Daydream Believer aka The Girl Who Came Late (working title) is a 1992 Australian romantic comedy film starring Miranda Otto, Martin Kemp and Gia Carides; and directed by Kathy Mueller. Otto was nominated for an Australian Film Institute Award for "Best Actress in a Lead Role".
Plot The 'Girl' of the working title is Nell Tiscowitz (Otto), a struggling actress with an affinity for horses. She meets wealthy rock music promoter and stable owner Digby Olsen (Kemp). Nell's best friend and flatmate, Wendy (Carides) provides dubious love-lorn advice. After Nell uses her 'telepathy' to help Digby tame horses they eventually fall in love.
Cast Miranda Otto as Nell Tiscowitz Martin Kemp as Digby Olsen Gia Carides as Wendy Anne Looby as Margo Bruce Venables as Stu Deidre Rubenstein as Trish Schultz Geoff Morrell as Brad Hislop Les Foxcroft as Perce Kerry Walker as Aunt Vera Peter Hehir as German film director Kieran Darcy-Smith as Stagehand (uncredited)
Production The film was one of five films financed by the FFC Film Fund in 1990. Otto was cast after over 200 girls auditioned; it was only her second major role, after Emma's War. The role of Digby entailed looking at actors from London and Los Angeles; after Martin Kemp was cast, the occupation of the character was changed from theatre entrepreneur to rock promoter.Eva Friedman, "Kathy Mueller's Daydream Believer", Cinema Papers, May–June 1992 pp. 16–18
Release Ozmovies says of the release: The film was given a short release at four Hoyts cinemas (including Hoyts Centre) in Sydney, beginning 3rd September 1992, but other bookings were very limited... (It) had a frosty reception from newspaper reviewers at the time of its limited domestic release, which saw only Sydney papers (and the national The Australian) take a look at it.'Daydream Believer' at Ozmovies, accessed 14 October 2017.
References
External links
Daydream Believer at Ozmovies