful or time-sensitive moments.
The soundtrack to the movie is wild — what was your favourite performance out of all the festivals you went to?
Rasmus: Yeah the soundtrack is rad! For me, it’s Dune Rats for sure, as I’m into Metal and Indy rock mostly, so I was frothing on seeing them. I also really like Kobie Dee, he’s a champion and I love the way he raps. Ruby Fields, Bliss n Eso, G Flip are all legends and I had such an epic time seeing them live.
Yasmin: ‘Wow’ by KWAME — gets me hype every time.
Rory: I feel so lucky at the amount of live music we got to see while making this film. There was one moment at Big Pineapple where the team was shooting a scene I wasn’t in, and Bliss n Eso were performing. I ran over and got to stand basically right at the front, and they absolutely killed it.
Rory, you also jumped on stage with Dune Rats at Big Pineapple to perform Scott Green — how did that feel? Were you nervous?
That was definitely an experience that I’m never going to forget. I was so nervous even though I’d been practising every day for two weeks. It was also the absolute last scene we were shooting at Big Pineapple, so the whole festival was sort of building up to that moment. I remember getting up on stage and being so amazed at the sheer amount of people I was about to perform to. We only had one shot for the scene to work so I just decided to have as much fun with it and rock out.
Yasmin, You do quite a lot of singing in the film, and you’ve sung in films before — what was it like for you on a personal level working with some of the finest talents in the Australian music scene?
Yasmin: There’s one scene where my character gets too shy to perform and runs off stage. That was based on the nerves I actually had performing in front of them all. I am a fan of all the acts and it was an experience that really shakes you up at first and then humbles you as well. I learnt how much I still have to learn on a more personal level.
Rasmus, as you mentioned earlier, your real-life brother Kyuss plays your on-screen brother in the film — what’s it like working on such a big project with a sibling?
Rasmus: Getting to work with Kyuss was the best. Kyuss plays “Kane”, a character so far from who Kyuss really is. In the film, Kane is a psycho, drug dealer, and controlling older brother — he’s also Maxie’s only guardian.
We had so much fun working together on our scenes. It was so epic developing Kane and his traits and supporting Kyuss in the process. Kyuss came up with this evil high pitch laugh to add to Kane’s unpredictable character and it made Kane even more disturbing.
We had some pretty heavy scenes to do — but after each take, we wanted to do it again! We just had so much fun working together and Kyuss blew me away with his performance. I hope we get to do more together.
What’s the biggest lesson you learned from working on the film?
Yasmin: Expect the unexpected and be very flexible.
Rasmus: We had so many setbacks and challenges during the filming of 6 Festivals due to floods, fires and the pandemic… and it often felt like it would never get finished. Live festivals kept getting cancelled but Mac kept pushing through. 6 Festivals definitely taught me a lot about determination and never giving up on your dreams.
Rory: I think it would have to be to never judge a book by its cover. This film really made me think of all the crazy stuff that can be going on in friends’ and strangers’ lives around you, that you might never know about. It sort of reminded me to be a little bit more understanding, and make sure my friends knew I was there for them no matter what.
Check out 6 Festivals now on Paramount+.
