2. MENTAL
‘Mental’ was released on the 16th November in the UK and made £20,000. It was
also released in Ireland on the same date. It was released to Australian cinemas
on the 4th October and made $4,065,068. It was released in New Zealand on the
25th October 2012. It will be released in the US on the 29 th March, 2013.

3. IDEA
The idea came from P.J. Hogan, who was the writer and director of the film. He
decided to make a comedy-drama inspired by a breakdown his mother
experienced when he was 12 and while his mother was experiencing this
breakdown he was helped to be taken care of by a nanny, which helped inspire
the plot of the film. It was completely P.J. Hogan’s original idea, and was not
based on any book of TV show that had existed beforehand.

4. PRODUCTION COMPANIES
The films production companies, as well as its financial backers were Screen
Australia, Story Bridge Films and Zucker Productions. The lead production
company, Screen Australia has been the financial backer for many films since the
early 2000s, none of the films have been extreme worldwide successes but it has
had a good enough track record in Australia to continue producing many films for
over 10 years. Screen Australia suited Mental because it hasn’t been an
extremely successful film so it is what is expected of Screen Australia.

5. PRODUCERS
Yvonne Collins – Lined producer
Todd Fellman – producer
Sean Gesell – co-producer
Gary Hamilton – executive producer
Jocelyn Moorhouse - producer
Rebekka Schafferius – assistant producer
Janet Zucker – producer
Jerry Zucker - producer

6. WORKING WITH EACH OTHER
P.J. Hogan and the one of the lead characters (Shaz) played by Toni Collette had
worked together previously on a film (Muriel’s Wedding) so they knew the skills
they both had and it would have been easy because they know what is expected
and Collette would have understood what Hogan was like as a director and what
he expected. One of the lead actors, Rebecca Gibney also spoke about good P.J.
Hogan was very good with working with children. And P.J. Hogan said about how
good the adult actors were working with children, so there seemed to be no
tensions on set. Hogan also complimented actors in the film and in an interview
and said he is friends with Toni Collette. The lead character played by Liev
Schreiber. And P.J. Hogan spoke about his eagerness to do the film but it was
however hard because it was a small part compared to his other films as well as
the fact that he would have to master the Australian accent, but it worked in the
end.

7. LOCATION
The film was shot in Mt. Warning National Park, Murwillumbah (New South
Wales), Coolangatta (Queensland), Gold Coast (Queensland) and Tweed Heads
(New South Wales) (all in Australia). Australia seen as the majority of the cast was
Australian, it would have made it easy. As well as the film mainly being targeted at
Australian people because of PJ. Hogan’s previous work with an Australian film
(Muriel’s Wedding).

8. BUDGET
‘Mental’ clearly did not have a very high budget, and it is unlikely to spend a lot on
budget. This is because finance going into the promotion part of the production
lacked. Not a lot of money was put into it as it only made £20,407 in the UK and
was only shown for a week. There were not advertising posters or TV adverts
shown a lot for the film, showing that it did not have a high promotion budget. The
lack of awards the film has been nominated for and the negative reviews also
emphasise how it was not a successful film.

9. PROMOTION AND PREMIERE
An advert was created for the film to be aired on TV, this would have majorly helped
the film go viral. Also, there were posters used to help get the name across. The
film premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival, which would have
given it more promotion rather than it just being premiered into regular cinemas.
There was nothing like merchandise being advertised, which is one of the
reasons it underperformed, with or without merchandise, it seemed that there
was not enough money put into the promotion.

10. DISTRIBUTION
For Australia, the US and the UK, ‘Mental’ was released to cinemas and distributed by
Universal Pictures International. For New Zealand, it was distributed by
Paramount Pictures. It was a major film release in Australia because of P.J.
Hogan’s and Toni Collette’s previous work together on ‘Muriel’s Wedding’, so
there was a buzz for the new film release. Particularly amongst the Australian
audience as ‘Muriel’s Wedding’ has so far grossed $57,000,000 worldwide.

11. PRODUCERS
Yvonne Collins – Lined producer
Todd Fellman – producer
Sean Gesell – co-producer
Gary Hamilton – executive producer
Jocelyn Moorhouse - producer
Rebekka Schafferius – assistant producer
Janet Zucker – producer
Jerry Zucker - producer

12. REVIEWS
‘Mental’ received mixed reviews from critics, it scored 54% on Rotten Tomatoes. Sky
Movies called it ‘splendidly enjoyable’ and Urban Cinefile complimented Collette’s
role, calling her ‘committed’. However, Urban Cinefile said that certain parts of
the film were taken too far, and said it ‘lessened’ the humour and that ‘Hogan
makes his point too obviously’. Another review comes from An Online Universe
who called it ‘painfully unfunny’.

13. BOX OFFICE
There was a buzz in Australia after P.J. Hogan and Toni Collette reunited again after
their last hit film Muriel’s Wedding, $4,065,068 in Australia. However, it has not
done well in other countries due to lack of promotion it only grossed £20,407 in
the UK.