Tag: Australia

Posted on in News, Television News

‘Firebite’: Aussie Vampire Hunter Series To Debut This Winter On AMC+

AMC Studios and See-Saw Picture are teaming for a new indigenous vampire hunter series, Firebite, set in Australia. The project from Warwick Thornton will star Yael Stone, Rob Collins, Callan Mulvey, and newcomer Shantae Barnes-Cowan.

Mulvey is likely the recognizable name there having appeared in Hollywood projects such as Zero Dark Thirty, Captain America: Civil War, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, 300: Rise of An Empire, Warcraft, Outlaw King, Avengers: Endgame, and The Russo Brothers’ expensive spy flick The Gray Man.

The project has begun production in South Australia with the 8-episode series to debut on AMC+ this winter.

Below is the official press release.

AMC+ announced today the start of production on the Original Series Firebite in South Australia this week, with Yael Stone (Orange is the New Black), Rob Collins (Cleverman, Extraction) and Callan Mulvey (Avengers: End Game) in leading roles. The series will also introduce Indigenous Australian star Shantae Barnes-Cowan.

Firebite is set in a remote desert mining town, a hive for the last vampire stronghold shipped from Britain to Australia in 1788 by the colonial superpower to eradicate the Indigenous populations. Sheltering from the sun in the underground mines and tunnels that surround the town until the present day, the colony’s numbers and hunger is growing. War is coming. Tyson and Shanika stand vanguard to the war. But what hope does an expertly reckless man full of bravado and a 17-year-old orphan possibly have to defeat these vicious blood-thirsty parasites, when legions of warriors before them have failed?

A co-production between AMC Studios and  See-Saw Films, Firebite is a high-octane, highly original spin on the Vampire genre and fantasy series that follows two Indigenous Australian hunters, Tyson (Collins) and Shanika (Barnes-Cowan), on their quest to battle the last colony of vampires in the middle of the South Australian desert.

The series is comprised of eight, one-hour episodes set to debut on AMC+ this winter.

Created and written by Australia’s most celebrated Indigenous auteur voice, Warwick Thornton (Samson and Delilah, Sweet Country), who also directs along with Brendan Fletcher (Mad Bastards) and Tony Krawitz (The Tall Man, Dead Europe)

SOURCE: AMC

Posted on in Film News

Mantis Actress Pom Klementieff In Sydney Getting Ready For ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’

Yet another cast member of Guardians of The Galaxy franchise has arrived in Sydney, Australia for the shoot of Taika Waititi’s Thor: Love & Thunder, which is currently filming as the first set photos started rolling in.

Canadian actress Pom Klementieff, who plays Mantis, has announced on Instagram she’s arrived in Sydney in what looks like a video of her on the balcony of the quarantine hotel. Pom had been previously shooting scenes for Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible 7 and Mission: Impossible 8.

She joins fellow Guardians actors Chris Pratt, Karen Gillan, Dave Bautista, and Sean Gunn. The rest of the cast consists of Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tessa Thompson, Christian Bale as Gorr The God Butcher, Jaimie Alexander, Matt Damon, and Taika Waititi reprising the Korg role.

SOURCE: POM KLEMENTIEFF

Posted on in Film News

‘Three Thousand Years of Longing’: George Miller’s Follow-Up To ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Finally Shooting – Adds ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ Production Designer

After actor Idris Elba caught COVID-19 earlier this year while getting ready to shoot the George Miller film Three Thousand Years of Longing, production on the film halted and Elba returned to the United States to film another project while the project was given time to pause.

According to Deadline, filming has resumed on the secretive project in Sydney, New South Wales Australia and they plan of having the film ready for release by September 2021. The production team for the film budgeted at $60 million includes cinematographer John Seale (Mad Max: Fury Road), production designer Roger Ford (Peter Pan, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian), and composer Tom Holkenborg aka Junkie XL (Deadpool, Mad Max: Fury Road).

Ford previously working with Miller on the two Babe movies.

The Sydney-based production, which is observing numerous on-set Covid safety protocols, is in fact 20 days into its 62-day shoot. The team will break up over Christmas and reconvene early next year before wrapping in the early spring for a planned September 2021 delivery. Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba are starring in Miller’s latest, whose plot details are being kept under wraps. The visionary filmmaker previously described the project to us as an “anti-Mad Max” with plenty of interiors and dialogue but also punctuated with action scenes.

George Miller is also prepping a prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road focusing on a younger version of Charlize Theron’s Furiosa with a cast that is said to include Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. The Mad Max sequel likely won’t begin until either the fall of 2021 or sometime in 2022.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

Amber Heard Says She’ll Be Returning For ‘Aquaman 2’ and They’ll Begin Filming In 2021

Despite multiple fan-petitions to remove actress Amber Heard from the role of Mera in Aquaman 2, she has now confirmed her return to Entertainment Weekly with production expected to begin sometime in 2021.

HEARD: “I’m super excited about the amount of fan love and the amount of fan appreciation that Aquaman has acquired and that it has garnered so much excitement for Aquaman and Mera that it means we’ll be coming back. I’m so excited to film that.”

There had been an assumption that filming could return to Australia at Village Roadshow Studios with director James Wan attached.

It’s worth noting that studios normally ignore most online petitions with either positive or negative demands and there had been plenty of calls to remove other actors in Warner Bros. franchises that never went anywhere.

Aquaman 2 has a release date of December 16th, 2022.

SOURCE: ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

Posted on in Film News

Natalie Portman Suggests Jane Foster’s Cancer Journey May Be Explored In ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’ – “She’s Going Through Cancer Treatment”

With filming for Thor: Love & Thunder expected to begin around January-February at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, we haven’t really had much of an update on the project until now.

While speaking with Yahoo! Life, franchise actress Natalie Portman briefly suggested that we might indeed be seeing Jane Foster’s going through cancer treatment in the film just like her comic book counterpart.

PORTMAN: “I can’t tell you that much. I’m really excited. I’m starting to train, to get muscles. If there can be all these female superheroes, the more of them they are, the better it is. I’m trying to think — it’s based on the graphic novel of the Mighty Thor. She’s going through cancer treatment and is a superhero on the side.”

Portman could be simply relaying plot points about the Mighty Thor story, but I don’t really see Marvel removing that important element of the hero.

It was announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2019 that Natalie Portman would be playing Lady Thor in the film giving her a strong reason to come back for the sequel and possibly allows her to play the Marvel Comics heroine for many years.

Having a superhero that is undergoing cancer treatment or is a cancer survivor can be extremely powerful to kids with cancer or in remission. I can speak from direct experience that kids really looked up to Deadpool when they discovered he has cancer in that first film.

I’m sure Chadwick Boseman, the man, will also have a huge impact on kids as well as an example of strength. In the wake of the revelation that actor Chadwick Boseman was secretly undergoing cancer treatment during the film of multiple films including Black Panther, it’s not that hard to imagine that a fictional character could juggle superhero duties while fighting cancer.

I’m sure fans will have opinions on this but I think if handled properly it could be an extremely powerful and important part of Marvel’s new direction of representation.

Joining Portman in the Thor sequel will be fellow cast members Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Taika Waititi, and Christian Bale, the latter reportedly playing a villain.

Thor: Love & Thunder is expected to be released on February 11th, 2022, unless there are further delays or shifts with the Marvel slate.

SOURCE: YAHOO! LIFE

Posted on in Film News

Natalie Portman Says ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’ Aims To Begin Shooting Early 2021 In Australia

Natalie Portman appeared in a video on Tennis superstar Serena Williams’ Instagram account where she revealed the potential new production start date for the upcoming Thor installment. 

PORTMAN: “We’re shooting at the beginning of next year in Australia.”

As announced at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019, Natalie is set to return as Jane Foster but will be taking on the alter ego of Lady Thor in Thor: Love & Thunder allowing her to potentially take on the mantle in future films. 

It’ll be interesting to see if Lady Thor has a connection to The Multiverse via the Loki series or if there is another route they’ll be going to explain how Jane was able to receive the power of Thor. In the comics, Thor has a human alter ego named Dr. Donald Blake (who transforms into Thor taking cues from Shazam!) which has never really been touched upon and could be easily handed over for Jane/Lady Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

Other characters expected to return alongside Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie include Taika Waititi’s Korg (I previously reported last summer of an increased role for his character in the sequel) and Korg’s pal Miek. 

Oscar-winner Christian Bale (The Dark Knight, American Psycho, Ford v Ferarri) is said to be playing the film’s villain and is the first of the new additions to the franchise. 

We should be hearing more casting news before the end of the year. 

Filming on Love & Thunder had originally been slated to begin shooting next month at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. That wasn’t able to happen because Shang-Chi had to pause production after the COVID-19 outbreak in Australia led to director Destin Daniel Cretton cautiously quarantine himself during production and the film paused for multiple months until it was safe to resume. 

Production dates, in general, should be taken with a grain of salt for upcoming new projects even when it is coming from actors because they’re extremely fluid in the age of COVID-19. However, there is a really good chance this one sticks because Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings (hasn’t officially resumed filming) could be completed by then and Australia is certainly in better shape than other countries where Marvel films are expected to shoot. 

Fingers crossed there aren’t any further delays on Shang-Chi that could lead to more headaches for the Thor sequel. 

Marvel Studios and Disney recently updated Thor: Love & Thunder‘s release date to February 11th, 2022, but this could easily change in the coming months if the Black Widow release has to be bumped to February 12th, 2021 from November 6th. 

SOURCE: SERENA WILLIAMS 

Posted on in Film News

Marvel Studios Might Resume ‘Shang-Chi’s Australian Shoot At The End of July

Following the recent development of the Avatar sequels resuming production in Wellington, New Zealand last month, there is word from Deadline that Marvel Studios is hoping to restart filming on Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings by the end of July.

Filming had been taking place at Fox Studios Australia facility in Sydney, New South Wales.

This comes after Australia productions were halted over COVID-19 concerns and director Destin Daniel Cretton self-isolating when it was believed he might have come into contact with someone that was sick with Coronavirus.

Like New Zealand, Australia has been able to keep Coronavirus cases to a minimum and this means they’ll be able to resume filming sooner than other projects located in other countries.

We’ll have to see if they’ll truly be able to finish the film to meet that May 7th, 2021 release date considering the current delays they’ve seen and new protocols might see completing scenes taking longer than normal.

Delays would certainly impact Thor: Love & Thunder being ready on time as there had been expectations to begin shooting this summer/fall.

SOURCE: DEADLINE