It’s mid-summer. The air in Darwin is like steam from a hot shower. Only the irrepressible bougainvilleas – bright chocolate-box pinks, purples and reds – defy the climate. They bloom crisply while everything, and everyone around them, collapses a soggy, limp heap. Outside the Darvin courthouse, a crowd has already gathered. It’s just 8am. There’s a hushed air of exptectancy, until a jackhammer rips through the silence. A runner rushes the offending workmen, muttered negotations take place, an agreement is reached (money changes hands) and the jackhammer stops. A pregnant figure in a pink and white dress slowly pulls herself out of a car. For a frozen second, it’s as though it’s a time warp. It’s eight years earlier and Lindy Chamberlain is being helped from the car by her husband, Michael. It is a truly eerie moment, goosebumps come up despite the heat, all the old emotions – mostly forgotton – roar to the top of your mind. Did she or didn’t she? Could she or couldn’t she?

“Cut” yells a big, red-haired and freckle-faced man. Meryl Streep (Lindy) and Sam Neill (Michael) wander back to their respective caravans. They will repeat the scene seven more times until director Fred Schepisi is happy… and another segment will go into the can in the making of “Evil Angels”. The $15 million production, based on the book of the Chamberlain case by John Bryson, is fraught with as many rumours – almost – as the case it is based on. “Meryl chucked a wobby this morning,” muttered one cast member. “The heat’s getting to her,” remarked a nearby Darwin local with the kind of authority only the truly ignorant can muster. But then Darwin was rife with rumours about the star. “She wanted to back out of the part after the met Lindy,” said an air hostess. (She didn’t) “She’s hard/easy to deal with, she’s short/tall, loud/quiet…” quibble others who have never even seen her. Gossip, it semms, is the stuff of the outback, and it whips from mouth to mouth, careless of the damage it can do. In only days, an ill-thought-out opinion becomes folklore and then fact.

Meryl was a special target. The Chamberlain case was still a sensitive issue in town, many locals worried they would be portrayed as blood-thirsty rednecks eager for a hanging, not a pardon. So – some of them attacked first and found ill-omens in the slightest mishap involving the production. “Bad vibes, bad feelings, bet it’s a box office flop,” locals muttered. As feelings mounted and the film people became more aware of the animosity of the town, steps were taken to win over Darwin. The chief publicist for the film, Rea Francis, was flown up from Sydney to try to restore a measure of calm. A cocktail party was arranged for official’s who’d been involved with the actual case, or who were helping to smooth the way for the film crew. Meryl attended – but mostly, only the officials’ wives turned up in their cocktail finery to meet the star. The men stayed home. Finally, Meryl was put on display for the generel press. “Was the heat bothering her?”, asked one reporter. “No, no,” she said through a fixed smile, “I like it. It’s snowing in Switzerland.” And she disappeared. Earlier, she explained why she agreed to do the role of Lindy: “It’s a danger that we all make judgements of people through the electronic media in 30 second snatches of news at night. You see someone and you don’t like the set of their eyebrows, whether they cry or not. Just because someone on television may not be a fair indication of who they are.” Did she think Lindy was innocent? After reading Bryson’s book, she was convinced the Dingo did it. British executive producer, John Dark, is having an easier time than most members of the production. His role is to keep a casual eye on finances and make sure the film sticks to schedule. He manages a cynical humor about the tribulations of filming. “This is no more fraught than many sets and a lot less hysterical than most,” he said. “Mind you, I never did understand why Verity Lambert wanted to make this movie. It’s a high risk deal. It’s high risk for Meryl, too. It’s not a very sympathetic role. But she’s magic. It’s such a cliche, but I feel privileged to see her work. When you sit through 10 rushes of the same scene, mostly, you’re bored to death. But you can’t get enough of Meryl. She hates the heat though. It’s been a hard shoot for her.”

John goes on to joke about Verity: “It’s her first independent production and she’s pulled in Fred and Meryl and Sam. That’s impressive. She’s big time now but she still worries about every penny. I tell her to relax. She’s the producer not the char lady. She’s dealing in millions of dollars but she worries about the laundry bill!” Verity, naturally enough, regards even small crises as life or death situations. Her career, hard-earned with successes such as “Minder”, “Reilly: Ace of Spies” and “Rumpole of the Bailey”, could hinge on the success of the film. She minces around on imaginary egg shells terrified some little thing will upset Meryl or Sam. “It’s not an easy role for Meryl,” Verity says after local newspaper reports suggest Meryl is having trouble with the part. “She’s taking an enormous amout of time to get it right – and the Australian accent isn’t an easy one. She also has to get Lindy’s mannerisms, which takes a great deal of concentration.” Verity, Meryl and Sam all met the Chamberlains. Verity was impressed with Lindy. “When I first read about the case in the British papers, I thought Lindy was guilty – based on the forensic reports. Then I read Bryson’s book and I was more objective. I met Lindy seven years after the event. I don’t really know what I expected but she has a good sense of humour and she’s intelligent. You can’t go on grieving all your life – although I think there are moments when she still feels grief. But you have to go on living your live. She’d survived the prisons, the press. She has to be strong.”

The film will not be simply a documentary. It will fill in the gaps the way Lindy said it happened – audiences will see the dingo, see the baby Azaria alive and well, see into the relationship between Michael and Lindy. “I’ve already been accused of trying to whitewash the Chamberlains,” Verity said. “Some people will inevitably see the film as propaganda. I just hope it will prompt people to re-examine the evidence. I suppose for Lindy to be completely cleared in the eyes of the world, you’d have to find the baby, or the baby’s body, and it’s never going to be found – if you accept the fact that a dingo did it.” Sam Neill is clear in his mind that a great injustice took place. “I believe completely in their innocence,” he said. “I think of Michael as being a friend of mine and I think the media has a lot to answer for in this case. I feel a kind of responsibility to reward Michael. I feel I have to do him some kind of justice.” And yet the Chamberlains encouraged the media in those early days. “Yes,” Sam said, “they handled it badly in terms of the press, but I think it’s unrealistic to expect them to have done otherwise.” Sam is quick to point out the film is not a propaganda exercise, but cross when you ask if it’s entertainment. “People can think what they like but that doesn’t alter the truth. Lies are extremely strong and hard to grapple with, but in the end, truth is the strongest.”

Heat, flies, dirt and dust aside, the role is one of the most difficult Sam Neill has taken on. “It’s hard to play someone who is alive and well-known.” There is the effort and challenge too, of keeping up with Meryl Streep. It’s the second time Sam has worked with her (they were together in “Plenty”) and he’s aware she is regarded as one of the greatest actresses of our time. “She is a great actress. There’s no doubt about it. I certainly learn from her. Just being on the set with her is a constant reminder that one always has to concentrate, to be inventive and creative. She’s extraordinary.” Sam Neill is uncanny as Michael Chamberlain. If Meryl is magnetic, it’s more because of her presence than her likeness to Lindy. Sam is so similiar to Michael, it’s easy to be confused. The movie is set top open in Australia, and the US in November. There’s little doubt it will revive the Chamberlain debate nationwide. Verity said: “The Chamberlains have become notorious for the rest of their lives. No, I don’t think the film will make their lives worse. Hopefully, it may make a few people understand that everything is not black and white.”