‘SPIT’ the Movie Premiere, HOTA Gold Coast

WORDS: Ocean Road Editorial Staff PHOTOGRAPHY Supplied

Advance screening audiences are raving about the new Australian feel-good comedy, Spit, penned by local lawyer and author, Chris Nyst, and set right here on the Gold Coast. Spit is the much-anticipated  follow-up to Nyst’s award-winning 2003 classic, Gettin’ Square, in which David Wenham featured as the guileful small-time crim, Johnny ‘Spit’ Spitieri, a role which saw him scoop the pool of film industry best actor awards that year. Earlier this month, Spit received a standing ovation at its world premiere, which closed this years’ AACTA Festival at HOTA (Home of the Arts), and much of the applause was undoubtedly directed to the stellar performance delivered by its star Wenham, who reprises his much-loved role as Spit’s eponymous hero, John Francis Spitieri.

In Spit, we follow Johnny as he slips back into Australia on a false passport after two decades on the run, only to find himself locked up in an Immigration Detention Centre, where old enemies come looking for him, determined to settle old scores. As he struggles to stay one step ahead of them, the resourceful Spit finds new friends in detention, and teaches them his version of mateship, and what it means to be truly Australian.

Spit is set for national cinema release throughout Australia and New Zealand on March 6.