“You either really love it or you really hate it. There’s nothing in between,” he said.

Jarratt and Fairfax were in Bendigo last week promoting StalkHer, a thriller that sees a male stalker beaten at his own game and caught by the female he is fascinated with.

“We thought it was about time the tables were turned and that the woman is seen as a predator in the storyline,” she said.

“It is a more interesting way to tell a story. We sat around and said let’s make something that is a challenge and makes people think.

“It’s a little not-quite-right and pushes boundaries. We know we’ve done that.”

As well as starring together in the film Fairfax and Jarratt co-directed StalkHer.

The plot follows Jack (Jarratt) whose stalking habit gets the best of him when he breaks into Emily’s (Fairfax) house. 

But Jack’s plans go awry when he wakes up and finds himself tied to a chair in Emily’s kitchen.

It is Jarratt’s first time in the director’s chair – even if he does spend a majority of the film tied to it.

“I think I spend about 90 per cent of the film tied to a chair,” Jarratt said.

“She’s in control. Most films, the man is in control but there are great films where the woman has the upper hand.

“(StalkHer) is along the lines of classics like A Streetcar Named Desire, Who’s Afraid Virginia Woolf, Misery and War of the Roses where there is all sorts of mayhem happening in a house over the course of one or two nights.”

Fairfax said part of the challenge in making the film was making the characters likeable.

“You get to know the characters and their world and you know, sort of, what’s going on in their minds,” she said.

“We wanted to make (the film) feel as claustrophobic as possible in the way we shot it but at the same time let the audience breathe with flashbacks and scenes outside the house.”

The amount of experience Jarratt and Fairfax share dates back to when they first shared the screen together in The Last Outlaw.

“We have got a lot of experience between us but we also relied on the very experienced people in our crew,” Jarratt said.

“Kaarin has directed a lot of theatre so we rehearsed it like a play. It comes across like a two handed play I think.”

Jarratt said the film was a psycho drama about getting the upper hand.

“The tagline is ‘he chased her until she caught him’. It’s an inappropriate romantic thriller but also a psycho drama comedy who-dunnit..”

StalkHer (MA15+) is in Bendigo Cinemas on Thursday, August 27.