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The gags might be a tad silly and the storytelling slightly contrived, but it’s hard to resist the charm of hapless scoundrel Johnny ‘Spit’ Spitieri

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Punching up is a valuable rule of thumb for comedians. When it comes to film and TV, however, few would insist on a blanket rule that all gags should be directed towards people of higher status than the joke-makers. Doing so would rob us of some brilliant comic characters, including the greatest of all time: Charlie Chaplin as the Tramp.

It would also expunge from existence Johnny “Spit” Spitieri, the bleary-eyed criminal and former heroin addict hilariously played by David Wenham, first in the 2003 Australian film Gettin’ Square and now in his very own spin-off. This enjoyably low-key affair has occasional laugh-out-loud moments, including one that takes place in a courtroom – like Gettin‘ Square’s funniest scene...

"Transmission Films” new live-action, Australian-produced crime comedy feature “Spit”, directed by Jonathan Teplitzky, stars David Wenham Helen Thomson, David Field, David Roberts, Gary Sweet, Arlo Green, Ayik Daniel Chut Deng, Sam & Teagan Rybka and Sami Afuni, with a North American release Tba:

“…in this sequel to the feature ‘Gettin' Square’, former junkie and international fugitive ‘John Spitieri’ returns to Australia…

“…only to find himself locked up in an ‘Immigration Detention Centre’ with a massive target on his back…

“…as old enemies come looking for him, determined to settle old scores…”

Click the images to enlarge...

"International fugitive. Money launderer. Criminal mastermind." Transmission Films has unveiled a first look teaser trailer for a film called Spit – yes that's the actual title for it. David Wenham is John Francis "Spit" Spitieri in the first look at Jonathan Teplitzky's film Spit. Opening first in Australia next March. In the sequel to the award-winning crime comedy, Gettin' Square, ex-junkie John Spitieri returns to Australia, only to find himself locked up in an Immigration Detention Centre with a massive target on his back, as old enemies come looking for him, determined to settle old scores. As Johnny talks up a storm without saying anything at all, he makes new friends amongst the detainees, and teaches them his version of mateship. The full cast also includes Helen Thomson, David Field, David Roberts, Gary Sweet, Arlo Green, Ayik Daniel Chut Deng, Sam & Teagan Rybka, & Sami Afuni. Just a few seconds of footage in here so far,...

“Balls Up,” an action comedy film from “Green Book” director Peter Farrelly and starring Mark Wahlberg, will shoot this month in Queensland, Australia. The picture is backed by Amazon MGM Studios and Skydance.

The film follows two American marketing executives who are fired for blowing a client sponsorship opportunity and decide to use their free tickets to a major soccer match. Their drunken debauchery leads them to be hunted by every person across the country. The cast is headed by Wahlberg (“The Family Plan”) and Paul Walter Hauser (“The Instigators”).

The film’s writers are Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese (“Deadpool & Wolverine”). Producers include Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Don Granger, as well as Andrew Muscato, Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese.

The production is calculated to generate an estimated A$64.8 million ($43 million) for the Queensland economy, employing approximately 250 local cast and crew, as well as utilizing small businesses.

“Lord of the Rings,” “Elvis” and “Faraway Downs” star David Wenham is to reprise one of other his best-known roles in upcoming feature “Spit.”

The picture is a sequel to 2003 comedy crime thriller “Gettin’ Square,” in which Wenham played Johnny ‘Spit’ Spitteri, a recently-released ex-convict and Sam Worthington (“Avatar”) played an older brother trying to keep the kid out of trouble.

Production of “Spit” has got underway in Gold Coast and Brisbane, Queensland and will continue through May.

The new film is directed by ‘Gettin’ Square” and “The Railway Man” director Jonathan Teplitzky, from a screenplay by Queensland-based writer and lawyer Christopher Nyst.

It is produced by Trish Lake of Queensland-based Freshwater Pictures alongside Greg Duffy, Felicity McVay and Wenham. It received major production investment from Screen Australia with local distribution by Transmission Films and international rights sales managed by Moviehouse Entertainment.

In “Spit,’ Spitteri finds himself locked up in...

‘Spit’ is one of five features to receive a share of $4.6m (A$6.9m).

Australian filmmaker Jonathan Teplitzky is working on a sequel to his 2003 crime comedy Gettin’ Square – one of five features to receive a share of $4.6m (A$6.9m) in production funding from national body Screen Australia.

The latest round of funding will also support Kriv Stenders’ The Correspondent; Cathy Randall’s Red Rock Run; Kate Woods’ Kangaroo; and Nicholas Clifford’s One More Shot.

Teplitzky’s Spit will mark the return of David Wenham as ex-junkie John Spitieri, who travels back to Australia only to find himself...

‘Spit’ is one of five features to receive a share of $4.6m (A$6.9m).

Australian filmmaker Jonathan Teplitzky is working on a sequel to his 2003 crime comedy Gettin’ Square – one of five features to receive a share of $4.6m (A$6.9m) in production funding from national body Screen Australia.

The latest round of funding will also support Kriv Stenders’ The Correspondent; Cathy Randall’s Red Rock Run; Kate Woods’ Kangaroo; and Nicholas Clifford’s One More Shot.

Teplitzky’s Spit will mark the return of David Wenham as ex-junkie John Spitieri, who travels back to Australia only to find himself...

Michael Gudinski, founder and chairman of the Mushroom Group, died overnight at home in Melbourne. He was 68.

One of the key figures in the Australian music industry, Gudinski started Mushroom Records in 1972 at just 20 years old.

Over the decades, the label worked with some the biggest names in Australian music, such as Jimmy Barnes, Kylie Minogue, Archie Roach, Hunters & Collectors, Paul Kelly, The Angels and Yothu Yindi.

The Mushroom Group also grew to become an entertainment empire, with brands across touring, record labels, publishing, merchandising, booking agencies, film and television production and creative services.

Mushroom Pictures, its production and distribution arm, was formed in 1993.

Gudinski was the executive producer on feature films such as Chopper, Horseplay, Gettin’ Square, Wolf Creek, Macbeth, Storm Warning, Cedar Boys, Mad Bastards, Killing Ground and Boys in the Trees, as well as Seven miniseries Molly.

His most recent project was Stan’s eight-part series The Gloaming,...

Madrid — Brussels-based sales agent Best Friend Forever has dropped a first trailer for Colombian Camilo Restrepo’s feature debut “Los Conductos,” a movie which captures the shattered mental landscape of a man on the run from a sect.

Winner of last year’s Mar del Plata Work in Progress competition, Restrepo’s has scored a prime festival berth for its world premiere as one of the contenders in the Berlinale’s first ever Encounters competition.

Appealing to a kaleidoscope of visual styles, the movie can be read as a portrait of the difficulties of reinsertion in post civil conflict Colombia, or the enduring emotion devastation of any kind of fanaticism, even when an individual has renounced its creed.

Inspired by the experience of a real-life person, Pinky, whom the director befriended and persuaded to play himself in the film, “Los Conductos” captures Pinky now on the lam, living in a squat.

Screen Daily has learned that Brendan Gleeson has been tapped for the lead role in Mr. Cranky, a crime comedy from director Jonathan Teplitzky (The Railway Man, Burning Man). Teplitzky will direct the film from a script by his Gettin' Square scribe Chris Nyst. Additional casting is underway, and filming is set to take place in Melbourne and on the Gold Coast, Australia, in September of this year. When... Read More...

Kaboom

Opens: 2011

Cast: Thomas Dekker, Haley Bennett, Juno Temple, Kelly Lynch, James Duval

Director: Gregg Araki

Summary: Smith's everyday life in the dorm - hanging out with his arty, sarcastic best friend Stella, hooking up with a beautiful free spirit named London, lusting for his gorgeous but dim surfer roommate Thor - all gets turned upside-down after one fateful, terrifying night.

Analysis: A year after "Thelma and Louise" came "The Living End", an independent film which had a similar premise but made the protagonists two gay HIV+ men. It was raw, intense and signalled the arrival of a new talent in the form of filmmaker Gregg Araki. In the subsequent two decades, he's delivered several trippy films involving young, good-looking omnisexual people having lots of graphic sex and dealing with some wacky cobbled together plot shenanigans.

The tone has ranged the light-hearted "Splendor" and "Nowhere" to the darker "Mysterious Skin...

Actor, writer and director Anthony Hayes has many nicknames.

While "Tony" or "Hayes" are obvious, he's also been called "the John Turturro of Australian acting" given his tendency to nail standout supporting roles and the fact that filmmakers tend to offer him roles they have earmarked for him, rather than audition him. Luis Guzman could be another comparison.

His roles playing bearded, mulleted, working-class criminal types have spawned a moniker: "The King of Western Grit" -- and his most hardcore fans have created an online shrine as a homage to this idea.

Nominated for four Australian Film Institute awards and winner of two, he's played bogans and crims, soldiers and cops; in David Ceasar's Prime Mover he played three separate roles, and in his most recent work on the box -- in the dark black satirical comedy series Review with Myles Barlow -- he played himself, albeit a mad drug-dealing criminal version.

Australian writer/director Jonathan Teplitzky, best known for his 2003 film Gettin' Square which starred Hollywood It boy Sam Worthington, will soon be bringing his next project to life.   Burning Man, expected to be released internationally in 2011, is a reckless, irreverent and poignantly told story about a father and son's journey back to happiness.   Up-and-coming British actor Matthew Goode (pictured), noted for his fine performance in Tom Ford's A Single Man, is set to play Tom; an English chef who has a chic restaurant on Bondi Beach. Tom is a man behaving badly, surrounded by a group of women that try to help him put his life back together.

"Aussie actors take fifteen hours to get to America - we ain' t going to waste our fucking time and money. And that means we're not going to waste their time." He might be firing up big time overseas with leading roles in mega-budgeted films like Terminator Salvation, the highly anticipated Avatar and the upcoming Clash Of The Titans remake, but Sam Worthington obviously still has a hearty interest in the local film industry. The star of such Aussie flicks as Dirty Deeds, Somersault and Gettin' Square has just been announced as one of the presenters at this year's Inside Film Awards on November 18, alongside fellow thesps Emily Barclay, Aden Young, Gyton Grantley, Emma Booth, Justine Clarke and Megan Gale.

Glenn here from Stale Popcorn here. Nathaniel is still sick (I know what he's got, I had it a couple of months back and it lasted weeks!) and when the going gets sick the sick get to bed. Or something. Let's move on.

I like to consider myself a fairly good follower of awards season, but there are organisations that I admit I have to plead ignorance over. The Gotham Independent Film Awards is one such example. I don't think, in the eight years (or so) that I've been following the Oscars, that I have ever actually figured out who these people are. And yet year after year they seem to throw up such a wonderful, varied and oft left-of-centre list of nominees for their annual awards. Misunderstood or just-not-loved-enough titles like Margot at the Wedding, Marie Antoinette, Frozen River, Me & You & Everyone We Know and others have had the Gotham's spotlight shined on them,...

SYDNEY -- Ambience Entertainment, the production arm of major Australian postproduction and facilities house the Omnilab Group, said Wednesday that it is producing its first domestic drama series, a biography of cricket legend Keith Miller. The miniseries will be produced with Natalie Yuen's Sydney-based Break A Leg Prods. -- the Asian representative for U.K. rights company Chorion -- and Trish Lake's Queensland-based Freshwater Pictures. Cricket great Dennis Lillee has been appointed as key advisor to the series, which will follow the life of Australian war hero and athlete Keith Miller, who spent much of his life in the U.K. and whose social circle included royalty and billionaires. It is being scripted by Chris Nyst, whose previous credits include the comedy feature Gettin' Square.

SYDNEY -- Sue Brooks' edgy drama Japanese Story and Jonathan Teplitzky's Gettin' Square dominated this year's IF Awards for the Australian film industry, handed out Wednesday night. The IF Awards, put on by Insidefilm magazine, has in the past few years become arguably the industry's flashiest and most audience-friendly awards ceremony, surpassing the more traditional Australian Film Institute Awards, which are scheduled for Nov. 21 in Melbourne. Japanese Story took key awards for best film for producer Sue Maslin, direction (Brooks) and best actress (Toni Collette), but Gettin' Square garnered a handful of honors in other key categories, including best actor for David Wenham and original script for Chris Nyst.

MELBOURNE, Australia -- In what is regarded as the curtain-raiser for the awards season Down Under, the psychological drama Japanese Story and crime caper comedy Gettin' Square head the nominations list for this year's Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards. The critical and commercial hit Japanese Story is nominated in a total of seven categories, including best picture, best director, and best actress (Toni Collette). Gettin' Square, which also has seven nominations, will go head-to-head with Japanese Story in the best picture and director categories, while David Wenham is the front-runner for the best actor nod for his turn as a recently released convict. The other two best picture nominees are the Rolf de Heer drama Alexandra's Project and the coming-of-age tale Swimming Upstream, helmed by Russell Mulcahy. In the best actress category, Collette is up against Helen Buday (Alexandra's Project), Susie Porter (Teesh and Trude) and Olivia Pigeot (A Cold Summer), while Wenham's fellow nominees include Geoffrey Rush (Swimming Upstream), Heath Ledger (Ned Kelly) and Gary Sweet (Alexandra's Project).