Sci-fi action movie Occupation looking for Gold Coasters to play their part
CAMERAS will roll on the Gold Coast on another feature film this week — and locals are being given the chance to appear in it.
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CAMERAS will roll on the Gold Coast on another feature film this week — and locals are being given the chance to appear in it.
Writer/director Luke Sparke’s new independent Aussie sci-fi action film Occupation is currently midway through a six-week shoot on the Gold Coast and Tweed.
Produced by Carly and Carmel Imrie, Occupation’s standout ensemble cast includes former Home & Away stars Rhiannon Fish (The 100) and Dan Ewing (Red Billabong), Aquaman’s Temuera Morrison, Felix Williamson (Underbelly, The Great Gatsby), Bruce Spence (Mad Max 2, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales), Roy Billing (Underbelly, Jack Irish), Stephany Jacobsen (Battlestar Galactica), Isabella Stevens (Puberty Blues), Charlie Terrier (Neighbours), AFI award-winner Jacqueline McKenzie (The 4400) and Desperate Housewives’ Charles Mesure.
Billing, who flew up from Sydney for the day to film his role as Mayor Ken Crocker, said he was drawn to the project by Sparke’s script.
“It’s the key to everything,” he said.
“This is only a small role in this but they sent me the script and I thought ‘this is great’. I read hundreds of them and I went ‘oh wow, this is a good one’.”
Billing, who has starred in everything from The Dish to Underbelly, fields offers for all manner of roles and voiceover work.
“Mayors, cops, criminals — I get offered everything,” he said.
“I love playing Harry (Strang) (alongside Guy Pearce in ABC series Jack Irish) because I’m a bit of a racing man myself so I go to the races and people come up thinking I know everything that’s going on,” he said.
“They want tips.
“We’re hopefully doing another series of that. It’s good fun.”
The $3 million-budget film follows a group of residents forced to unite after a ‘devastating ground invasion’.
As they struggle to survive, the residents are must stay a step ahead of their attackers and work together for a chance to strike back.
Sparke, who directed 2016 monster romp Red Billabong, which also starred Ewing, is thrilled with the cast he’s assembled for Occupation.
“I think actors attract actors. Luckily the script isn’t too bad and everyone likes the idea of doing an action film because we don’t do many in Australia,” he said.
“People like Charles Mesure and Stephany Jacobsen, who are based in LA, saw it as an opportunity to come back to their own country and do something interesting.”
A cast and crew of more than 100 spent this week filming at Murwillumbah Showgrounds, enlisting almost 200 locals as extras for a scene involving an Australian Rules match between the Kookaburras and the Drop Bears.
“Our outside force invasion happens right in the middle of a football game, so that’s what’s been happening this whole week,” Sparke said.
“Our footy crowds are caught up in the pandemonium.”
Sparke said his greatest challenge was “squeezing a massive action film into six weeks”.
“We’re up against it every night,” he said.
“There are lots of stunts. It’s time consuming but for a movie of this scale, you want to get bums on seats and make it look interesting.”
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Gold Coasters will get a chance to join the action when production heads back across the border this week.
“We were at Bonogin, at the back of Mudgeeraba, for the first two weeks, then we were at our studios at Helensvale for week three, we’re here (Murwillumbah) for week four and then we go back to the Gold Coast for week five and week six,” Sparke said.
“There’ll be a chance for locals to come along and be in something interesting and exciting — another big action sequence,” Sparke said.
Visit occupationthemovie.com for details.
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