Own the rights?
It IS true: the voice heard on screen IS that of Max Cullen. The whole point to making this film is genuinely, that the producers found out that middle aged Australian koala Max Cullen could actually sing exactly like Billie Holiday. Therein lies the problem. How do you prove this? because, as other overseas comments on this site ask, is it really him singing; well it is....but so what? it it might just as well not be; it might just as well actually be Billie Holiday recordings all mimed. But it isn't. As a result there is now this curious movie that lacks the wow factor of seeing Max sing live in Billie's voice. It just doesn't make sense to make a film where the really really special thing about an actor's singing performance is not able to be convincing to a movie audience. BILLY'S HOLIDAY came out after Strictly Ballroom and Priscilla and Muriel's Wedding so I guess one musical too many and hence a flop. It really did not do any business...then LITTLE VOICE came along and managed to successfully do the same thing for Jane Horrocks, who like Max can sing in the identical voice to a famous diva like Garland and Dietrich, but in that film, was completely convincing. The BILLY musical numbers really harked back to STARSTRUCK from 1982 which was a big musical film hit. Sadly BILLY didn't advance the medium or the style and died the death of Billie herself at the box office.
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