"The art world caused this..." Dark Star has released an official trailer for Acute Misfortune, a fictional adaptation of Erik Jensen's award-winning biography of the tortured Australian artist Adam Cullen. This originally premiered at the Melbourne and Adelaide Film Festivals back in 2018, and also played at the Edinburgh Film Festival last year. The film is an examination of the connection between the biographer and his subject, following this particular story as it descends into a dependent and abusive relationship. Toby Wallace (who won the "Best Young Actor" award at the 2019 Venice Film Festival for Babyteeth) stars as biographer Erik Jensen, and Daniel Henshall co-stars as bipolar artist Adam Cullen (who passed away in 2012). It also stars Gillian Jones, Geneviève Lemon, and Max Cullen. This does indeed look like a very striking film, boasting some stunning images accenting a complicated story about two very different people. Here's the official trailer...
- 10/4/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Barbara Leane has been remembered by friends and colleagues as a trailblazing talent agent, an astute businesswoman and a mentor to countless actors and young agents.
Leane died on Friday on the Gold Coast after being diagnosed with cancer in January. Her age was a ‘state secret.’
Barbara Leane Management mentored some of the country’s most successful actors including Luke Ford, Wendy Hughes, Max Cullen, Kerry Armstrong, Peter Phelps, Bruce Spence, Anne Looby, Ian Stenlake and Susan Prior.
Phelps was 18 and making his debut on The Restless Years when legendary actor John Ewart asked him about his agent. “What do they do?” Phelps asked, so Ewart urged him to approach Leane, who went on to represent him for 25 years until she retired.
“Barbara was the den mother to every one of her beloved actor cubs,” Phelps tells If. “She chose her client actors on who that person was as...
Leane died on Friday on the Gold Coast after being diagnosed with cancer in January. Her age was a ‘state secret.’
Barbara Leane Management mentored some of the country’s most successful actors including Luke Ford, Wendy Hughes, Max Cullen, Kerry Armstrong, Peter Phelps, Bruce Spence, Anne Looby, Ian Stenlake and Susan Prior.
Phelps was 18 and making his debut on The Restless Years when legendary actor John Ewart asked him about his agent. “What do they do?” Phelps asked, so Ewart urged him to approach Leane, who went on to represent him for 25 years until she retired.
“Barbara was the den mother to every one of her beloved actor cubs,” Phelps tells If. “She chose her client actors on who that person was as...
- 3/22/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Steve Le Marquand in Broke.
The 14th annual Gold Coast Film Festival will screen Australian features Spear, Broke, A Month of Sundays, Girl Asleep, Crushed, Observance and The Hunters Club, and play host to guests including Reg Cribb, David Stratton, Claudia Karvan and Gracie Otto.
Director Stephen Page will also make his debut at the fest..
Page and his leading man (and son) Hunter Page-Lochard, star of the upcoming ABC-tv series Cleverman, will attend a screening of Spear, followed by a Q&A session.
The team behind Broke - director Heath Davis, producer Luke Graham and actors Steve Le Marquand and Max Cullen - will attend the film's Queensland premiere.
The film follows the story of disgraced rugby league star and gambling addict, Ben .Bk. Kelly, who attempts to turn his life around with the support of his two biggest fans..
Writer Reg Cribb (Last Cab to Darwin) will attend...
The 14th annual Gold Coast Film Festival will screen Australian features Spear, Broke, A Month of Sundays, Girl Asleep, Crushed, Observance and The Hunters Club, and play host to guests including Reg Cribb, David Stratton, Claudia Karvan and Gracie Otto.
Director Stephen Page will also make his debut at the fest..
Page and his leading man (and son) Hunter Page-Lochard, star of the upcoming ABC-tv series Cleverman, will attend a screening of Spear, followed by a Q&A session.
The team behind Broke - director Heath Davis, producer Luke Graham and actors Steve Le Marquand and Max Cullen - will attend the film's Queensland premiere.
The film follows the story of disgraced rugby league star and gambling addict, Ben .Bk. Kelly, who attempts to turn his life around with the support of his two biggest fans..
Writer Reg Cribb (Last Cab to Darwin) will attend...
- 3/7/2016
- by Staff Writer
- IF.com.au
Hugh Jackman and wife Deborra-Lee Furness, Nicole Kidman and husband Keith Urban at the Oscars Wolverine Hugh Jackman and wife Deborra-Lee Furness at the Academy Awards Hugh Jackman and wife Deborra-Lee Furness, along with Best Actress nominee Nicole Kidman and husband Keith Urban, are pictured above arriving at the 83rd Academy Awards, held on Feb. 27 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. Stage and screen actor-singer Hugh Jackman was the Oscar ceremony host a couple of years ago, while Nicole Kidman was a 2011 Best Actress nominee for her performance as a bereaved mother in John Cameron Mitchell's Rabbit Hole, co-starring Aaron Eckhart and Dianne Wiest. More on Kidman further below. Recent Hugh Jackman movies The most recent film efforts of the Sydney-born Hugh Jackman were Gavin Hood's X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), in which he has the (second half of the) title role, and Baz Luhrmann's epic romance Australia (2008). Co-starring Nicole Kidman,...
- 5/11/2015
- by D. Zhea
- Alt Film Guide
First-time writer/director Hugh Sullivan.s time travel comedy The Infinite Man opened at four cinemas- Dendy Newton, Melbourne.s Cinema Nova, Perth.s Cinema Paradiso and Adelaide.s Palace Nova Eastend- last Thursday.
The four-day gross is $10,640, which is in addition to the $21,000 generated by screenings at the Melbourne International Film Festival, CineféstOZ and the Dungog fest.
Executive producer Jonathan Page said, .It.s a good start and points to a new model of releasing smaller films, focussing on a few targeted sites and keeping costs low. I think The Infinite Man is building a cult following and will be watched on other platforms, so if we can make a bit of noise and a bit of money at the cinema then we are on track..
Produced by Hedone Productions. Kate Croser and Sandy Cameron, the film stars Josh McConville, Hannah Marshall and Alex Dimitriades in the tale of...
The four-day gross is $10,640, which is in addition to the $21,000 generated by screenings at the Melbourne International Film Festival, CineféstOZ and the Dungog fest.
Executive producer Jonathan Page said, .It.s a good start and points to a new model of releasing smaller films, focussing on a few targeted sites and keeping costs low. I think The Infinite Man is building a cult following and will be watched on other platforms, so if we can make a bit of noise and a bit of money at the cinema then we are on track..
Produced by Hedone Productions. Kate Croser and Sandy Cameron, the film stars Josh McConville, Hannah Marshall and Alex Dimitriades in the tale of...
- 9/22/2014
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Just 48,000 people watched the two-hour premiere of Devil.s Playground on Tuesday September 9 on Foxtel.s showcase, but with repeat screenings over the next six days the audience totaled 150,000.
.We consider that.s a very solid number,. Foxtel director of programming Ross Crowley told If today.
Comparisons with other Australian series and miniseries screened on Foxtel in recent years are difficult because Devil.s Playground airs on the movie tier, which reaches about 56% of the platform.s subscribers. Crowley said the most recent like-for-like comparison is with the drama Tangle, which it has tripled.
A sequel to Fred Schepisi.s seminal 1976 semi-autobiographical movie The Devil.s Playground, the six-hour series stars Simon Burke as a newly-widowed Sydney psychiatrist as he.s hired by the Catholic Church to counsel troubled clergy.
The cast includes Jack Thompson, Don Hany, Toni Collette, Andrew McFarlane, Nida graduate Uli Latukefu, Leon Ford and Max Cullen.
.We consider that.s a very solid number,. Foxtel director of programming Ross Crowley told If today.
Comparisons with other Australian series and miniseries screened on Foxtel in recent years are difficult because Devil.s Playground airs on the movie tier, which reaches about 56% of the platform.s subscribers. Crowley said the most recent like-for-like comparison is with the drama Tangle, which it has tripled.
A sequel to Fred Schepisi.s seminal 1976 semi-autobiographical movie The Devil.s Playground, the six-hour series stars Simon Burke as a newly-widowed Sydney psychiatrist as he.s hired by the Catholic Church to counsel troubled clergy.
The cast includes Jack Thompson, Don Hany, Toni Collette, Andrew McFarlane, Nida graduate Uli Latukefu, Leon Ford and Max Cullen.
- 9/19/2014
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Australian producers increasingly are looking to international co-productions as one solution to the difficulty of raising finance at home.
Producers say the .soft. money available for co-pros with Canada and Europe will help to compensate for the very low minimum guarantees offered by Australian distributors.
Another advantage, they say, is the improved chances of securing marquee cast for films shot in part or completely in Canada and Europe.
. With the collapse of distribution windows, online communication, and the competitiveness of getting soft money out of Australia, producers are becoming more savvy in financing their films with global partners especially as we are telling more global, universally themed stories,. says producer Raquelle David, who is developing the futuristic thriller Lucid as a co-pro.
Producer Matthew Dabner aims to shoot Seasons Pass, a comedy scripted by Heath Davis about an Australian ski instructor who goes to the Canadian snowfields where he is...
Producers say the .soft. money available for co-pros with Canada and Europe will help to compensate for the very low minimum guarantees offered by Australian distributors.
Another advantage, they say, is the improved chances of securing marquee cast for films shot in part or completely in Canada and Europe.
. With the collapse of distribution windows, online communication, and the competitiveness of getting soft money out of Australia, producers are becoming more savvy in financing their films with global partners especially as we are telling more global, universally themed stories,. says producer Raquelle David, who is developing the futuristic thriller Lucid as a co-pro.
Producer Matthew Dabner aims to shoot Seasons Pass, a comedy scripted by Heath Davis about an Australian ski instructor who goes to the Canadian snowfields where he is...
- 7/24/2014
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Steve Le Marquand, Max Cullen, Claire van der Boom and Brendan Cowell head the cast of Broke, an Australian drama about a washed up, former rugby league star who battles a gambling addiction.
The feature debut of writer-director Heath Davis, the film is due to roll in Gladstone, central Queensland, on June 16.
Le Marquand will play the protagonist Ben .Bk. Kelly, who tackles his demons and strives to win back the respect of his community with the help of an ageing railway worker (Cullen) and his single parent daughter (van der Boom).
Cowell will portray a fellow gambling addict. Also cast are William Zappa as a bookmaker, Steve Bastoni as a cop and Justin Rozniak as a villain.
Producer Luke Graham raised more than $40,000 on crowd-funding site Indiegogo and the balance of the budget from private investors and a contribution from the Nrl as part of an Nrl gambling awareness...
The feature debut of writer-director Heath Davis, the film is due to roll in Gladstone, central Queensland, on June 16.
Le Marquand will play the protagonist Ben .Bk. Kelly, who tackles his demons and strives to win back the respect of his community with the help of an ageing railway worker (Cullen) and his single parent daughter (van der Boom).
Cowell will portray a fellow gambling addict. Also cast are William Zappa as a bookmaker, Steve Bastoni as a cop and Justin Rozniak as a villain.
Producer Luke Graham raised more than $40,000 on crowd-funding site Indiegogo and the balance of the budget from private investors and a contribution from the Nrl as part of an Nrl gambling awareness...
- 5/26/2014
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Earlier this week we caught up with Australian filmmaker Phillip Middleton to discuss his short film The Ghost as well as chat about his planned supernatural feature The Disappearing. Read on for that flick's teaser art, synopsis, and more!
Written and directed by Middleton, The Ghost short was filmed over the course of one day in his hometown of Sydney, Australia, on the 5D camera with cinematography courtesy of Damian Wyvill. Produced by Kylie Connell, the flick stars Rachael Coopes, Max Cullen, Bel Delia and Valentino del Toro.
"My inspiration for The Ghost came from a dream I had, where the person in the dream - it was me, but not me, if that makes sense - saw [himself] as dead," explained Middleton. "From that, I just thought it would be freaking scary if someone trapped in a house kept seeing themselves as dead, thinking the ghost that had them trapped...
Written and directed by Middleton, The Ghost short was filmed over the course of one day in his hometown of Sydney, Australia, on the 5D camera with cinematography courtesy of Damian Wyvill. Produced by Kylie Connell, the flick stars Rachael Coopes, Max Cullen, Bel Delia and Valentino del Toro.
"My inspiration for The Ghost came from a dream I had, where the person in the dream - it was me, but not me, if that makes sense - saw [himself] as dead," explained Middleton. "From that, I just thought it would be freaking scary if someone trapped in a house kept seeing themselves as dead, thinking the ghost that had them trapped...
- 7/26/2013
- by Sean Decker
- DreadCentral.com
The Great Gatsby Cannes 2013: Leonardo DiCaprio on logically soggy red carpet Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby opened the 2013 Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday evening. The Gatsby red carpet looked like a cross between the Academy Awards (Steven Spielberg, Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire) and Dancing with Stars (loud music, with a handful of dancers performing in ’20s-costumes). (Photo: Leonardo DiCaprio on the 2013 Cannes Film Festival’s The Great Gatsby red carpet.) On the Cannes Film Festival’s video of the Great Gatsby red carpet, you can watch Carey Mulligan getting nearly decapitated by a take-no-prisoners umbrella; Leonardo DiCaprio telling an interviewer, "I can’t hear a word you’re saying," and then walking on as if said journalist was invisible; and Tobey Maguire getting called, "Eh, Tobee!" But what do we learn from those brief interviews? That being in Cannes is "exciting" (DiCaprio, Maguire) and "meaningful" (Luhrmann,...
- 5/15/2013
- by Zac Gille
- Alt Film Guide
Leonardo DiCaprio The Great Gatsby movie box office: DiCaprio’s second biggest opening ever — but trailing Titanic in ticket sales The Great Gatsby movie adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel earned $50.08m at the North American box office this past weekend, including $3.25 million from late Thursday night showings, according to weekend box-office actuals found at Box Office Mojo. Despite mostly poor reviews — The Great Gatsby has a 32% approval rating and 5.6/10 average among Rotten Tomatoes‘ top critics — the Baz Luhrmann-directed take on the love story between Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jay Gatsby and Carey Mulligan’s Daisy Buchanan far surpassed the expectations of both distributor Warner Bros. and box-office pundits. In fact, The Great Gatsby trailed only Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man 3, which collected $72.52 million at the domestic box office this past weekend. (Photo: Leonardo DiCaprio in The Great Gatsby.) Partly thanks to 3D surcharges and a strong female contingent of ticket-buyers,...
- 5/14/2013
- by Zac Gille
- Alt Film Guide
Leonardo DiCaprio The Great Gatsby movie weekend box office: DiCaprio’s second biggest opening ever? (Photo: Leonardo DiCaprio in The Great Gatsby, with Carey Mulligan) Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Jay Gatsby in Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby movie adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic 1920s novel. A risky move? Well, if so, it has clearly paid off. Although The Great Gatsby will not top the North American box office this weekend, it’ll land in a remarkably (and surprisingly) strong second slot. (Photo: Leonardo DiCaprio in The Great Gatsby movie adaptation, with Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan.) Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man 3 will easily lead the domestic box-office charge with approximately $65-70m, after plummeting 71% on Friday, compared to the previous week. True, opening-day Friday also included the box-office take from Thursday late night showings, but, for comparison’s sake, The Avengers was down 64% during that same time frame.
- 5/12/2013
- by Zac Gille
- Alt Film Guide
The Great Gatsby 2013 movie box office: Way overperforming? (Photo: Leonardo DiCaprio in The Great Gatsby) The Great Gatsby 2013 movie adaptation directed by Baz Luhrmann, and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan will not top the North American box office this weekend. That’s the not-so-good news. But then again, no one was expecting The Great Gatsby to soar past Robert Downey Jr’s special-effects-laden Iron Man 3. True, both movies are in 3D, but … maybe if Jay Gatsby’s hair gel were capable of blowing up all of New England or something, then it’d have had a chance. (Updated The Great Gatsby weekend box office estimate.) Now, the (really) good news: The Great Gatsby, with the assistance of 3D surcharges and a large percentage of female ticket-buyers, may open north of $50m at 3,525 North American locations, according to early, rough estimates found at Deadline.com. As per Deadline’s "sources,...
- 5/11/2013
- by Zac Gille
- Alt Film Guide
The Great Gatsby Movie: Leonardo DiCaprio: ‘Heir apparent to Cary Grant’ (photo: Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan in The Great Gatsby) [See previous post: "The Great Gatsby 2013: Leonardo DiCaprio, Baz Luhrmann Shine; Story Essence Lost."] The role of the enigmatic, larger-than-life Gatsby would seem a difficult one to cast in an age when movie stars have been replaced by whatever pre-digested superhero is easiest to market and promote. Consider us lucky that one of the only movie stars left in American film makes a terrific Gatsby. There are moments when Leonardo DiCaprio, who previously worked with Luhrmann in 1996’s Romeo + Juliet, looks the heir apparent to Cary Grant. Our first head-on shot of Gatsby shows the character as the very embodiment of America’s unbridled optimism. His reputation as a good-time Charlie is surpassed only by his opacity. To the hundreds of guests who excitedly converge upon his bedazzled mansion, he’s a glamorous riddle, a thrower of epic house parties who might have...
- 5/10/2013
- by Mark Keizer
- Alt Film Guide
Today we have new wallpapers for the upcoming romantic drama The Great Gatsby. The movie, based on the clasic F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, tells of a Midwestern war veteran who finds himself drawn to the past and lifestyle of his millionaire neighbour. Directed by and screenplay by the typically over-the-top Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge, Australia). Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Tobey Maguire, Amitabh Bachchan,Steve Bisley, Richard Carter, Jason Clarke, Adelaide Clemens, Max Cullen among others. The Great Gatsby opens in theaters on May 10th, 2013. Here’s the synopsis for The Great Gatsby “The Great Gatsby” follows Fitzgerald-like, would-be writer Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire)...
Click to continue reading The Great Gatsby Wallpapers on www.filmofilia.com...
Click to continue reading The Great Gatsby Wallpapers on www.filmofilia.com...
- 5/7/2013
- by Allan Ford
- Filmofilia
Devil.s Playground, the Foxtel miniseries that deals with the cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in the 1980s, .won.t pull any punches,. according to producer Helen Bowden.
Now shooting in Sydney, the six-part series stars Simon Burke as Tom Allen, a psychiatrist who is hired as a confessor to the clergy and gets embroiled in political and theological intrigue.
Burke played Allen as a 13-year-old schoolboy in Fred Schepisi.s 1976 drama The Devil.s Playground. The stellar cast includes Don Hany and John Noble as Bishops, Jack Thompson as the Archbishop, Toni Collette as a State Labor MP who campaigns for social justice, Andrew McFarlane as a priest and Max Cullen as a retired priest.
The screenplay by Blake Ayshford, Cate Shortland, Alice Addison and Tommy Murphy is .complete fiction but drawn from events that happened,. Bowden told If.
Funded by Screen Australia and Screen Nsw and produced by Matchbox Pictures,...
Now shooting in Sydney, the six-part series stars Simon Burke as Tom Allen, a psychiatrist who is hired as a confessor to the clergy and gets embroiled in political and theological intrigue.
Burke played Allen as a 13-year-old schoolboy in Fred Schepisi.s 1976 drama The Devil.s Playground. The stellar cast includes Don Hany and John Noble as Bishops, Jack Thompson as the Archbishop, Toni Collette as a State Labor MP who campaigns for social justice, Andrew McFarlane as a priest and Max Cullen as a retired priest.
The screenplay by Blake Ayshford, Cate Shortland, Alice Addison and Tommy Murphy is .complete fiction but drawn from events that happened,. Bowden told If.
Funded by Screen Australia and Screen Nsw and produced by Matchbox Pictures,...
- 4/5/2013
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Possession(s), a new Australian short, featured one of the most notable launches in recent memory. To coincide with the film’s release a famous Peter Booth artwork, Painting (Man With Bandaged Head), was sold off in The Deutscher and Hackett Important Fine Art Auction.
The tie-in between the film and the auction comes in the shape of actor Laurence Fuller who used the painting, which he owned, as inspiration for the dark, brooding short. His character Frank, upon seeing the Peter Booth work, becomes embroiled with a sense of obsession; he simply has to own the piece and will do anything to make it so. However, it soon becomes clear that Frank is not the only one consumed by the desire to possess.
Laurence Fuller shines in the lead role and it is easy to see why he is a much sought after young actor. Having attended the Method...
The tie-in between the film and the auction comes in the shape of actor Laurence Fuller who used the painting, which he owned, as inspiration for the dark, brooding short. His character Frank, upon seeing the Peter Booth work, becomes embroiled with a sense of obsession; he simply has to own the piece and will do anything to make it so. However, it soon becomes clear that Frank is not the only one consumed by the desire to possess.
Laurence Fuller shines in the lead role and it is easy to see why he is a much sought after young actor. Having attended the Method...
- 12/1/2009
- by Kieron
- ReelLoop.com
CANNES, A daft and endearing comedy, "Billy's Holiday" is the story of a stumpy, middle-aged hardware store owner who discovers he has a talent for singing like Billie Holiday. It's an incredible, warm-hearted "Cinderella" story, which, unfortunately, trips over its many time signatures. Still, it's one of the most likable movies to screen at this year's market. Best prospects in the United States may be as a remake: This nostalgic, spry comedy would make for an ideal pairing of Dudley Moore and Blake Edwards.
Life has been decidedly flat lately for 50-ish Billy (Max Cullen). Although he still plays trombone and croons a bit in a band, his main preoccupation is raising his teen-age daughter (Kris McQuade) in the wake of his wife's desertion six year's earlier. A former entertainer, he's past his prime and wallows in performing the oldies now in Saturday-night stints. For Billy
life's refrain is all repetition with no new riffs in sight. Then one fine morning, while warbling in the shower, he finds that he sounds just like Billie Holiday. Realizing his life needs a boost, he surprises the band on Saturday night, and, to his grand amazement, brings down the house.
Undeniably, screenwriter Denis Whitburn's scenario rests squarely on the central comic gimmick of an ordinary Australian bloke sounding just like the sultry black blues artist, but it's also lined with a winning track of self-revitalization as over-the-hill Billy rediscovers his passions.
In this boom-box age, older viewers in particular will thrill to the soundtrack's succulent Big Band oldies as well as be amused by the film's satirical slant on the record business. While Richard Wherrett's direction is cheerfully cheeky, it's also a bit boxy, particularly with its group stagings and choreography. Still, Wherrett's directorial baton brings forth some amusing and warm moments.
Cullen is a bundle of pixie-ish charm as the hardwareman/songstress, while Genevieve Lemon is fittingly garish as his self-absorbed ex-wife.
Technical contributions are topped off by the film's liltingly romantic musical numbers, a testament to musical director Peter Cobbin's astute sensibility.
`Holiday'
BILLY'S HOLIDAY
Beyond Films Ltd.
Producers Tristram Miall, Denis Whitburn
Director Richard Wherrett
Screenwriter Denis Whitburn
Production supervisor Sally Ayre-Smith
Musical director Peter Cobbin
Director of photography Roger Lanser
Editor Sue Blainey
Costume designer Terry Ryan
Production designer Michael Scott-Mitchell
Choreography Kim Walker
Color/Stereo
CAST:
Billy Apples Max Cullen
Kate Hammond Kris McQuade
Sid Banks Drew Forsyth
Julie Coates Genevieve Lemon
Louise Appleby Tin Bursill
Rob McSpedden Richard Roxburgh
Running time - 98 minutes
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
Life has been decidedly flat lately for 50-ish Billy (Max Cullen). Although he still plays trombone and croons a bit in a band, his main preoccupation is raising his teen-age daughter (Kris McQuade) in the wake of his wife's desertion six year's earlier. A former entertainer, he's past his prime and wallows in performing the oldies now in Saturday-night stints. For Billy
life's refrain is all repetition with no new riffs in sight. Then one fine morning, while warbling in the shower, he finds that he sounds just like Billie Holiday. Realizing his life needs a boost, he surprises the band on Saturday night, and, to his grand amazement, brings down the house.
Undeniably, screenwriter Denis Whitburn's scenario rests squarely on the central comic gimmick of an ordinary Australian bloke sounding just like the sultry black blues artist, but it's also lined with a winning track of self-revitalization as over-the-hill Billy rediscovers his passions.
In this boom-box age, older viewers in particular will thrill to the soundtrack's succulent Big Band oldies as well as be amused by the film's satirical slant on the record business. While Richard Wherrett's direction is cheerfully cheeky, it's also a bit boxy, particularly with its group stagings and choreography. Still, Wherrett's directorial baton brings forth some amusing and warm moments.
Cullen is a bundle of pixie-ish charm as the hardwareman/songstress, while Genevieve Lemon is fittingly garish as his self-absorbed ex-wife.
Technical contributions are topped off by the film's liltingly romantic musical numbers, a testament to musical director Peter Cobbin's astute sensibility.
`Holiday'
BILLY'S HOLIDAY
Beyond Films Ltd.
Producers Tristram Miall, Denis Whitburn
Director Richard Wherrett
Screenwriter Denis Whitburn
Production supervisor Sally Ayre-Smith
Musical director Peter Cobbin
Director of photography Roger Lanser
Editor Sue Blainey
Costume designer Terry Ryan
Production designer Michael Scott-Mitchell
Choreography Kim Walker
Color/Stereo
CAST:
Billy Apples Max Cullen
Kate Hammond Kris McQuade
Sid Banks Drew Forsyth
Julie Coates Genevieve Lemon
Louise Appleby Tin Bursill
Rob McSpedden Richard Roxburgh
Running time - 98 minutes
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
- 5/25/1995
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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