Daydream Believer (1991 film)

Daydream Believer aka The Girl Who Came Late (working title) is a 1992 Australian romantic comedy film starring Miranda Otto, Martin Kemp and Gia Carides; and directed by Kathy Mueller. Otto was nominated for an Australian Film Institute Award for "Best Actress in a Lead Role".

Plot
The 'Girl' of the working title is Nell Tiscowitz (Otto), a struggling actress with an affinity for horses. She meets wealthy rock music promoter and stable owner Digby Olsen (Kemp). Nell's best friend and flatmate, Wendy (Carides) provides dubious love-lorn advice. After Nell uses her 'telepathy' to help Digby tame horses they eventually fall in love.

Cast

 * Miranda Otto as Nell Tiscowitz
 * Martin Kemp as Digby Olsen
 * Gia Carides as Wendy
 * Anne Looby as Margo
 * Bruce Venables as Stu
 * Peter Hehir as German film director

Production
The film was one of five films financed by the FFC Film Fund in 1990. Otto was cast after over 200 girls auditioned; it was only her second major role, after Emma's War. The role of Digby entailed looking at actors from London and Los Angeles; after Martin Kemp was cast, the occupation of the character was changed from theatre entrepreneur to rock promoter.

Release
Ozmovies says of the release: "The film was given a short release at four Hoyts cinemas (including Hoyts Centre) in Sydney, beginning 3rd September 1992, but other bookings were very limited... (It) had a frosty reception from newspaper reviewers at the time of its limited domestic release, which saw only Sydney papers (and the national The Australian) take a look at it."