Horseplay | |
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Directed by | Stavros Kazantzidis |
Written by | Stavros Kazantzidis Allanah Zitserman |
Produced by | Allanah Zitserman |
Starring | Marcus Graham Abbie Cornish Tushka Bergen Jason Donovan |
Cinematography | David Eggby |
Edited by | Andrew Macneil |
Production companies | |
Release date |
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Country | Australia |
Language | English |
Box office | AU$140,550 (Australia) [1] |
Horseplay is a 2003 Australian Comedy drama film, written & directed by Stavros Kazantzidis and co-written & produced by Allanah Zitserman, starring Abbie Cornish and Marcus Graham. The film is set around the famous Melbourne Cup horse race, in Melbourne, Australia. [2] The film was released on 22 May 2003.
Lovable rogue Max Mackendrick dreams about winning big on the Melbourne Cup. Set in the colourful world of horseracing, Horseplay follows the chaotic life of a wannabe horse trainer as he deals with the turf, the ladies and everyone else out to get him.
The filmmakers said they were inspired by Jacobean theatre and Ealing comedies of the 1950s. Shooting began on 5 November 2001 and finished seven weeks later. [3]
The Melbourne Cup is an annual Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia, at the Flemington Racecourse. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and older, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club that forms part of the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival. It is the richest two-mile handicap in the world and one of the richest turf races. The event starts at 3:00 pm on the first Tuesday of November and is known locally as "the race that stops the nation".
The cinema of Australia began with the 1906 production of The Story of the Kelly Gang, arguably the world's first feature film. Since then, Australian crews have produced many films, a number of which have received international recognition. Many actors and filmmakers with international reputations started their careers in Australian films, and many of these have established lucrative careers in larger film-producing centres such as the United States.
Phar Lap was a New Zealand-born champion Australian Thoroughbred racehorse. Achieving incredible success during his distinguished career, his initial underdog status gave people hope during the early years of the Great Depression. He won the Melbourne Cup, two Cox Plates, the Australian Derby, and 19 other weight-for-age races.
Somersault is a 2004 Australian romantic drama film written and directed by Cate Shortland in her feature directorial debut. It was released on 16 September 2004 and screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. It also swept the field at the 2004 Australian Film Institute Awards, winning every single feature film award.
Abbie Cornish is an Australian actress. In film, Cornish is known for her roles as Heidi in Somersault (2004), Fanny Brawne in Bright Star (2009), Sweet Pea in Sucker Punch (2011), Lindy in Limitless (2011), Clara Murphy in RoboCop (2014), and Sarah in Geostorm (2017). She worked with writer/director Martin McDonagh in Seven Psychopaths (2012) and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017). For the latter, Cornish won her first Screen Actors Guild Award as part of the cast. In 2018, she portrayed Cathy Mueller in the first season of Amazon Video series Jack Ryan opposite John Krasinski, a role she reprised in the fourth and final season in 2023. She also played Dixy in the film The Virtuoso (2021) alongside Anthony Hopkins.
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Subzero, nicknamed "Subbie", was an Australian thoroughbred racehorse that won the 1992 Melbourne Cup.
Nigel Westlake is an Australian composer, musician and conductor. As a composer for the screen, his film credits include the feature films Ali's Wedding, Paper Planes, Miss Potter, Babe, Babe: Pig in the City, Children of the Revolution and The Nugget. He also composed the theme for SBS World News.
Frank Reys (c.1931–1984) was an Aboriginal Australian jockey. He was the first, and as of 2022 the only Indigenous Australian jockey to win the prestigious Melbourne Cup when, in 1973, he rode to victory on Gala Supreme.
Michelle J. Payne is an Australian jockey. She won the 2015 Melbourne Cup, riding Prince of Penzance, and is the first and only female jockey to win the event.
Allanah Zitserman is an Australian scriptwriter and film producer, founder of Dungog Film Festival, and director of Lumila Films.
The Hayseeds' Melbourne Cup is a 1918 Australian rural comedy from director Beaumont Smith. It was the fourth in his series about the rural family, the Hayseeds, and centers on Dad Hayseed entering his horse in the Melbourne Cup.
The 2012 Emirates Melbourne Cup was the 152nd running of the Melbourne Cup, Australia's most prestigious Thoroughbred horse race. The race, held on Tuesday, 6 November 2012, at Flemington Racecourse, was won by Green Moon, ridden by jockey Brett Prebble, trained by Robert Hickmott, and owned by businessman Lloyd Williams.
Christina Collard is an Australian actress television presenter writer and model. She has starred in the film Dracula: The Impaler, has had a recurring characters in the HBO/Cinemax series The Girl's Guide to Depravity, TBS series The Detour as well as Kevin Hart's sketch comedy show. She has appeared in dozens of commercials both nationally and globally.
The 2015 Emirates Melbourne Cup was the 155th running of the Melbourne Cup, a prestigious Australian Thoroughbred horse race. The race, run over 3,200 metres (1.988 mi), was held on 3 November 2015 at Melbourne's Flemington Racecourse. The date is a public holiday in the state of Victoria. The final field for the race was declared on 31 October. The total prize money for the race was A$6.2 million, the same as the previous year.
The 1863 Melbourne Cup was a two-mile handicap horse race which took place on Friday, 20 November 1863.