by FilmInk Staff
PLUS AN ALL-STAR SUPPORTING CAST OF COMEDY GREATS
Haven’t You Done Well Productions (HYDW), the production company founded by Aunty Donna, has brought together some of Australia’s most distinctive comedy talent, alongside acclaimed dramatic actors for their feature film CRIME CASTERS – the love child of true-crime podcast culture, small-town mystery, crime caper and action-comedy.
Charlotte Nicdao (Mythic Quest, Please Like Me), Alexei Toliopoulos (The Last Video Store podcast, Finding Yeezus), Madeleine Sami (Deadloch, The Breaker Upperers), David Wenham (The Lord of the Rings trilogy, 300), Greg Larsen (The Tourist) and comedian Zoe Coombs Marr (Queerstralia) lead the crime adventure.
They are joined by supporting cast Aunty Donna’s Mark Bonanno, Broden Kelly and Zachary Ruane (Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun, Aunty Donna’s Coffee Café), Shaun Micallef (Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell), Francis Greenslade (Utopia, Yesterday Island), Tony Martin (The Late Show), Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney (The Katering Show, Deadloch).
Directed by award-winning Max Miller (Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun, Aunty Donna’s Coffee Café) and written by Scott Limbrick (At Home Alone Together), CRIME CASTERS follows Claire (Nicdao), a frustrated young journalist whose scheme to produce a true-crime podcast in a small country town is derailed when she witnesses a policeman dumping a body. Pulled into a world of conspiracies and cover-ups, Claire must navigate sinkholes, UFOlogists, missing podcasters and a dead billionaire – all while managing a perfectionist audio engineer (Toliopoulos).
Director Max Miller said, “We really want to leave no stone unturned when it comes to the jokes and comedy of the film which is why we wanted a cast of Australia’s funniest performers. This lineup absolutely nails that, and I’m so excited and grateful to this group for bringing so much humour to their characters and the script, making CRIME CASTERS an incredible comedy experience whilst also delivering on the human elements of the story.”
Giles Edwards, Head of Acquisitions, Productions and Development, Rialto International added, “For all the recent talk of an explosion of talent from the online and non-feature film world, it’s worth remembering that some of the most exciting talent in that world has been blazing a trail both creatively and commercially for years at this point. Max Miller and Aunty Donna’s voice is one of the most vital and vibrant in comedy. Seeing them poke and probe into CRIME CASTERS’s dark, wickedly hilarious corners of genre storytelling – along with the exciting cast they’ve assembled – is going to be a wild ride.”
CRIME CASTERS will hit cinemas in 2027.
Produced by Monique Mulcahy, Austin Hayden and Georgia Mappin, CRIME CASTERS is a Haven’t You Done Well production. Major production investment from Screen Australia, in association with VicScreen. Financed with support from the Melbourne International Film Festival Premiere Fund. Local distribution by Rialto. International sales by Blue Finch Films.
