The Helen Reddy biopic I Am Woman will arrive at streaming service Stan from 28th August. The film was set for a cinema release in May but was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The film follows the Australian singers journey to fame. Reddy arrived in New York in 1966, virtually broke and a single mother of a toddler, before she went on to become one of the most successful recording artists of her generation. She wrote and sang the song I Am Woman that became the anthem for the women’s movement in the 1970s.
Described as a “film for our times”, the producers say I Am Woman is a story of fearless ambition and passion, about a woman who led the way for other women seeking equality by smashing societal norms to become the international singing superstar she always dreamed of being.
Tilda Cobham-Hervey (Hotel Mumbai, 52 Tuesdays) stars as Helen Reddy and she is joined in the cast by Evan Peters (American Animals, X Men, Deadpool 2), who plays Helen’s legendary manager and husband Jeff Wald, and Danielle Macdonald (Skin, Patti Cake$, Bird Box, Dumplin’) as the legendary rock journalist Lilian Roxon and Helen’s friend.
The film, directed by Unjoo Moon, premiered to acclaim at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival.
OUTinPerth spoke to Helen Reddy back in 2014 and she shared with us the power of her iconic hit and why it’s still relevant today. At the time Katy Perry’s Roar was at the top of the charts, and we asked Reddy if she was surprised woman were still fighting for rights and recognition nearly four decades after she topped the charts.
“Nothing happens overnight and sometimes you’ve just got to hang in for the long haul,” Reddy said, “But we should all be protesting about something, it keeps us alive.” Reddy declared.
Reddy grew up in a vaudevillian show-biz family, musical theatre matriarch Toni Lamond is her half sister. Reddy recalls that her first ever performance was here in Perth.
“That’s where I started my career, 1946 at the Tivolli Theatre. I was five years old and I was a plant in the audience. My Dad would come out and say ‘Is there a little boy or a little girl out there who would like to sing a song with me?’ I’d be up like a shot and we sing a number and then at the end he’d ask ‘Now, you’ve never seen me before have you?’ and I’d answer ‘No, Daddy’ and then run off into the wings, now if that’s not a camp performance I don’t know what is!”
Log into Stan on from 28th August to see the film.
OIP Staff
Love OUTinPerth Campaign
Help support the publication of OUTinPerth by contributing to our
GoFundMe campaign.
