The Story Behind the new Julian Dennison film “Uproar” (or how Paul Middleditch and Sonia Whiteman made a hit movie, and stayed married. )

There’s a new film called ‘Uproar’ that comes out in Australia this week, it stars Julian Dennison, Minnie Driver and the exquisite Rhys Darby.

Set around the 1981 springbok tour of NZ, it’s as hilarious as it is staggering in how powerfully it tells the story of a kid trying to figure out who they are, at the same time as a community trying to figure out who they are - and indeed the start of a whole country trying to figure out who they are.

What is wonderful about this film is that it is based on a true story. The life story of the brilliant director Paul Middleditch. Paul has been on the show before - he’s the absolute genius behind the kind of commercials that you never ever forget, the brilliant series of ads for Australian Lamb the unforgettable commercials for Carlton Draught (including one which involved hundreds of extras charging across a field towards each other) and the hands-down classic Yellow Pages campaign with the immortal line “Not Happy Jan”.

What makes this film even more unique is that while Paul is directing a film that he literally lived, the screenplay was written by his extraordinarily talented wife, the acclaimed writer and director Sonia Whiteman.

Now as I mention in this episode - it’s rare that my wife and I can build something from Ikea without getting shitty with each other. And here is a couple who’ve been together for 23 years, with a beautiful family, managing to take an idea from inception to pitch to production - and they’re still together.

The film is magnificent. I cried twice, Audrey cried about five times. But how these two work together and the way they speak about each other - that’s proper couple goals.

I adore these two humans. I can’t wait for you to get to know them.

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