Spit is back … balding mullet and all, but is he a better man?
We first met Johnny Spitieri in the 2003 film Gettin’ Square – and now David Wenham is reprising his role as the small-time crim, complete with balding mullet and wily ways.
Back in 2003, a modest Queensland film called Gettin’ Square was released with little fanfare and ended up becoming a cult classic. This was largely due to David Wenham’s brilliantly funny portrayal of small-time criminal Johnny Spitieri. (Check out the film’s court scene to find out why: https://shorturl.at/Haepg )
Now, in 2025, Johnny gets to take the lead in his own film, simply titled Spit. So, is the wait worth it? Judging by the preview audience’s reaction, the answer is a big “Yes”.
But it’s not just comedy. Gold Coast lawyer and writer Chris Nyst, along with Wenham and director Jonathan Teplitzky, have given Johnny several more layers, making him a thoroughly worthy lead. What could have descended into caricature is, instead, a deep dive into what has made Spit who he is today.
Although it’s fair to think of Spit as a Gettin’ Square sequel, the filmmakers are at pains to say that it’s more a “reimagining” of the Spit character, with several new dimensions. Some of the characters from the original film are back, such as the corrupt cop played by David Field and Gary Sweet’s menacing meth dealer – both still big threats to Spit’s safety and freedom.
I asked Wenham if he had any doubts about taking on the role of Johnny Spitieri again, especially after such a long break.
“I’d never considered playing this character again,” Wenham says. “Gettin’ Square initially didn’t do very well at the box office, but it found this subsequent life via VHS and then DVD, and over the years it’s become a really heavy cult classic. It’s the character I get asked about more than any other I’ve played, which is incredible because (a), it’s that long ago, and (b), he’s only a supporting character in that first film. But he resonated with people.
“I’d never thought of bringing him back until about 10 years ago. A good friend, the filmmaker Robert Connolly, who I’ve worked with, and I started riffing about all the situations that you could drop Johnny Spitieri into and the hilarity that would ensue.”
You might like
Wenham phoned Chris Nyst to talk about it and was told that he and Teplitzky had also been working on something.
“Chris pulled it out of his bottom drawer and sent it to me. His concept for how he brought the character back and why he brought him back just resonated with me,” Wenham says. “It explored a bigger issue in a really interesting way. I thought it was inspired. And it took us the next 10 years to get the film going.”
He’s referring to the fact that Johnny, after arriving in Australia and getting caught with a fake passport, is immediately sent to a detention centre. There, he shows his endearing side when he offers to help refugees with their English skills, despite having a sometimes-tenuous grasp on the language himself. There are several young and inexperienced actors on screen, with most of them either former refugees or from refugee families. Wenham felt a responsibility to be a “big brother” to them on set.
“Arlo Green was the very first screen test we saw and we knew instantly he would play the refugee character Jihad,” Wenham says. “I was mesmerised. I thought, ‘Oh my God, this film is going to work’.”
In a very funny scene, Spit advises Jihad that he definitely should not use that name in his Visa application, and he assigns others more acceptable Aussie-sounding names.
The actors playing the refugees loved that the film was a comedy, despite some of the subject matter dealing with a serious topic for them.
“They loved the humour,” Wenham smiles. “‘They actually fought over who could be the most ridiculous. They said, ‘We’re just like everyone else. Some of us are smart, some of us are not, some of us are complete fools’. So, showing them the way we have humanises them.”
Subscribe for updates
With Johnny Spitieri, you couldn’t want a better mate …
Johnny’s kind attitude towards his fellow detainees is at the heart of the story. Wenham says that it’s about what it means to be Australian.
“We talk about mateship a lot,” Wenham says. “This does explore what it is to be a mate. And with Johnny Spitieri, you couldn’t want a better mate, with all his quirks and idiosyncrasies. He’s the least judgmental person you’ll ever come across and he’ll always have your back. You’d want to be Johnny’s mate.’
Part of the appeal of the original film was the authenticity of the shady characters – their nastiness and comedic qualities. In both films, as you watch Johnny make the prosecuting parties turn themselves in knots as he employs delaying tactics, you wonder if he’s really as hopeless as he appears or if he’s playing them.
As well as being a successful crime novelist and screenwriter, Nyst works as a criminal lawyer on the Gold Coast. Wenham says that the Spit character came from a real-life situation Nyst experienced.
“‘He saw a person in court like that and he couldn’t work out if what he was seeing was deliberate or happenstance,” Wenham says. “Chris works with these people. Things happen to people through their life and they can end up doing horrendous things, but he represents some people at the extreme end of the justice system so he has to believe that everybody has got some good in them.”
With a lot of depressing events going on in the world right now, Wenham says he’s not really interested in making bleak films.
“I don’t think there’s enough that celebrates the better side of humanity,” he says. “That’s the one great thing about this film. One person who was at the film’s premiere said to me, ‘At the end, I felt like I just wanted to hug the person next to me’.”
The Queensland producer of Gettin’ Square, Trish Lake, was on board again for Spit. The film was written by a Queenslander and shot in various Queensland locations and has many local cast and crew. And Wenham himself is now a resident of Brisbane.
“Obviously, Chris has written this with his local knowledge of the Gold Coast and those characters,” Wenham says. “People from the Goldie and Brisbane just love it, and they love very specific jokes. The mention of Forest Lake is obviously going to get the biggest laughs on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane, but that line will still resonate elsewhere.”
Wenham, who in 2022 was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia for Services to Acting and Producing, is serious about working hard to make Spit a success in the cinemas.
“I’ve put aside all my time just to work on the release of this film for the next few weeks,” he says. “Our artistic policy is bums on seats. We get one chance at it. If this film works, everyone in the business benefits and it means it will be easier next time. For the whole Australian film industry, we want this to be a commercial success.”
And who could pass up seeing Spit wearing those legendary skinny jeans and thongs complete with his balding mullet?
Spit opens in cinemas nationally from March 6.