The Australian zombie comedy Zombucha! is set to brew up trouble in cinemas nationally from Thursday, November 19, after a run of Q&A preview screenings around the country. Written by and starring Sydney actor Emma Leonard, the film follows a broke millennial couple whose stolen kombucha culture develops a mind, and an appetite, of its own.
Maddie and Leo have the kind of successful career lives that leave no time for each other, until they are both sacked on the same catastrophic day. Spotting a smouldering kombucha artisan named Kai making serious cash, the pair swipe his prized starter culture to launch their own wellness empire.
It does not go to plan. After the couple mix in some mysterious herbs from a neighbour’s garden, the brew gains sentience and a taste for human flesh, turning their fresh start into a fight to save their marriage, and the world.
Zombucha! is directed by Claudia Dzienny from a script by Leonard, the pair’s first feature together under their Sydney production company Boobytrap Entertainment. The film, shot under the working title Scoby, has already played the Melbourne International Film Festival and the UK’s Raindance Film Festival, where critic site Film Threat said it found the film “just as clever, if not more” than Edgar Wright’s cult favourite Shaun of the Dead.
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Where you know the cast from
Leonard leads as Maddie, the special effects make-up artist turned accidental kombucha baron, having played schoolteacher Tracey Dennis across all three seasons of 800 Words. New Zealand actor Ryan O’Kane, who grew up in Dunedin and is known locally for The Panthers and My Life Is Murder, plays her husband Leo.
Perth-born actor Shakira Clanton, a Wongatha, Yamatji, Noongar and Gitja woman and NIDA graduate seen in Wellmania and Doctor Doctor, plays Maddie’s best mate Audrey. Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts graduate Stephen Madsen, who originated the role of JD in Trevor Ashley’s production of Heathers: The Musical, plays kombucha artisan Kai.
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New Zealand comedy royalty Jackie van Beek, the co-writer, director and star of The Breaker Upperers and a familiar face from What We Do in the Shadows, plays Leo’s shady boss Hopper. Fellow Kiwi Michelle Langstone, who grew up in Auckland and is known to Australian audiences as Fiona from McLeod’s Daughters (yes, Alex’s pesky fiance) and 800 Words, also joins the cast.
British-born, Sydney-based actor Brigid Zengeni, a Sydney Theatre Company and Bell Shakespeare regular also seen in Prosper and Better Man, plays Blanche, while Deadloch favourite Duncan Fellows, (and the voice Channel 7’s 7mate), plays Gabe.
Adelaide-raised screen veteran Gary Sweet, 69, who shot to fame in Police Rescue, rounds out the ensemble alongside Stephen Hunter, Danny Adcock, Jo Turner and Johnny Nasser.
Zombucha! screens in Q&A previews in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne through the first half of November, ahead of its national cinema release on Thursday, November 19.
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