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The Deb (film)
2024 Australian film From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Deb is a 2024 Australian musical film directed by Rebel Wilson based on the stage musical of the same name.[1]
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Premise
From the Screen Australia website: "The Deb follows lovable farm girl and high school outcast Taylah Simpkins, who is certain the upcoming Debutante Ball, ‘the Deb,’ is her one chance to redefine herself. When her cynical city cousin Maeve is exiled to Taylah's drought-stricken town Dunburn, she thinks the ball is a “heteronormative shit-show” and immediately disrupts the status quo. In their search for the spotlight, Taylah and Maeve dig deep to find self-acceptance — and a date to the Deb."[2]
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Cast
- Natalie Abbott as Taylah Simpkins
- Charlotte MacInnes as Maeve Barker
- Stevie Jean as Annabelle
- Brianna Bishop as Danielle
- Karis Oka as Chantelle
- Hal Cumpston as Mitch
- Tara Morice as Shell
- Rebel Wilson as Janette
- Costa D'Angelo as Dusty
- Shane Jacobson as Rick Simpkins
- Susan Prior as Maeve's mother
Production
The stage show premiered in 2022. Filming commenced in September 2023.[3]
Wilson was inspired by Australian films such as The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Muriel's Wedding. "I really like seeing my culture on screen," she said. "[Those films are] very seminal to me and I really wanted to create a movie that was like the modern version of those. Those movies have such charm, they're so colourful, and they’re very funny. And they have real heart to them."[4]
Premiere
The film premiered on 15 September 2024 as the closing film of the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.[5]
Legal dispute
Summarize
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In July 2024, Wilson accused some of the film's producers of blocking the film's debut at the Toronto Film Festival, further accusing them - specially Amanda Ghost, Gregory Cameron and Vince Holden - of "bad behavior" including "inappropriate behavior towards the lead actress of the film" and "embezzling funds from the film's budget" along with "absolute viciousness and retaliatory behavior." These claims were denied by the producers in question.[6]
During the ensuing defamation court filings and proceedings, the Producers claimed that Wilson had lied in an attempt to secure the film's release at TIFF, after there were concerns around releasing the film during Wilson's ongoing attempts to secure a writing credit after it was denied by the Australian Writer's Guild and ongoing disputes about the future of the film's music licensing.[7][8] Wilson had only been granted an "additional writing by" credit by the guild, with the script being accredited to Hannah Reilly, a recipient of Wilson’s theatre scholarship, who had written the original stage musical and screenplay. The Producers also claimed the Wilson had previously privately made the allegations against Ghost alongside the business disputes in October of 2023 but later conceded they were false.[8]
In her own counter lawsuit, Wilson alleged Ghost “forced MacInnes to live in her Bondi Beach penthouse apartment with her,” where “Ghost took a shower and a bath with MacInnes.” Wilson also claimed “Ghost was overheard making overtly sexual remarks to MacInnes on set.”[9][10] Wilson also alleged the Producers had "embezzled AU $900,000 from the film’s budget to be split between them.”
In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, the film's lead actress, Charlotte MacInnes, said there was no sexual harassment inflicted on her by the producers, contrary to Wilson's claims.[9] MacInnes also stated she had privately denied the allegations to the relevant parties in 2023.
In November 2024, Wilson lost a motion in a Californian court to protect herself from the film's producers' defamation lawsuit under anti-Slapp laws.[11][12] Wilson had claimed that her allegations against the producers had been in the public interest. However, the judge found they were “made in the context of [her] private business dispute” and that despite some of the allegations being criminal in nature, Wilson had not sought any criminal prosecution.[11][13]
In May of 2025, Wilson received attention in the press after she made a series of disparaging posts on The Deb's Instagram acount about MacInnes, who was performing on a yacht at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.[14][15] Wilson captioned a video of the performance "Charlotte MacInnes in a culturally inappropriate Indian outfit on Len Blavatnik’s luxury yacht in Cannes — ironically singing a song from a movie that will never get released because of her lies and support for the people blocking the film’s release". The film's writer Hannah Reilly also spoke out against the controversies unfolding around the film.[14]
In July, one of the companies which produced The Deb in partnership with Wilson, AI Film, filed a case in the NSW Supreme Court claiming that Wilson had blocked the release of the film due to the status of her US court case and "threatened the Australian distributor of the film that she would obtain an injunction to prevent its release, breaching her contractual duties and causing the distributor to withdraw its offer".[16] The suit also alleged the motive behind Wilson’s actions were to devalue the production’s worth and pressure the other companies involved in the film into selling their stake to Wilson’s company Camp Sugar. Wilson denied the claims, stating "I want nothing more than to have this film released". [17]
During August, MacInnes' lawyer issued Wilson with a defamation concerns notice, alleging that Wilson's posts had contained lies including "that she (MacInnes) changed her story about being sexually harassed by a producer after being cast in another production and given a record deal."[18] MacInnes’ Lawyer also claimed that Wilson had publicly named her as an alleged victim of sexual harassment without her consent.
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References
External links
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