by Dov Kornits
There are sections of the vocal film audience and filmmaking community in Australia that bemoan that we don’t do genre films in this country. It’s not for want of trying, though the breakout hits in this space are few and far between.
One of this country’s most exciting filmmakers, Abe Forsythe, made one of the most raucous black comedies in ages – filled with social comment – with Down Under, but that came and went far too quickly. It did, however, serve as a major calling card for the filmmaker, with offers to direct US productions flooding in. Thankfully, Forsythe stuck to his guns and followed that up with his own scripted zombie comedy, Little Monsters, which debuted at Sundance earlier this year and will roll out in Australian cinemas in the second half of 2019. The Sydney shot film attracted Lupita Nyong’o for its main role, and as reported by Deadline, it looks like she is on board Forsythe’s next project, tentatively titled Miss Universe, mirroring the actor turned filmmaker’s knack for working with exciting performers more than once (Damon Herriman, Alexander England).
The screenplay by Forsythe attracted a bidding war, which was won by Universal Pictures, who are also releasing Little Monsters. Described as a cross between Men in Black and Miss Congeniality, the film will be produced by Made Up Stories, the company headed up by Australian producer Bruna Papandrea, who was also behind Little Monsters and the hit TV series Big Little Lies.
With a star of the ilk of Lupita Nyong’o (Us, Star Wars), there is no doubt that Forsythe’s films will be embraced by a global audience, but whether the Australian distributor will be brave enough to get behind this elevated genre fare in the type of meaningful way [read: spend lots of dollars] that will result in audience knowing about is still up for grabs.
