The Wannabes
A Go-Films Production
Directed by
Nick Giannopoulos
Written by
Nick Giannopoulos
Chirs Anastassiades
Ray Boseley
Cast:
Nick Giannopoulos...........Danny
Russell Dykstra.................Marcus
Isla Fisher.........................Kirsty
Michael Carman................Jimmy King
Lena Cruz.........................Aurora 'Rory' Van Dyke
Tony Nikolakopoulos........Stewie
Costas Kilias.....................Adrian
Ryan Johnson....................Hammer
Chantal Contouri...............Sally
Nicholas Flemming............Oliver
Jemma Wilks.....................Lita
Terry Gill...........................Barney the Bear
David Watson...................Granville Van Dyke
Felix Williamson................Bill Gennaro
Gnarnayarrahe Waitairie....Elvis Elvis
Orpheus Pledger...............Young Danny
Joseph Clements...............Philip Drayton
Carolyne Cooper..............Alicia St. Claire
Monty Maizels..................Elderly Male Singer
Laine Lamont....................Elderly Female Singer
Daisy Kong.......................Tai Chi Lady
Gerard Cogley...................Banana
Corey Layton....................Orange
Rick Tonna........................Kid's Party Security Guard 1
Russell Frost......................Kid's Party Security Guard 2
Benson Adams...................Benji the Birthday Boy
Ray Boseley.......................Man at the Party
Rove McManus..................Himself
Gino Munari.......................Recording Engineer
Lisa Rath............................T-shirt Lady
Jessica Kalaxci...................Child Fan 1
Aisha Jammeh....................Child Fan 2
Bert Newton......................Himself
Fernando Ramos................Newsreader in Audience
Samantha Steele.................Ozcars Hostess
Kieron O'Leary..................Ozcars Floor Manager
Harry Chan........................Buddhist Monk at Wedding
Mandy Salomon.................Voice of New Idea Commercial (voice)
Kirk Alexander..................Ozcars Announcer (voice)
Produced by
Elisa Argenzio.....................line producer
Tom Burstall.......................producer
Nanette Fox........................associate producer
Nick Giannopoulos.............producer
Jennie Hughes.....................co-executive producer
Andrew Penney..................executive producer
Roger Rothfield..................co-executive producer
Original Music by
David Hirschfelder
Cinematography by
Dan Burstall
Film Editing by
Peter Carrodus
Casting by
Nanette Fox
Production Design by
Sally Shepherd
Art Direction by
Ben Morieson
Costume Design by
Aphrodite Kondos
Makeup Department
Stephanie Larman............makeup supervisor
Lindy MacLeod...............makeup artist
Heather Ross...................makeup supervisor
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Brenden Campbell............first assistant director
Liz Edwards.....................second assistant director
Matt Lyons......................third assistant director
Art Department
Murray Kelly....................props buyer
John Santucci...................stand-by props
Jamie Sutherland..............art department runner
Stephen Travers...............props buyer
Lisa Wang.......................art department coordinator
Sound Department
Lloyd Carrick..................sound recordist
Chris Goodes..................mix assistant
Mal Hughes.....................boom operator
Visual Effects by
Martin Wiseman..............visual effects producer
Other Crew
Daniella Chiappetta..........unit nurse
Rowena Crowe...............first assistant editor
Craig Dusting...................key grip
Anthony Gerrish..............grip
Gabriella Healy................extras casting
Justin Heitman..................colourist
Christine Hutchins............production coordinator
Bob Kohler.....................camera operator (as Bob Kohlar)
Cate Lapham...................script supervisor
Ian Letcher......................colour grader
Daryl Pearson..................gaffer
Jeremy Rouse..................clapper loader
Caroline Scott..................film conformer
Peter Scott.......................focus puller
Anthony Tulloch...............best boy
Cameron Wood...............location manager
Release Dates:
United States May 8, 2003 (Tribeca Film Festival Premiere)
Australia September 15, 2003 (Melbourne Premiere)
Australia September 25, 2003
New Zealand February 2004
Box Office Figures:
Total Gross: $1,171,108 AUD
Opening: $367,914 AUD
Australia: $1,215,252 AUD
Week Date Rank Gross S.C.
1 Sept. 25-28 10 $367,914 AUD 147
2 Oct. 2-5 12 $258,183 AUD 140
3 Oct. 9-12 15 $111,109 AUD 139
The Wannabes ranks 109 (of 246) in 2003 of $ Finals.
Source: www.moviemarshal.com/boxaus2003.html
Certification
M (for mature audiences)
Interviews
Interviews were hard to come by and if I did find a website that had one, I was denied access because I was not a member. However, I did manage to find bits and pieces of one interview with Nick Giannopoulos.
Nick Giannopoulos: After reviewing his film.
"Give 'em what they want."-referring to the audience.
Andrew L. Urban (interviewer): Comments on the Giannopoulos interview.
ÒHe has seen his own film, The Wannabes 20 times Ð not to see how great it is, but to see what audiences want, and he cut the finished film accordingly."
"A strong sense of responsibility to his audiences was developed in his early years in theatre, 'when people paid $40 a ticket to see [my stage show] Acropolis Now,' says Nick Giannopoulos; 'IÕd look at these working class people and feel really responsible that theyÕve paid $40 each to see the show. They worked hard for that money'É"
*Those are just bits and pieces of the interview Andrew L. Urban had with Nick Giannopoulos, due to the fact that I was not a 'Gold Movie Club' member, I was unable to access more information on the subject.
Source: www.urbancinefile.com.au
Reviews
MaryAnn Johanson (Flick Filosopher)- "Maybe it's a cultural thing, but this is one of the worst films I've ever seen."
Clint Morris (Moviehole)- "The level of enjoyment you'll get from the film also has a lot to do with whether or not you're a fan of Giannopoulos. He's very over the top here, and at times thwarting, but all in all-he's giving his best."
Urban Cinefile Critcs (Urban Cinefile)- "Bursting with good intentions and a likable cast, The Wannabes is the kind of film that you really wanna like, but is a bit short on laughs and hasn't quite got the formula right."
Scott Weinberg (eFilmCritic.com)- "Imagine Death to Smoochy meets Ocean's Eleven, only funnier than both of those. If this sort of movie is what Nick G. is generally known for in his native land, I'm looking forward to a few more imports." "Funny flick from a funny country."
For the rest of these reviews and others go to:
http://www.flickfilosopher.com/flickfilos/shortcuts/shortcuts22.shtml
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/TheWannabes10002804/reviews.php?critic=all
http://www.moviehole.net/reviews/951.html
www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/09/24/1064083053172.html
http://www.imbd.com/title/tt0331072/usercomments (for user comments)
Filmographies
Nick Giannopoulos
Actor
Wannabes, The (2003)...Danny
Wog Boy, The (2000)....Steve/Steve's Mum/Steve's Dad
"Li'l Elvis Jones and the Truckstoppers" (1998) TV Series (voice)....Hector
"Acropolis Now" (1989) TV Series (voice)...Jim Stephanides
Mull (1989)....George...aka Mullaway (1989)
Writer
Wannabes, The (2003)
Wog Boy, The (2000)
"Acropolis Now" (1989) TV Series
Producer
Wannabes, The (2003)
Wog Boy, The (2000)
Director
Wannabes, The (2003)
Chris Anastassiades
Writer
Wannabes, The (2003)
Wog Boy, The (2000)
Russell Dykstra
Actor
Wannabes, The (2003)....Michael
Ned Kelly (2003)....Wild Wright
Lantana (2001)........Michael
Recommendations
If you liked this comedy, http://imbd.com* recommends...
Wog Boy, The (2000)
Shootie Hill (2001)
Kiss, The (1998)
*See IMBD website for more recommendations.
Circumstances of Production/Release
The Wannabes, was introduced at the Australian premiere in 2003 by the co-writer, producer, and actor of the film, Nick Giannopoulos. The filming for the movie took place in Melbourne and it took over three years to get it on screen. This is probably due to the fact that it was Nick Giannopoulos' first attempt at directing and his desire to please the audience, as stated in the above interview. However, I think that this film brought many disappointments. The production companies included G.O. Films Pty. Ltd. (AU) and Macquarie Film Corporation (AU). Distributors for the film included Hoyts Distribution (AU). The film brought in 30.27% of its final figures in during the opening; which seems to be about average. However, it did not live up to the previous Giannopoulos film, The Wog Boy, which was an absolute hit, raising $2.03 million its four day opening weekend and a total of $11,499,599 AUD in release. (www.moviemarshall.com).
Value and Position of Australian Film
I do not think that The Wannabes holds a very good position in the Australian film industry. It was quite the effort to make a spin off of the ever popular kid's cartoon characters such as the Wiggles, however, I don't think that it quite created the catchy story-line that Giannopoulos had hoped. I didn't find the film so much an 'Aussie' film except for the Australian lingo done in an Australian accent, the presence of Emu Bitter beer, and the attempted comical scene in which one of the characters mentions that a ferret is native to Australia. Then, they proceed to pull off the tail on the ferret costume to make it a wombat, a true native animal to Australia. Of course, it was not evident to me that it was filmed in Melbourne, but that does contribute to the classification as an Australian film. Adding to that, the well known Australian comedian, Nick Giannopoulos was the co-writer, producer, director, and actor of the film.
Genre of Film
Comedy
To put is simply, the film made me laugh! It may have been stupid, but it did the job. Thus, you could consider it a comedy, but there is more to it than that. The film included the numerous ways of portraying comedy. I thought that Nick Giannopoulos was able to write a script which portrayed people and things 'out of place,' which is found to be comical to say the least. The story line created heaps of 'visual humourÕ this way. Some examples of this include the drunken Barney the bear on stage being dragged away by the police, seeing heaps of elderly people working out and singing, and Danny having a gun pulled on him numerous times without even knowing.
I think that it is also relevant to mention that the film can be overlapped as a social-comedy, like many other films, including The Wog Boy. As suggested by Dr. Garry Gillard in his Week 8 lecture on Comedies, I would have to say that The Wannabes, is nothing short of being a quirky comedy. He also states that this is quite typical of many Australian film comedies. It is quite ÔquirkÕ or unexpected of a group of criminals to try and pull off being childrenÕs entertainers with outrageous costumes, song and dance.
One other feature of Australian film is the smallness, close to home and particularly the use of the domestic space or home. This point is illustrated as the garage was used as their rehearsal spot, as well as the mother running her ÔbusinessÕ out of the home. This in fact does signal the film as a domestic comedy.
And I donÕt think that one can ignore the satire in the movie, which mocks the famous American song and dance of the musical and film Grease. As well as the satire of the rich lady, Aurora ÔRoryÕ Van Dyke. The other comical satire in the film was the 31st Australian Ozcar Awards.
The final overlap that I would like to present is the musical content. Obviously, the film is about a group of entertainers and thus song and dance is evident throughout the movie. Music is used in both a comical and traditional Ômoves the plot alongÕ kind of way.
Methodology/Web
My search, since I had never even heard about this film, began by asking both Australians and non-Australians of various age groups around campus if they had seen or heard about The Wannabes film and what they though of it. This of course was probably the most interesting part of the process. I got numerous responses, but if I could sum it up, I would say that most people had not heard of the movie and if they had, they had not seen it. I did not find anyone that had actually watched the movie and only one person had heard that the movie was funny.
So, this actually made me curious as to find out what this film was all about! That began the web search. A limited amount of material was found online. The first and most reliable site that I found was www.imdb.com. It was a very good start. I did not have so much luck with other sites. Using a basic search engine, I often got results for a 2000 U.S. mob film called Wannabes.
The Wannabes film was pretty small and thus had no independent website of its own. Therefore, I doubt that any books or journal articles were written on such a film or I at least failed to find any. However, things did start to come together and I believe that I have accumulated quite a database of sites that contain some relevant information about the film. I was unable to access probably some very useful information, especially interviews due to the fact that I was not a member or a subscriber.
Critics Opinion
Most of the critics, to say the least, were not impressed and did not have many positive aspects to say about the film. Actually, there was not much to be said about the film at all, in the eye of the critics. I think that they were just surprised by the whole thing. It was not a stand out in the Australian film industry. Critics saw it as a disappointment and could not get past the put together story line to find the humour in it.
Other critics felt that the likeness for the movie depended on whether one was a fan of Giannopoulos. Although they thought Giannopoulos was giving his best, they still expressed the likeness for him, but just did not care for his work in this film. Many expected it to exceed The Wog Boy, and thus disappointments emerged. Most classified is as just another one of those Australian films, if they were not absolutely too surprised that it even made it to the box office at all.
Despite the negativity, there are always a few who thought it was absolutely hilarious and are looking forward to more of GiannopoulosÕ work.
My review
Danny has been a wannabe actor, singer and dancer since childhood, but we soon learn how untalented the guy is. He is determined to not let a bad childhood rendition of Grease bring him down. His mother puts him through Ôdress-making schoolÕ and he ends up as a song and dance teacher for senior citizens at his motherÕs talent school. Basically, he ends up teaching exercise routines to a bunch of old people. It is quite comical seeing them sing and dance to ÒYouÕre the One That I Want.Ó It is not the most glamorous job, but it made Danny think he had an ÔactingÕ career and he always had his heart into it. Well, that lasted until a bunch of no good thugs convinced Danny to prepare them for a gig. The group of 5 convince Danny with $5,000 and a pretty girl to turn them into a childrenÕs performance group within two weeks. He attempts to teach them songs and dances for a childrenÕs birthday party gig. As well, how to maneuver in those absolutely large and ridiculous costumes. Danny is completely clueless that they are actually using him! Their new kiddie entertainment is really just a scam to get into the billionaire Rory van DykeÕs mansion to steal one of her precious jem necklaces. After much frustration the group attempts to fire Danny, but he ends up back with the group as a fill-in for one of the group members. Before he knows it, he finds himself caught in the heist. After many more scams, a kidnapping and switching of ÔcharactersÕ ironically, Jimmy King, the one who destroyed DannyÕs ego during his Grease rendition, ends up saving him and Kirsty. Later to find out, that Jimmy King is actually DannyÕs father and is in love with his mother.
I thought that the story line was a bit hard to follow. I felt that there were a lot of fringes and pointless pieces that were poorly put together to make a film. You really have to look past the pathetic story line and the unfortunately bad acting in some instances. I didnÕt mind spending the $3 to watch the movie, but I would not have been one to go and see it in the theatre.
The ÒWigglesÓ impersonations and story line of the film were definitely geared towards a younger audience. Despite the vulgar language and sexual connotations, I felt like I was watching a cartoon; not something that probably costed a million dollars and three years to produce.
I am not sure who Nick was trying to direct the film at because I am not so sure that anyone else would want to see such a film. Again, I donÕt think that it was appropriate for the younger kids neither would they have understood the whole storyline, to say the least I was confused at times. Thus, the audience was very limited, no parents taking their children to see it and certainly not the older generations. That leaves the teenagers-20 year olds, if they would happen to choose to see such a film. From the film cover and summary on the box, I was even expecting a childrenÕs film and ended up quite disappointed by the whole idea.
However, I did find some humour in the film, if that is what Nick Giannopoulos was after. Humorous, but may not be seen as such by all. The costumes were quite hideous as well. I did get a good laugh at them. I feel like Clint Morris sums it up very nicely when he says, ÒThe first half of the film-though nothing special-shows good potential, and does have the odd good moment, but by the middle itÕs ostensibly no more that a series of stitched together gags that donÕt seem to work.Ó By the end of the movie I had myself thinking; now what happened in the beginning and how does this relate to the movie now. Especially when the boy got stolen and combining that with the switching of charactersÉoh, man that just took me for a whirl. I wonder what inspired someone to get this idea? Not as superb as other movies have been, but I am assuming they did the best with the resources available. Once again, confirming the lack of monies available in the Australian film industry?
I really just think that the script/storyline was a bit dumb. What was going on? How did a bunch of no job thugs get an idea to be childrenÕs entertainers? I think that they could have pulled off a robbery a bit easier and found better ways than going through all the singing and dance lessons as well as the rehearsals they did. And, I did not like the sexual connotations in the film. I though that they were quite inappropriate, except for the first one in which the little boy refers to a Òthrobbing schlong.Ó This in which was totally unexpected by me and for that to be coming out of a lad just had me in stitches! Maybe the sexual content was NickÕs attempt to attract or please his more mature audience, but I think that it made the film a bit distasteful. Again the ending I was more disgusted with that than anything. Revisions on this would have been more than a smart move. Coming all down to it, the absolute purpose of this filmÉI still have not caught on to it. To watch the film again, I have little desire, but maybe that is what it takes. However, I think I would like the film even less if I saw it again. I think that the Aussie humour in it could probably only strike me once!
As part of Australian Cinema
The Wannabes was a typical Australian film that was produced with limited funds and did not gain popularity desired, similar to most Australian films. It was an unlucky long shot at trying something new and taking a gamble. For that is what Australian writers, producers, and directors with limited funds must do have success over the Hollywood creations. It just goes to prove that a film must be of quality and over the top as well as appealing to a variety of audiences to make it to the big charts.