Portia de Rossi, Lucy Fry, Robyn Butler, Hamish Blake and Erik Thomson head the cast of feature comedy Now Add Honey, which started shooting in Melbourne today.
It’s the first feature film from Gristmill, producers of ABC- TV’s The Librarians, Very Small Business and Upper Middle Bogan.
Wayne Hope makes his film directing debut. His wife Robyn Butler wrote the script and is producing with Hope and Louisa Kors, as well as playing one of the leads.
Vampire Academy’s Lucy Fry plays Honey Halloway, a Hollywood teen star who returns home to Australia for a short trip and finds her life crumbling into chaos when her mother (de Rossi) is suddenly sent away. Honey is forced to stay with her aunt Caroline (Butler) in the suburbs of Melbourne, and discovers her family is not so normal at all.
The cast also includes 100 Bloody Acres’ Angus Sampson, Ben Lawson, who is part of the ensemble cast of brother Josh Lawson’s The Little Death shooting in Sydney, and Lucy Durack of Wicked! and Legally Blonde.
Said Butler, “I’m ridiculously excited to be making this movie with such a brilliant comic cast who far exceed the limits of my imaginary voices. I’m delighted to be working with such an amazingly gifted crew, led by my favourite director.”
Roadshow Films will distribute in Australia and New Zealand. Screen Australia is the major funder.
Upper Middle Bogan, an eight-part comedy about an upper-middle class woman who is horrified to discover she is adopted and comes from a drag racing family in the outer suburbs, premieres on the ABC on August 15.