Michael Yezerski has recently scored the comedy drama Mental. The film is directed by P.J. Hogan (Muriel’s Wedding) and stars Toni Collette as a crazy hotheaded hitchhiker who is brought on to nanny five misfit girls by their father, a philandering politician, after he hospitalizes his wife for a nervous breakdown. Liev Schrieber, Anthony LaPaglia, Rebecca Gibney, Kerry Fox, Caroline Goodall and Deborah Mailman are co-starring. Jerry Zucker (Airplane!, The Naked Gun), Janet Zucker (Fair Game, Friends with Benefits), Todd Fellman (Daybreakers), Jocelyn Moorhouse (Muriel’s Wedding) are producing the project. Hogan has previously collaborated with composer James Newton Howard on his last four theatrical features (My Best Friend’s Wedding, Unconditional Love, Peter Pan, Confessions of a Shopaholic). Mental is scheduled to be released this fall in Australia. No domestic distribution deal has been announced yet.
Yezerski has also composed the score for the Australian sports drama Drift. The film is directed by Ben Nott and Morgan O’Neill (The Factory) and stars Sam Worthington, Xavier Samuel and Myles Pollard. The movie is set in 1972 and centers on brothers who start a new life in a remote Australian coastal town where they contend with suspicious locals as they struggle to set up a business from their greatest passion – surfing. O’Neill has also written the screenplay. Michelle Bennett (Chopper), Tim Duffy, Myles Pollard (McLeod’s Daughter) are producing the World-Wide-Mind Films production. No release date has been announced yet for Drift.
The Australian composer whose previous film scoring credits include the 2008 drama The Black Balloon also has the documentary Storm Surfers 3D coming up. The film directed by Chris Nelius and Justin McMillan follows Ross Clarke-Jones, Tom Carroll and Ben Matson on a mission to hunt down the biggest waves in the world by using the science of storm forecasting. A release in Australia later this year is expected and more information about the film can be checked out here.
