Lachlan Woods, Noah Taylor, Jessica Clarke, Robert Taylor, Malcolm Kennard and Catherine McClements head the cast of quirky comedy The Menkoff Method, which starts shooting in Melbourne on September 10.
The director is David Parker, who makes a return to directing after a long absence: he shot Diana & Me, a 1997 comedy that starred Toni Collette as Aussie Diana Spencer, who wins a trip for two to London where she is determined to meet her idol and namesake Princess Diana.
In the interim Parker has shot plenty of TVCs and written and worked as DOP on his wife Nadia Tass’ films and as DOP on films such as Kel Dolen’s upcoming vengeance thriller John Doe and Kath & Kimderella.
Parker sparked to The Menkoff Method screenplay by first-timer Zac Gillam, describing it as “very different and laugh-out loud funny,” and spent nearly a year developing it with the writer.
Woods (Better Man, Neighbours, Winners & Losers) plays David Cork, a young, introverted guy who works in a bank’s data processing centre. The bank hires Russian HR consultant Max Menkoff (Noah Taylor) who introduces sweeping reforms.
Clarke (Better Man, Blue Heelers) plays Ruby, a head office worker who teams up with Cork to combat Menkoff. Robert Taylor is the bank’s chief and McClements is the head of human resources.
It’s the debut feature from White Hot Productions, production arm of the White Hot Group. The producers are David Lee, Jan Bladier and John Kearney, with Ian Kirk as executive producer.
Parker and Tass’ most recent collaboration is Fatal Honeymoon, a movie commissioned by the US Lifetime channel based on the true story of the American newlywed who drowned on her honeymoon in Australia, starring Amber Clayton, Billy Miller and Harvey Keitel.
Parker said he has cut a different version for the Australian theatrical release which focuses more strongly on the efforts of Keitel’s character to discover how his daughter died.
Tass and Parker are developing Tying the Knot, a comedy about an Australian guy who, three days before he is due to marry a Chinese girl, is thrown into jail after being wrongly accused of robbing a bank.
Parker wrote the script, inspired by a true incident in the 1970s, and Tass will direct as a co-production with Geng Ling’s China Film Assist Co; Mario Andreacchio will be the executive producer. It's due to shoot next year.