Billy's Holiday

Billy's Holiday is a 1995 Australian musical film. Based on actor Max Cullen's real-life ability to vocally impersonate Billie Holiday, the film revolves around a man named Billy Apples, played by Cullen, whose life and music career are stagnating until he is visited by Holiday's spirit and finds himself gifted with her voice.

Production
Screenwriter Denis Whitburn had written a play called The Siege of Frank Sinatra in which Max Cullen had starred in its original 1980 production. During the production Cullen and Whitburn would head out to bars and Cullen would sing in a Billie Holiday voice. In the early 1990s Whitburn decided to write a film about this ability and wrote the script in three weeks.

Music
The opening scene has James Morrison playing "I Can't Get Started" à la Bunny Berigan. The musical score was written by the late Larry Muhoberac, who won an AFI award that year for Best Musical Score. It was produced in Sydney, Australia, with co-production, instrumental performances and engineering by Parrish Muhoberac.

Cast

 * Max Cullen as Billy Apples
 * Kris McQuade as Kate Hammond
 * Tina Bursill as Louise
 * Drew Forsythe as Sid Banks
 * Genevieve Lemon as Julie
 * Richard Roxburgh as Rob McSpedden
 * Rachael Coopes as Casey Appleby
 * Arianthe Galani as Anna
 * Maggie Kirkpatrick as Maureen O'Hara
 * Sacha Horler as Kristin
 * Jeanette Cronin as Roz 'Shutterbug'
 * Phillip Scott as Liberace