''Let's Get Skase'' is a 2001 Australian comedy starring

Lachy Hulme Lachy Hulme (born 1 April 1971) is an Australian actor and screenwriter. He has written several films and has appeared in a number of Australian and US film and television productions. Early life Hulme was born in Melbourne, Victoria where he h ...

, Alex Dimitriades,

Craig McLachlan Craig Dougall McLachlan (born 1 September 1965) is an Australian actor, musician, singer and composer. He has been involved in film, television, the music industry and music theatre for over 30 years. He is best known for appearing in the soap o ...

Alex Menglet Alex Menglet, born ''Alexei Menglet'' in Moscow, USSR, is an actor who has found success working in Australia. Early life Menglet was born in Moscow, USSR to parents Maya Menglet and Leonid Satanovskiy. He came from a theatrical family. As a ...

, and

Bill Kerr William Henry Kerr (10 June 1922 – 28 August 2014) was a British and Australian actor, comedian and vaudevillian. Born in South Africa, he started his career as a child actor in Australia, before emigrating to Britain after the Second World W ...

. It is based on the life of failed Australian businessman

Christopher Skase Christopher Charles Skase (18 September 1948 – 5 August 2001) was an Australian businessman who later became one of his country's most wanted fugitives, after his business empire crashed spectacularly and he fled to Majorca, Spain. Early li ...

, who after the collapse of his

Qintex Qintex Limited was an Australian financial services company founded on 1 April 1975, as Takeovers, Equities & Management Securities (TEAM). Its headquarters was in Brisbane, Australia. Its main shareholder and managing director was Christophe ...

business fled to

Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Skase died at around the time of the film's release. It was filmed in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

and

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

Plot

After the collapse of his massive Qintex business empire, Christopher Skase flees to the Spanish Island of Majorca, leaving angry creditors high and dry. Enter Peter Dellasandro, a fast-talking con man and failed entrepreneur who sees the "Chase For Skase" as a potential gold mine.Dellasandro convinces the Creditors Board that he's the only man with the ability and recklessness to undertake the task demanded by his country: the kidnapping of Christopher Skase. But not everyone is convinced, especially Danny D'Amato, the fiery son of the Creditors Chairman. Suspicious of Dellasandro, the two form an uneasy alliance as Dellasandro sets out to recruit the ego-centric TV host Eric Carney into his scheme, until seasoned mercenary Mitch Vendieks warns Dellasandro that Carney is planning a kidnap plot of his own. Determined to beat Carney to the punch, Dellasandro and Danny join forces with Mitch to form their own team, recruiting the inept Sean Knight, mendacious

getaway driver A crime scene getaway is the act of departing from the location where one has committed a crime. It is an act that the offender(s) may or may not have planned in detail, resulting in a variety of outcomes. A :crime scene is the "location of a c ...

Dave Phibbs and cynical intelligence ace Rupert Wingate, who soon discovers that Skase is devising a deadly scheme to resurrect his business empire across Europe. With time running out, Dellasandro and the boys head for Majorca and track Skase to his sprawling mansion, confronting the devious businessman. The team is outnumbered by Skase's Security Guards and thus cannot manage to kidnap him. However, they make out with several computer discs which contain sensitive documents revealing Skase's plan to "bust out" Qintex. The information at hand is enough evidence for the Australian Government to make compensation payments to the Qintex Creditors Boardmembers.

Cast

as Peter Dellasandro * Alex Dimitriades as Daniel "Danny" D'Amato Jr *

as Eric Carney *

as Mitchell Vendieks *

Torquil Neilson Torquil Neilson is a former Australian actor. Born in London and raised in Melbourne, Neilson is best known for his role as Jason Cotter in '' Frontline'' which he played from 1994 to 1997. Other television roles include ''Blue Heelers'', ''The ...

as Sean Knight * Nick Sheppard as Dave Phibbs * Adam Haddrick as Rupert Wingate * William Ten Eyck as Dick Rydell * Vince D'Amico as Daniel D'Amato Sr. *

Vivienne Garrett Vivienne Garrett is an Australian-based theatre, film and television actress. She is a theatre director, acting and voice coach and also a qualified yoga instructor and therapist. She was born in Sydney and now lives in Western Australia. Garret ...

as Ruth D'Amato *

Nick Atkinson Rooster were an English rock band from Eastbourne, East Sussex. Formed in late 2003, the group featured former 50.Grind vocalist Nick Atkinson, alongside guitarist Luke Potashnick, bassist Ben Smyth and drummer Dave Neale. Signed to Sony label ...

as Anthony D'Amato * Sarah Borg as Maris D'Amato *

George Shevtsov George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Giorg ...

as Beneheim Bencini *

Gordon Honeycombe Ronald Gordon Honeycombe (27 September 1936 – 9 October 2015) was a British newscaster, author, playwright and stage actor. Honeycombe was born in Karachi, in British India. He was educated at the Edinburgh Academy and read English at Univer ...

as Murray Bishop *

Helen Buday Helen Buday (born 1962) is an Australian actress and singer. She is known for her role as Savannah Nix in the film ''Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome''. She was awarded Best Actress at the 48th Valladolid International Film Festival in 2003 for her r ...

as Judith Turner * Wayne Hassell as

* Diane West as Pixie Skase *

Andrew Denton Andrew Christopher Denton (born 4 May 1960) is an Australian television producer, comedian, Gold Logie–nominated television presenter and former radio host, and was the host of the ABC's weekly television interview program '' Enough Rope'' ...

as himself (archive footage)

Production

The film was based on a real-life proposal to abduct Christopher Skase but is mostly fictional. Skase died during post-production."HULME, LACHY: LET'S GET SKASE", ''Urban Cinefile''
Retrieved 25 November 2012

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0264792
Let's Get Skase
at Oz Movies
Let's Get Skase at the National Film and Sound Archive
2001 films 2001 comedy films Australian comedy films Films shot in Melbourne Films about kidnapping Films produced by Colin South Films produced by John Tatoulis 2000s English-language films

Plot

Cast

Production

See also

References

External links