US crooner Harry Connick Jr has signed to play a disgracedcorporate cowboy who pays a street kid to help him commit suicide in BoomerangDeal, to be directed by Phillip Marzella from his own script.

It will be Australian director Marzella's follow-up to Low-FatElephants, which he wrote, directed and produced in 2000 and which screenedat gay festivals around the world.

Marzella says the film is a unique take on the love storygenre and follows the pair's wanderings over one night under a full moon in acity reminiscent of a Fellini film.

"He (Connick) is a sharp dresser, has good comic timingand suits the look that I always had in mind for the character," Marzella,of Melbourne-based Acrobat Films, told ScreenDaily.com. The script wasdeveloped by the Australian Film Commission.

He is currently negotiating with a young female actor toplay the other key character, and with distributors and financiers, locally andin the UK and Germany. He expects the film to be an international co-productionand will be applying for Film Finance Corporation investment.

Connick has appeared in Independence Day, Copycat, HopeFloats and, most recently, Mickey.

The film has attracted a wealth of behind the scenesAustralian talent, according to Marzella. Moulin Rouge music supervisorAnton Monstead is in charge of music. Also on board is DOP Ian Baker, who shot JapaneseStory and Six Degrees Of Separation, Ken Sallows, who edited Chopper,and production designer Michelle McGahey, art director on The Matrix andStar Wars Episode II.

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