Lauren Douglas
Moviehole recently witnessed filming of Tony Ayre’s highly-anticipated new film “Cut Snake”, currently lensing in Victoria.
With headphones cradling our lobes, and the Spring wind crashing upon Victoria’s lavish hilltops nearby, we waxed lyrical with the film’s stars Sullivan Stapleton (“300 : Rise of an Empire”, “Animal Kingdom”), Alex Russell (“Carrie”, “Wasted on the Young”) and Jessica De Gouw (TV’s “Dracula”, “Arrow”) over lunch, while previewing the period piece’s immaculately-detailed production design, glorious garb, and breathtaking filming locale.
Set in the mid-1970s, ”Cut Snake” tells the story of Sparra Farrell (Russell), a fiercely private man in his twenties, who is trying to escape a dark and violent past and make a life for himself in a new city. He finds honest work and becomes engaged to the beautiful Paula (De Gouw). When the brutal and charismatic Pommie (Stapleton) tracks him down, Sparra finds himself falling back into a world that he thought he left behind.
Ruthless and charming, Pommie becomes the perfect houseguest and drops tantalising hints about Sparra’s mysterious history to Paula, who has no idea about her fiancé’s past. As Pommie exerts his influence over Sparra to lure him back into crime and the life they once had, Sparra realises that he’ll have to fight to keep the past from ruining his future.
Sparra is forced to battle not just Pommie, but also his own private demons, to save Paula and himself.
All three actors have recently been working stateside on, admittedly bigger, more expensive productions but they jumped at the chance to return “home” for Ayre’s film. For De Gouw, currently appearing on TV’s “Dracula”, it was a chance to not only be more creatively and more intensively involved – being one of the leads, but also working on a production where they’re aren’t as many cooks in the kitchen – in something, but an opportunity to work on a script that, she admits, blew her away the moment she read it. Stapleton and Russell were as equally keen to do the film; despite how in-demand the “300” and “Carrie” stars, respectively, might be in Hollywood, they’ll still answer the call of a killer script and potentially great film over a big payday.
You’ll be able to read the set visit closer to the film’s release, but for the moment here’s some photos of Stapleton, Russell and De Gouw in action.
“Cut Snake” will be released in 2014.
