Press Release: HIGH THERE horrifies The Establishment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Sam Peters, executive producer

"Not my cup of tea!" Australian columnist does about-face days after director criticizes mainstream movie star

Executive producer: "This film is not for elderly old timers who drink tea from a cup. The audience for High There likes their tea rolled in paper or lit in a pipe!"

Gonzo comedy film set for June 23rd release

HOLLYWOOD (MAY 24) -- A week after his praise of the new gonzo stoner comedy High There, veteran Australian journalist Mark Day has taken to his column once again to declare that the film "is not my cup of tea."

Day, who is marking his 56th year as a journalist, wrote last week in The Australian newspaper, correctly, that High There has been “hailed as a minor masterpiece” and “reignites a film genre made popular decades ago by the likes of Cheech and Chong.”

This morning he used his column to say: "I should not have written that. (High There) is a pointless rave... If this is gonzo, I’m a monkey’s uncle. Cheech and Chong were funny. This is not!"

Director and star Wayne Darwen had no comment on Day's latest column. 

But executive producer Sam Peters fired back.  "Pointless? This film helped get a man out of prison. Not gonzo? 'Gonzo' is defined as being 'of or associated with journalistic writing of an exaggerated, subjective, and fictionalized style -- bizarre or crazy.' This film, and the character Wayne Darwen portrays-- fit the bill perfectly.

Mark Day, monkey's uncle

"We sent Mark a link to watch the film, and got word that he was chuckling his way through the first half. I don't know what happened to change his opinion, but the pearl clutching is not unexpected.

"Mark's about my age, and this film is not for us elderly old timers who drink tea from a cup. The audience for High There likes their tea rolled in paper or lit in a pipe! High There won the Viewer's Choice Award from the Cannabis Film Festival -- not the Australian Press Council!

"I don't want to age myself, but to quote a song from my old friend  -- and tea-rolling mate-- Willie Dixon, 'The men don't know, but the little girls understand.' The kids understand High There.  If we got Rupert Murdoch men's approval, we'd be in trouble!"

High There DVD,
available June 23 

Day's clarification comes days after Darwen challenged Robert Downey Jr.'s treatment of journalists and denigration of independent films. “Junior was a lot more interesting when he was a substance-abusing, suffering artist — brave and silly enough to push the envelope,” Darwen told Richard Johnson of PageSix.com.  "It was the untamed spirit of the indie movement and the writings of journalists he now walks out on, that made him a name in the first place.”

High There will be released on BRINKvision DVD and On Demand on June 23rd. It's available as a pre-order on Amazon.com and other online sales sites.

CONTACT: Sam Peters

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