Whitmore, with co-stars Amber McMahon and Imogen Archer, revelled in Girl Asleep’s 1970s

“It is quite quirky, it is quite imaginative and, especially for Australia, I haven’t seen anything like this out there before,” says the Melbourne schoolgirl who takes her first leading role in the film, which is already racking up international awards.

Set in suburban Australia in the 1970s (with all the jumpsuits, pervy moustaches and disco dancing that implies), Girl Asleep centres on Greta, a dorky girl with one friend (the even dorkier Eliott, played by Harrison Feldman) who falls down the rabbit hole into a bizarre parallel universe during her 15th birthday party.

GIRL ASLEEP: Tilly Cobham-Hervey as you’ve never seen her before

Aussie geek chic goes globalSource:Supplied

As far as coming-of-age tales go, it’s a personality-packed blend of Wes Anderson, Where the Wild Things Are and Muriel’s Wedding.

Based on a play by Adelaide’s Windmill Theatre and shot in the city last year, the movie had its international premiere at Berlinale (where co-star Feldman says the German audience was laughing from the get-go at the Aussie accents: “I was thinking, OK, the conversation’s not that funny ...”), won the Grand Jury Prize at the Seattle Film Festival and just last week took home the top prize at CinefestOZ in WA.

With the film festival set already on side, Feldman and Whitmore, both 16, are now hoping Girl Asleep will find its way to Aussie audiences of their generation. Feldman reckons it speaks to “the awkwardness of teenagehood that we all go through — or still are going through”. And Whitmore, who is targeted by three mean girls in the movie, reckons it makes a strong point about bullying: “I know a lot of girls, the nerdy girls — and I’m one of them — feel like it’s their fault they’re getting picked on. But (the mean girls are) afraid because you can stand on your two feet and you know who you are.”

Whitmore at this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival. Picture: Julie KiriacoudisSource:News Corp Australia

Feldman in Upper Middle Bogan mode. Picture: ABCSource:ABC

At this early point in their careers, both Whitmore and Feldman have specialised in comedy — Feldman with his Logie nominated role in ABC TV series Upper Middle Bogan and Whitmore in PJ Hogan’s Mental, Australia-shot US series The Starter Wife and more recently SBS series The Family Law.

It’s a field both feel comfortable in, even though Feldman is quick to point out that Girl Asleep isn’t purely a laugh-fest.

“It is a drama, but it’s also a comedy — as we hear every time we see it with an audience, which I love. Matt (Whittet, writer) and Rosemary (Myers, director) both say it’s a drama disguised as a comedy.”

And Whitmore is hoping casting agents will see her WrestleMania moment — in which she takes on the mean girl trio — and cast her in the next Kick-Ass.

“I was so excited to do an action scene, I was like yes, girl power! ’Cos I love action films and my dad’s like a judo sensei. So I’ve been brought up watching martial arts films and action films. Dad gave me a few pointers. He was so proud when it came on, he was like, ‘Yeah, you did OK’.”

Whitmore, with co-stars Amber McMahon and Imogen Archer, revelled in Girl Asleep’s 1970sSource:Supplied

While Whitmore revelled in the Girl Asleep’s ’70s styling (“I really love the vibe that was going on with the music and the fashion”), Feldman had to survive five weeks in very short shorts and with his red curly hair slicked into something resembling a ski jump.

“You say it’s surviving with it for five weeks — it’s not. It’s every single day I put up with getting up and having a debate whether I should actually fix my hair or not,” Feldman counters. “In a way it’s escaping what I usually have which is messy hair but not on purpose; this was: Yes it’s definitely on purpose, it’s not awkward at all.

“And the shorts,” he adds, “they were something to get used to.”

GIRL ASLEEP OPENS TODAY