Press release from AIMC
AIMC will open with the star-studded Queensland Premiere of P.J. Hogan's MENTAL on Sunday 19 August.
Stars Anthony LaPaglia, Rebecca Gibney and talented newcomer Lily Sullivan will walk the red carpet at Jupiters Hotel & Casino on the Gold Coast, along with the film's writer/director P.J. Hogan and producers Jocelyn Moorhouse and Todd Fellman.
Delegates and guests will watch the screening of Mental in the Jupiters Theatre, which has recently undergone a $20 million redevelopment, including the installation of state-of-the-art digital equipment.
Filmed on the Gold Coast, Mental reunites writer-director P.J. Hogan with his original leading lady Toni Collette for the first time since Muriel's Wedding.
The impressive ensemble cast also includes Anthony LaPaglia, Rebecca Gibney, Liev Schreiber, Deborah Mailman, Kerry Fox, Caroline Goodall and Sam Clark.
The film follows the story of the Moochmore girls who are certain they all suffer from some kind of undiagnosed mental illness – because if they're not crazy then they're just unpopular. Their mother Shirley (Gibney), unable to cope with her demanding teenage daughters and philandering politician husband Barry (LaPaglia), suffers a nervous breakdown. After Barry commits his wife to a mental hospital (telling his constituents that she's "on holiday") he finds himself alone with five teenage girls he barely knows. Desperate, he impulsively picks up a hitchhiker named Shaz (Collette) and installs her in his home as nanny to his daughters.
Billed as an "outrageous original comedy with heart", Mental is distributed in Australia by Universal Pictures and opens on 4 October.