Trivia / Gabriel (2007)

• Billing Displacement: By the time of release, Erika Heynatz was billed first. She plays the small supporting role of Lilith, but had also become known for winning It Takes Two, and was the most notable name in the cast. This can be very jarring to any newer viewers coming to the film after Andy Whitfield, who is both the lead and the title character, became more famous for Spartacus: Blood and Sand.
• Dark Horse Casting: Filmmakers specifically avoided casting name actors or recognisable faces. Andy Whitfield and Erika Heynatz were unknown at the time, but became more recognisable later.
• Fake Nationality: Shane Abbess instructed the cast to use 'neutral' accents to give the film international appeal.
• Hostility on the Set: A group of extras clashed with the filmmakers over the deferred payment agreement after two days of filming and basically threatened Shane Abbess "or we're going to kill you."
• No Budget: Made for only A$150,000, which Word of God described as "the catering budget on a Hollywood film". It was unusual by the standards of Australian film, as it was self-financed and didn't rely on government funding.
• Playing Against Type:
  • Samantha Noble was normally cast as manipulative or duplicitous characters, and remarked that playing a healer was very different for her.
  • Dwaine Stephenson also didn't usually play villains.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: Shane Abbess ran out of time when shooting Balan's death scene and resorted to "crash zooms...in and out of the action" to highlight key moments - as there was less time to film using conventional techniques.
• So My Kids Can Watch: Sort of. Andy Whitfield's wife urged him to take the part, as his first lead in a feature film, to tell his son something inspiring.
• Stillborn Franchise: It was written to be part one of a potential trilogy.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The art department spent a lot of time creating a sculpture made out of hessian and chicken wire, but it ultimately wasn't used.
  • The first cut ran for nearly three hours. When screened for a group of Hollywood execs, they suggested cutting it down to two hours because "we're an MTV audience these days."
• Writing by the Seat of Your Pants: Not the film itself, but the fight scenes often only got choregraphed right before they were to be filmed. The fight between Gabriel and Asmodeus in the hallway was memorised in only an hour.