By Sam Dallas
Australian director Matt Norman has opened an office in New York with business partner and Super Size Me executive producer Dave Pederson.
The outspoken actor-turned-director, whose 2008 documentary Salute grossed more than $233,000, said in a statement: “…there must be something better out there with an industry that supports new talent”.
“Who knew that Hollywood actually had less sharks in it than Australia,” said the Wingman Pictures CEO.
"In Australia we get cut down by an industry that only looks after its mates. That’s not an industry, that’s a crime.”
Wingman Pictures will now compete internationally as a “one-stop” film production, post-production (with Melbourne’s Imagination Studio), sales and distribution company. Norman was unavailable for comment.
They’ve signed on to produce, executive produce and sell (in Australia and New Zealand) new Mickey Rourke feature Carmilla: The Homecoming, which will be shot in the US later this year.
The pair is also in talks to produce two other films; one rumoured to be starring Christian Slater (True Romance) and the other with Oscar-nominated Minnie Driver and Josh Lucas (A Beautiful Mind).
Salute, Norman’s award-winning documentary about an incident at the 1968 Summer Olympics, is also set to hit US screens in October.
The Victorian-born Norman, who has appeared in Blue Heelers and Neighbours, will go back behind the camera to direct thriller Scab Girl Asylum, based on a girl, 13, who was placed in a Queensland maximum security mental asylum.