He was also obsessed with being remembered - which is why he preferred composing over the more lucrative life of a concert pianist - and eventually set up his own museum in Melbourne, collecting thousands of objects that were important to him and amassing a treasure-trove of 50,000 letters.

The Museum - which is now part of the University of Melbourne - provided the basis for Rob George's original play, which he and Peter Goldsworthy developed into a screenplay. A major rewrite was then done by Don Watson, author, playwright and political speechwriter, who was principal writer for four years to former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating, some of whose legendary quips must surely have originated with Watson.

Carroll, George, Goldsworthy, Watson and director Peter Duncan - whose debut feature, Children of the Revolution, was one of the most successful Australian films of the mid-nineties - were not the first to try to make a film about Grainger. Several noted film-makers - including Ken Russell, who was attracted by the scandalous side of the musician's behaviour - had tried and failed.

But under Carroll's guidance, and with input from executive producer Nym Kim, a self-confessed 'Graingerphile', Watson steered the story into areas which, while not denying Grainger's dark side, would be accessible to mainstream audiences, both in Australia and overseas.

And the focus, they decided, should be on Grainger's period in England, before he went to America in the twenties. "The big events in his life," says Carroll, "were obviously the relationship with his mother, the death of his mother, and the vitally important relationship with Karen Holten, which was destroyed because he eventually had to make a choice between her and his mother. He chose his mother, although he continued to communicate with Karen for the rest of his life.

"The other big conflict in Percy's life," continues Carroll, "was between being a pianist and a composer. All of those elements - the mother-son relationship; the love affair with Karen; his friendship with his musical accompanists Alfhild de Luce and Herman Sandby; and his performances as a concert pianist and composer - were then woven together into the screenplay."

Shot in and around Sydney and in the tiny New South Wales town of Michelago (pop: 98) between May 7 and June 12, 1998, the Passion company then moved to England for a further week's shooting in Bath and Clovelly, North Devon.

The cast likewise reflects the international focus of the film: while (apart from Hershey) most of the roles are played by Australian actors, Karen Holten, the beautiful Danish pianist who was Grainger's student, is played by rising British actress Emily Woof, who made her movie debut in The Woodlanders, and has since been seen in The Full Monty (as Robert Carlyle's wife), Photographing Fairies, Fast Food and Velvet Goldmine.