Sexting the hot topic in TV series set in Adelaide school
The fallout from a sexting scandal is felt by teachers, students and parents in a new TV drama filming in Adelaide which tries to find new ways of dealing with the issue.
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An SBS television series about teen sexting in Adelaide is so provocative the adult actors were examining their own attitudes to the practice.
Australians Sam Reid (Bloom, Codes of Conduct) and Jessica de Gouw (The Last Tycoon) were last week filming at Adelaide High, the fictional location for an Adelaide high school where a nude photo scandal is uncovered.
Reid, who plays a charismatic teacher Ray Allum, discovers nude photos which he takes to de Gouw who as deputy principal Eliza Dunsford wants a better response than punishment or expulsion.
“It’s about respect, consent, things like that,” said de Gouw who filmed Deadline Gallipoli in Adelaide in 2014. “It’s approaching a new way of dealing with situations that isn’t automatic punishment.”
Called The Hunting, the four-part program is the first prime-time television to come out of Adelaide and is a coup for South Australia’s acclaimed filmmaker Sophie Hyde, who took a break from The Hunting to attend the Sundance Film Festival for the premiere of her feature film Animals, starring Holliday Grainger and Alia Shawkat.
The parents of a key boy in The Hunting are played by two of television’s most popular actors, Asher Keddie and Richard Roxburgh who will fly in soon for a block of filming.
Hyde’s series, backed by SBS, the South Australian Film Corporation and Screen Australia, grapples with how best to help young people who grew up with digital technology and use explicit texts as part of sexual expression.
After being rebuffed by the principal — Wentworth’s Pamela Rabe playing a world-weary feminist — Reid when faced with a second discovery hides it from the school in a bid to protect the children.
“He understands why they are sharing nude photographs because it has become so ingrained in their culture,” Reid said. “What is great about the show is it’s not judging kids.”
De Gouw says the dynamic between Ray and Eliza was complicated because they were starting their own relationship even though they were at odds over what to do.
“Certainly when I was at school we never talked about consent,” she said. “We watched videos about how things happened but never were there conversations about how to say no and what yes means, and what no means.”
Both are enjoying Adelaide where by coincidence they have family. De Gouw said she came a few days early to visit the Barossa with an aunt and will book end her stay with the McLaren Vale. Reid, who grew up in Australia but trained in the UK, has just filmed Waiting for the Barbarians in Morocco which also starred Johnny Depp and Robert Pattinson. Reid was astonished to learn the author of the book and the screenplay for Waiting for the Barbarians, Nobel prize-winner John Coetzee, lived in Adelaide.
“Filming that was a like a dream come true,” he said. “It’s a generalised colonial setting, it’s set in no place essentially, so they built this town in the Atlas Mountains, it was quite extraordinary.”
The Hunting will show on SBS later this year
THE PROJECT: Backed by SBS, the South Australian Film Corporation and Screen Australia
THE CREATORS: Sophie Hyde, left, and Matthew Cormack
THE THEME: The Hunting expands the discussion among educators and parents about how to respond to sexting among teens.
THE LOCATION: Adelaide High School
THE ACTORS
Asher Keddie is best known for almost 90 episodes of Offspring, playing Nina Proudman while her films include X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and Swinging Safari (2018). She has another coming out soon with Sam Neill, The Rams.
Richard Roxburgh was much loved as the star of Rake and in films including Hacksaw Ridge (2016) and Breath (2017)
Pamela Rabe was Joan Ferguson in 50 episodes of Wentworth, and appeared in an earlier Sophie Hyde work, F***G Adelaide (2017). She is widely respected as a theatre performer.
Jessica de Gouw last year appeared in the acclaimed ABC TV series Riot, in Deadline Gallipoli with Sam Worthington and Dracula with Jonathan Rhys Meyers. She had a recurring role in The Last Tycoon, with Lily Collins and Kelsey Grammer and appeared in the series Arrow as the DC Comic character The Huntress. Her films include These Final Hours with Nathan Phillips and Cut Snake opposite Sullivan Stapleton.
Sam Reid is in the TV series Bloom and will appear next in Foxtel’s Lambs of God with Essie Davis and Ann Dowd. His film credits include The Railway Man with Nicole Kidman and The Riot Club with Natalie Dormer.
Sachin Joab has had roles in the ABC TV series Pine Gap and the films Lion and Hotel Mumbai. He has also worked in Neighbours and Jack Irish.
Rodney Afif appeared in Lucky Miles (2007), Ali’s Wedding (2017) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)
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