Production begins on Ozark star Julia Garner’s new thriller in SA, on location in remote community Yatina

Keeping a low profile hasn’t been a problem so far for Ozark superstar Julia Garner, as production begins on her new thriller in a remote community north of Adelaide.

Keeping a low profile in South Australia hasn’t been a problem so far for Hollywood superstar Julia Garner.

Production has begun on her new feature thriller, The Royal Hotel, in the tiny regional town of Yatina, 220km north of Adelaide, which has a population of less than 30.

One of the hottest names in television thanks to starring roles in dramas Ozark and Inventing Anna, Garner has been spotted in the remote community, east of Port Pirie, walking between locations.

It’s understood she’s staying in a humble caravan in the town on the edge of the highway, one of more than 100 cast and crew who have flooded into Yatina.

The film, about two backpackers who run out of money and take a bar job in a small town, will see two-time Emmy award winner Garner, star alongside AACTA award winner Hugo Weaving (The Matrix, Jasper Jones, Hacksaw Ridge), and rising actor Jessica Henwick (The Matrix: Resurrections, Knives Out 2).

Garner will also reunite with Australian writer and director Kitty Green, with whom she first worked together on Green’s breakout hit The Assistant, which debuted at the Telluride Film Festival in 2019.

The Royal Hotel will film in various locations around the state, and is produced by See-Saw Films, the team behind Academy Award-winning The Power of the Dog.

Julia Garner on the set of Inventing Anna in New York City. Picture: Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin

Australian film legend Hugo Weaving has also arrived in SA. Picture: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Inspired by true events, the psychological thriller follows backpackers Hanna (Garner) and Live (Henwick) as they take up a live-in job behind the bar of a remote outback pub run by Billy (Weaving).

While the girls are, at first, given a riotous introduction to Aussie drinking culture, they soon find themselves trapped as the situation spirals out of control.

Julia Garner in a scene from Ozark with Jason Bateman. Picture: Netflix

Backed by the South Australian Film Corporation, the film is expected to create 225 local jobs in a majority South Australian crew.

Arts Minister Andrea Michaels said the production would inject an estimated $4.6m into SA’s economy and would stand as an international showcase of the state’s outback landscape.

“I commend the SAFC for securing this exciting feature film for South Australia, cementing our state’s international reputation as a world class location for premium screen production,” Ms Michaels said.

Garner has been critically acclaimed for her performance in Inventing Anna, which chronicles the story of fake heiress Anna Sorokin’s journey into Manhattan’s glittering social elite.