'Underbelly' director to film in Cairns
CAIRNS is about to take a star turn on the international stage as the location for Australia's newest underworld drama with award-winning director Peter Andrikidis declaring the city is tailor-made for films and television.
"I’m thinking of moving here. This place is amazing," Andrikidis told the Cairns Sun during location scouting for The Straits, a 10-part ABC television series which is being shot in Cairns and the Torres Strait from June 14 until the end of September.
"I’ve worked out of the Gold Coast, but it’s all modern, streamlined, glass buildings.
"This place is much more interesting. It’s got history, different architectural styles, open-air Balinese style restaurants. For a director that’s great."
Andrikidis also loves the ambience of the city and region.
"It has an exotic, tropical look. We haven’t seen enough of that on our television screens in Australia. This series will have a very unique look. Sydney, Melbourne and the Gold Coast are very similar. This city isn’t. It has a tropical feel. There’s a bit of Singapore there as well," he said.
"I’m seriously over the moon about this place. If I can get more film industry up here, I’d move permanently. It’s a really special place. It’s got the big city, as well as country Australia. That’s unique.
It’s got the isolation which Broome has, but Broome doesn’t have the big city feel.
"Everything’s so close. When you shoot in Sydney, it takes an hour to get anywhere. Here, you take 10-15 minutes to get into the country. You’ve got a very diverse landscape very quickly here."
One of Australia’s finest directors, Andrikidis broke all the rules and changed Australian television with the first series of Underbelly, which spoke fearlessly about sex and violence in a dark world, albeit with a touch of Australian humour.
Based on the Melbourne gangland wars, it won six of the eight Australian Film Institute Awards it was nominated for, including Best Drama Series and Best Direction in television.
"People find it fascinating, seeing how the dark side runs, without being prudish."
The Straits is another darkly humorous crime drama, which follows the fortunes of a family who run a smuggling operation.
Andrikidis has assembled a star cast for the series, including British actor Brian Cox (Braveheart, Rob Roy, Troy, The Bourne Supremacy), locally-born actor Aaron Fa’aoso (East West 101, RAN), Kiwi actor Rena Owen (Once Were Warriors, Rapa Nui, ER) and Jimi Bani (RAN Remote Area Nurse).
The Straits has a substantial cast and the flavour of the city will permeate the series with the Boland Centre, The Cairns Post and Cairns City Library being considered as locations.
"We have a crew of at least 200, including bit parts and probably another 200 extras," he said.
"We’re using a lot of locals. We’ve found a lot of good actors up here. All the bit parts will be locals and we’re using a lot of Torres Strait Islanders. Their humour is brilliant. There’s an element of humour in this show – it’s a dark story with a light side.
"For the extras, I like to use real people, not necessarily actors. Real extras are better to use and the mix is perfect here with Torres Strait Islanders and caucasians. Cairns is very multi-cultural in terms of casting," Andrikidis said.
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PERFECT LOCATION: Peter Andrikidis, director of the first Underbelly series, will start filming his next project, a new television series called The Straits, in Cairns on June 14.
