Muriel’s Wedding with Guest Programmer Leigh Sales

Overview

The glorious Golden Age Cinema in Surry Hills will host a screening of Australian cult film Muriel's Wedding as part of their new Film Club program. Selected by special guest Leigh Sales, the film will be preceded by a live Q&A with the journalist, author and current 7.30 host, who will no doubt spill the beans on why she chose this particular movie.

It's a cracker of a film, emerging in the '90s during a special time for Aussie cinema, alongside classics like The Castle and Strictly Ballroom. Playing Muriel Heslop of Porpoise Spit pretty much launched Toni Collette's career. There's also a stellar supporting cast, including Bill Hunter as Muriel's philandering father, Rachel Griffiths as her spunky friend Rhonda and a hilarious Sophie Lee as the mega-bitch Tania Degano.

Who could forget the memorable refrain "You're terrible Muriel"? Or Rhonda and Muriel's fabulous ABBA performance? You may not know that the character of Muriel was actually based on director PJ Hogan's sister. Apparently she did a lot of crazy things to please her father — some of which were too unbelievable to be included.

Film Club is a regular collaboration between the Right Angle Studios ventures Two Thousand and Golden Age Cinema. Twice a month they're inviting a local hero to guest program one of their all-time favourite films. Next up is American Beauty guest programmed by writer Benjamin Law.