TRACY: Your chance to star in Cyclone Tracy feature film by group of Darwin creatives

A group of Darwin creatives have put the call out for aspiring actors to star in their upcoming feature TRACY, with seven major roles up for grab. Find out more about the ambitious project.

Big Dog Salad members Sean Guy and Kostadinos Hatzivalsamis in pre-production for TRACY, an amateur feature film commemorating 50 years since the devastation of Cyclone Tracy. Picture: Facebook

A group of Darwin creatives have put the call out for aspiring actors to star in their upcoming amateur feature film TRACY, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the cyclone that tore Darwin to shreds.

TRACY, produced by Darwin outfit Big Dog Salad and directed by actor, writer and filmmaker Kostadinos Hatzivalsamis, is expected to film in May and June.

Seven major roles are up for grabs.

On Monday, Big Dog Salad put out a casting call, with auditions to occur later in the month.

Roles up for grab include Morris Henderson, a man with a “beautiful house, wife and child” who nevertheless feels adrift; his wife Lisa, who thinks Darwin is the “greatest place on Earth”; and meteorologist Gregory Collins, who is “devoted to his work life, sometimes at the cost of sacrificing his social life”.

There is also Chloe Davison, who loves Gregory but feels the itch to leave Darwin, and the Henderson’s knockabout best friend, who is “fond of a chinwag and partial to a beer”.

The casting call advises that the roles are unpaid, but that Big Dog Salad is “currently seeking funding,” including via sponsorship and a grant under the City of Darwin Cyclone Tracy 50th Anniversary Commemoration Grants Program.

Photos from after Cyclone Tracy, outside the house of Arafura Trees owner Tess Smith

“We want to make this a great opportunity for actors to gain experience,” the call-out reads.

Originally envisaged as a miniseries, TRACY is “inspired by true stories, mountains of research over the past three years, and Kostadinos’s own family history,” the project’s website states.

TRACY is expected to air in late 2024.

Mr Hatzivalsamis told the NT News the film was inspired by his father and paternal family, who all lived through the night of carnage.

The poster for feature film TRACY. Picture: Facebook

“It wasn’t uncommon for people to think they were going to die,” Mr Hatzivalsamis said.

“My father thought he was going to die, he said it one of the longest nights of his life and (did) a lot of work getting back to normal.”

Mr Hatzivalsamis said his film was about the people who lived through the disaster and not the raw power of the cyclone itself.

“It’s very easy to sort of dive in on the spectacle of the catastrophe,” he said.

“This is less about the cyclone and more about the people and the sense of community that was brought about.”

The Big Dog Salad production will be the second locally made film about Cyclone Tracy, with the NT News previously revealing details about former Australian Cinematography Society NT branch president Andrew Hyde’s documentary, Tracy, which will air on Nine later this year.

“The entire fabric of life in Darwin was catastrophically disrupted by Cyclone Tracy,” Mr Hyde previously said.

“The cyclone packed astonishing power, unleashing the greatest natural disaster in Australia’s history.

“At least 71 people were killed. 2023 estimates of the damage exceed $4 billion.”