P.J. Hogan Reflects On ‘Mental’ Inspired By His Mother’s Mental Illness [Exclusive Video]

P.J. Hogan wrote and directed Mental, a film that recreates the events that unfolded as a result of his mother’s mental illness. Hogan’s mother suffered a nervous breakdown and had to be institutionalized when he was just 12 years old. “The moment my mom was gone, we didn’t sit around crying, we just took immediate advantage of her absence and ordered and ate pizzas, we didn’t wash our clothes,” Hogan told Uinterview exclusively. “We had clothes everywhere, and so we sent our dad a little bit crazy. So crazy that when he was on his way to counsel he stopped for a hitchhiker who he trusted because she had a dog. He picked her up, offered her a job, which was looking after us so he wouldn’t have to.”

The woman who became their surrogate mother was Hogan’s inspiration for the character Shaz in Mental. The writer/director knew that this part was meant to be taken on by the star of his breakout film Muriel’s Wedding – Toni Collette.

“We’ve always wanted to work together again and I actually, on the set of Muriel’s Wedding,” Hogan explained. “I would say to her, ‘If you think the story of Muriel, which is based on my sister, if you think that’s a mad story, wait till you hear about Shaz.’ Anyway, Toni kept at me. She’d send me emails, ‘Give me a call, how’s the Shaz script going?’ Finally, the time was right. I think I was waiting for Toni to get old enough to play the character.”

Hogan, whose sister is schizophrenic, whose brother is bipolar and who is the father of two autistic children, is a firm believer that an ability to laugh is essential to being a caregiver of those suffering from mental illness. “You know, laughter can invite you in and that’s what I wanted to do,” said Hogan. “I wanted to invite the audience in to a world that they might otherwise resist.”

For Uinterview’s full video interview with P.J. Hogan, click here.