During an Ecstasy-fuelled party at the resort, Jeremy disappears. Criss-crossing between past and present and largely set in a sunny seaside Sydney suburb, the film pieces together the events as they occurred in Cambodia, and their repercussions today.
"It is a good film and I am happy to be involved with it," Starr told TimeOut the day after the film's premiere, yet seeming a little reluctant to concede it might be his break into international movies. "I think it's a little early to say. I've only got a small part, even if it's an integral part. Who knows what the future holds? From my point of view it's more about being involved in a project like this with great people, who are really collaborative, really creative."
Wish You Were Here was produced by Aquarius Films in association with Blue-Tongue Films, the company founded by Darcy-Smith, Edgerton and his brother Nash and made world-famous by Animal Kingdom, which also premiered in Sundance.
"I got [the script] by fluke and happened to be in Sydney meeting casting agents and did a cold read," Starr recalls. "I'd never heard of Blue-Tongue Films but the script was a well-put-together piece of work and I said I definitely wanted to be a part of it."
Now based in Sydney and living at Bondi, Starr, who became a household name here for his twin roles in Outrageous Fortune, has been making inroads into Australian television. He had a recurring role in the series Rush last year, has appeared in the ABC comedy Low Down and is currently shooting the upcoming series Tricky Business about a family that runs a debt collection business.
"It has been a good year and a bit," admits Starr.
"There wasn't a huge amount going on for me in New Zealand, which was a little bit frustrating but probably expected after Outrageous Fortune, as it became slightly ingrained in New Zealand psyche at the time that it ran. A change is good. The world has changed slightly and I think most actors have to open up to as many markets as possible."
Interestingly, as Starr talks you can hardly hear his Kiwi accent.
"Yeah I know," he responds, breaking into one of his killer smiles. "It's working with bloody Australians day in, day out. I am copying them. I keep getting hassled by my friends and family about that because it is slopping in and out, so I have to work on that. I don't want to turn!"
Meanwhile, Melanie Lynskey of course has made herself quite a career in the United States and has been a Sundance regular. She's impressive in a rare starring role in Hello I Must be Going.
A deft comedienne known for her off-kilter portrayal as the stalker Rose in Two and a Half Men, the 34-year-old actress may have her biggest success yet in this coming-of-age dramedy directed by Todd Louiso (Love Liza) and written by Sarah Koskoff.
It follows her depressed newly divorced 33-year-old, who falls in love with an equally unhappy 19-year-old man she meets through her mother, the wonderfully acerbic Blythe Danner.
"I just loved how complex it was," Lynskey told the opening night crowd. "You know, I'm a character actress and I'm very grateful for the different parts I've gotten to do. But this was just something that was so fully realised, a complete journey that this person makes. It felt like such a gift."
As for the unexpected appearance of Lynskey's New Jersey-born husband Jimmi Simpson in the film, she says he was a last-minute fill-in when they couldn't find an actor to play a daggy would-be suitor her character ultimately rejects.
"I've been kissing him for 11 years and it was so hard not to kiss him," she says, in her inimitable manner. "That was a big moment that truly makes me cringe."
-TimeOut
