Chris Hemsworth’s new Netflix movie to film on Gold Coast as Toni Collette shoots Netflix series in Sydney

Chris Hemsworth has scored a $21.58 million dollar funding deal for the star’s new Netflix movie which is about to start filming on the Gold Coast.

Exclusive: Chris Hemsworth has hammered out his part in a $21.58 million dollar government funding deal for the star’s new Netflix movie, Escape To Spiderhead – which begins filming in and around the Gold Coast Convention Centre this week.

The Thor star will start production on the set of the futuristic drama from Tuesday, with an injection of Federal and State funding helping to bring the film to Australia, after COVID restrictions shutdown plans for it to be made overseas.

Paul Fletcher, the Federal minster for communications, cyber safety and the arts said the investment would return around $160 million into the economy and create an estimated 770 local jobs – putting many of the industry’s talented cast and crews back to work, after they were left languishing during lockdown.

“Australia’s world-class production sector is renowned for being hardworking and these productions will support hundreds of jobs – from carpenters, lighting technicians and set designers, to actors, crews and special effects teams,” Mr Fletcher said.

Chris Hemsworth and wife Elsa Pataky. Picture: chrishemsworth/Instagram

Hemsworth will act as both producer and leading man in the film, set “in the near future, as two young convicts grapple with their pasts in a facility run by a brilliant visionary, who experiments on inmates with emotion-altering drugs.”

Despite border closures between the two states, the Byron Bay-based superstar is free to move between his NSW hinterland home and the Queensland set, with no quarantine required.

Emmy and Golden Globe winner Toni Collette will also draw down on the same funding pool for her thrilling new Netflix series, Pieces Of Her, which was to have filmed in Canada but will now recreate a Georgian bayou in Homebush, outside of Sydney.

In the eight-part TV thriller, the Blacktown-raised actor will play Laura Oliver, a seemingly perfect Southern woman dedicated to her work as a speech pathologist and her daughter, Andy.

A random act of violence then sets off an unexpected chain of events for mother and daughter, with Andy embarking on a dangerous journey across America, to discover her family’s dark heart.

Toni Collette’s Netflix series is also shooting locally in Sydney Picture: Matt Squire/Netflix

Big Little Lies producer Bruna Papandrea is also on board as executive producer of the series, which begins filming in January.

“Given the challenges the film and television industry has faced this year on a global level, I am thrilled that the producers and Netflix have been able to relocate Pieces Of Her to film in Australia so that production can remain on track and this story can be told,” Ms Collette said.

“On a personal level, for me, it also brings with it the great joy of shooting at home in Australia.”

Both productions are supported under the Australian Government’s $400 million boost to the Location Incentive grants, designed to attract international projects here, as the country recovers from the economic impact of COVID-19.

The Government recently announced similar support for the live-action feature film Blacklight, starring Liam Neeson, currently filming in Melbourne.

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