Hey, Hey, It's Esther Blueburger

Cathy Randall's script for Hey, Hey, It's Esther Blueburger stemmed from her desire "to make a film about a kick-ass chick, a heroine for teenagers and people of all ages", wanting to take a female twist on The Catcher in the Rye's Holden Caulfield.[1] She said that she had "always been struck by the fact that there are not enough role models for teenage girls".[1] Esther's character was drawn loosely from Randall's own adolescence; like Esther, she had a Bat Mitzvah, she had a twin brother and she attended both a private and a public school.[2] She explained, however, that the story was "warped and twisted and filtered through my imagination so, in fact, it doesn't feel like Esther resembles me at all".[2]

Based on her original script, Randall was awarded a fellowship to the Los Angeles Film School's Feature Development Programme in 2002.[3] She said that, under the mentorship of the school's faculty, "The screenplay evolved by becoming lighter and funnier and also the story and structure got tighter."[2] In 2003, Randall was nominated for an Australian Writers' Guild AWGIE Award for Best Unproduced Screenplay.[3] Randall's script was subsequently picked up by producer Miriam Stein and her production company, Tama Films.[3] Stein said that "The script resonated with me from the start", particularly because of her similar adolescent experience as a Jewish girl who felt like an outsider.[1] Stein brought the film into production after recruiting Nice Pictures CEO Heather Ogilvie as executive producer, Los Angeles-based Harry Clein as associate producer and Buena Vista International to handle distribution in Australia and New Zealand.[1]

To cast the title character, the film's producers worked with a casting agent to find experienced actors but also held open auditions for 12- to 15-year-old girls in search of "a new face".[4] The producers had spent four months overseeing over 3,000 girls' auditions before Danielle Catanzariti attended a cattle call audition advertised in a local newspaper for minor roles and extras.[5] Randall asked Catanzariti to stay behind and read a scene from the script; she went to a number of callback auditions and was later offered the main role.[6] Having been raised in the Catholic faith, Catanzariti took lessons in Jewish history and Hebrew to prepare for her Bar Mitzvah scenes.[1]

Keisha Castle-Hughes was Randall's first choice for the role of Sunni based on her performance in the New Zealand film Whale Rider (2002). Castle-Hughes agreed to star in the film when she first read the script at age 13, but was 16 by the time finance had been raised and filming began.[7][8] Castle-Hughes' pregnancy was announced shortly before production was scheduled to begin but filming went ahead unaffected.[8] Toni Collette was confirmed to have joined the cast in May 2006;[9] her scenes were filmed over one week.[10]

Filming took place from 30 October to 15 December 2006.[8] The film was shot on location in Adelaide, South Australia and Sydney, New South Wales,[9] with financial incentives from the South Australian Film Corporation.[3] Specific filming locations included Annesley College, St Peter's College as Esther's school and Marryatville High School as Sunni's school.[1]

1. "The Only One" – Paul Mac (featuring Bertie Blackman)
2. "Don't You Think It's Time" – Bob Evans
3. "I Melt with You" – Sydney Children's Choir
4. "Ribbons" – Guy Gross
5. "The Wrong Girls" – Missy Higgins
6. "Bar Mitzvah Prep" – Guy Gross
7. "Clapping Song" – Operator Please
8. "Be a Woman" – Persian Rugs
9. "Lucky Lipstick" – Surferosa
10. "The Only One (Duck Dissection)" – Paul Mac (featuring the Sydney Children's Choir)
11. "Esther on Stage" – Guy Gross
12. "6/8" – Operator Please
13. "Duck Walk" – Guy Gross
14. "Sometimes" – Danielle Catanzariti and the Sydney Children's Choir
15. "Long Live the Girls" – Sara Storer
16. "Young Folks" – Chasing Bailey
17. "Strange Little Girl" – Sydney Children's Choir
18. "Liar" – Bob Evans
19. "The Only One (Toy Piano)" – Paul Mac
20. "Bar Mitzvah Meldey Hora" – Ilan Kidron and Glass

Film industry magazine Screen International critic Peter Brunette noted that in spite of minor faults, the film was "an otherwise enjoyable piece of highly competent, commercial filmmaking," which "should perform well in all markets, from theatrical through to ancillary."[24] In a review for The Age, Jake Wilson gave the film 3 stars out of 5, describing it as "a quirky Australian coming-of-age story that gives the genre a good name". He wrote that while it lacked the film "craft or pizazz" of other teen movies, the film broke the conventions of the genre.[25] The Sydney Morning Herald's Sandra Hall awarded Hey, Hey, It's Esther Blueburger 3 out of 5 stars and thought that it was entertaining but "too polished". She praised the acting, particularly from Danielle Catanzariti and Russell Dykstra, but felt that the script lacked spontaneity.[26] Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton of At the Movies each gave the film 3.5 stars out of 5. Stratton enjoyed the "terrific" performances, namely from Catanzariti and Keisha Castle-Hughes, while Pomeranz praised the film's "eccentricity" and the discomfort caused to the audience at times.[27]

Other critics were less positive. The Herald Sun's head reviewer Leigh Paatsch gave the film no stars, claiming the film tried to match the edginess of the 2007 comedy film Juno but was, "way, way off the mark". He wrote, "If you think the title screams 'Go watch something else', just wait until you get a load of this lame local production."[28] Jim Schembri of The Age opined that the film was an example of "just how bad local [Australian] films can get". In particular, he criticised the "stiff" performances, the "woeful" directing and the plot's implausibility.[29] Variety magazine's Richard Kuipers wrote that the film was "sporadically amusing" and lacked "scripting smarts and pulling power across demographics". He praised the soundtrack and Castle-Hughes' portrayal of Sunni, but felt that the film was brought down by dull cinematography and "uninspired dialogue and direction".[23] Bernadette McNulty of The Daily Telegraph noted that the film's greatest downfall was that "the jokes aren't funny enough and the sadness barely breaks your heart". She complimented Toni Collette's performance but felt that "her slight role is insufficient to make it fly the distance".[30] Luke Goodsell, writing for Empire magazine, awarded the film 2 out of 5 stars and deemed it to be deserving of "an all-purpose warning label to stay the Hell away".[31]

Danielle Catanzariti won the Australian Film Institute's Young Actor Award for her performance as Esther.[32] The film received three other AFI Award nominations for Best Screenplay – Original (Cathy Randall), Best Costume Design (Shareen Beringer) and Best Sound (Liam Egan, Tony Murtagh, Phil Judd and Des Keneally).[33] Catanzariti was nominated by the Film Critics Circle of Australia for the FCCA Best Actress Award.[34] Randall won an award for directing at the Hamburg Filmfest Michel Children's and Youth Film Festival.[13]