Australian Succession star’s thriller to premiere at Sydney Film Festival

Actor Ashley Zukerman, who starred in Succession as Nate Sofrelli, a political adviser and ex-boyfriend of Shiv Roy, played by fellow Australian Sarah Snook, will star in a sci-fi thriller shot in rural NSW that will premiere at the Sydney Film Festival.

The Mebourne-raised Zukerman first met the writers of In Vitro, Will Howarth and Talia Zucker, when they moved to Hollywood in 2013 to find acting work.

Zucker and Howarth, who also star alongside Zukerman in the psychological drama set on a remote cattle farm in the near future, were both chosen as finalists in the 2013 Heath Ledger scholarship.

Ashley Zukerman starring in the film, Invitro, shot in regional NSW.Credit: Sydney Film Festival

Canberra-born Howarth won the scholarship, and eventually the heart Zucker, while living in LA. The two are married, living in Melbourne with an eight-month-old girl, Rooney, and a new feature film co-written with Howarth’s old friend from Sydney uni days, Tom McKeith.

“Two of our babies are launching into the world at the same time,” says Howarth, who studied arts and law in Sydney, where he met McKeith, with whom he wrote the Sydney Film Festival 2016 hit thriller, Beast.  Their new project was filmed on a decommissioned fish-farm in Goulburn and around Cooma over five weeks in 2022.

“We always had Ashley in mind for the In Vitro lead,” Howarth said of their friend who has since starred in Manhattan, as Robert Langdon in Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol and The Code.

Ashley Zukerman and Talia Zucker starring in psychological thriller, Invitro.Credit: Sydney Film Festival

Zucker, a former Neighbours actor who starred along with Ledger in the 2003 bushranger film Ned Kelly, first came up with the idea of a young isolated woman on a remote Australian cattle station, and in 2016 the Sundance Screenwriters Lab chose their script, which they got to develop with Erin Brockovic co-writer Susannah Grant.

The plot revolves around her character Layla, and husband Jack (played by Zukerman), whose lives take a dark turn when a storm exposes the unforeseen repercussions of his animal breeding technology.

“It was funny writing a film with my wife, which explores the darker aspects of love and control in a relationship. Hopefully, it doesn’t say too much about our own relationship,” Howarth said.

Ashley Zukerman, stars as Robert Langdon in The Lost Symbol, based on the book by Dan Brown.Credit: Rafy/Peacock

The team worked with cinematographer Shelley Farthing-Dawe (who shot Boy Swallows Universe) to find the right landscape for the film funded by Screen Australia and Screen NSW.

“The backdrop is barren, haunting and unworldly, very different to the scorched red dirt and big blue skies in your typical Australian outback thriller,” Howarth said.

“We also broke the two big rules of filmmaking - don’t work with kids and cows - which were surprisingly skittish, fortunately our animal wranglers taught us a gentle cautious approach.”

In Vitro, is one of the first 17 films to be announced in the lineup for the 71st Sydney Film Festival which will take place from June 5-16.

Other offerings include the directorial debut of actor Rachel House (Hunt for the Wilderpeople), The Mountain. Executive produced by Taika Waititi, the film centres on three children discovering friendship’s healing power through the spirit of adventure as they trek through spectacular New Zealand landscapes.

International festival prize-winners in the first release of films include winner of the Golden Shell for Best Film at San Sebastián, The Rye Horn, a story of a rural Galician midwife who flees after an illegal abortion goes awry.

Also featuring is winner of the special jury prize at Venice, legendary filmmaker Agnieszka Holland’s (Europa, Europa) refugee thriller Green Border which raised the ire of some Polish politicians and inspired protests before setting a box office record.

Explanation for Everything, also included on the line-up, is a Hungarian satire about the culture wars where a student accidentally becomes a figurehead for the right when he is embroiled in a national scandal. The film won the Orizzonti Award for best film at the Venice International Film Festival.

“This first look at the 2024 program delves into everything from culture wars in Poland that polarise society (Explanation for Everything) to House of the Seasons, which is like Succession set in a Korean tofu factory... we have a wide range of films that are looking at the key issues around the world,” Sydney Film Festival Director Nashen Moodley said.

The full program of 250 films will be launched on May 8.