If there's anything more absurd than competitive tickling, it's making a movie about it and having that movie become a serious contender for an Academy Award.
Dylan Reeve, who co-directed Tickled with former 3 News journalist David Farrier, is struggling to comprehend the film's success.
Now industry magazine The Hollywood Reporter has named the film on its projected Oscar shortlist for Best Documentary Feature, alongside ESPN's OJ: Made in America and Weiner, a revealing look at the US congressman with a habit of sending raunchy photos to young women.
"They have a guy whose job is 'awards reporter' - his fulltime job is following awards, so I guess they know what they're talking about," Reeve told Paul Henry on Monday.
"It's hard to imagine any of this came out of tickling."
The film's production began two years ago, with the first-time filmmaker asking friends and fans to pitch in to fund it.
"We went to Kickstarter originally and we had a very different idea in mind. We thought it would just be a little thing we sold on the internet," says Reeve.
"To even be talking about the Oscars in the context of that is absurd."
Tickled has grossed close to $900,000 so far, but Reeve and Farrier say they're yet to see any of that. They're currently spending more than they'd perhaps like fighting off litigation from one of the documentary's subjects.
"You don't need to win to be a pest - you just need to do the suing in the first place, and it costs to defend yourself," Farrier told RadioLIVE on Monday. "We're dealing with a very litigious corporation."
"It turns out it's really difficult to make a documentary about someone who doesn't want a documentary made," says Reeve.
The added exposure an Oscar nomination would get probably wouldn't help in that regard either.
"I can't imagine it would make him happy," says Reeve.
Tickled is available to preorder on iTunes now.
Newshub.
