Fremantle native Rose Riley and New Zealand actor George Mason will play former teenage sweethearts whose rekindled romance awaken a terrifying demon in Miley Tunnecliffe and Kate Separovich’s debut feature Proclivitas, which kicked off production in Perth this week.
The supernatural horror follows Clare (Riley), a troubled doctor who reconnects with former love Jerry (Mason), awakening painful memories of the past and a terrifying demon determined to possess her. Hayley McElhinney will feature as Jerry’s sister, Tara.
Tunnecliffe penned the script and is directing with Separovich producing. They are joined in the creative team by DOP Meredith Lindsay, production designer Courtney Mulvay, costume designer Texx Montana, hair and make-up designer Kate Anderson, and monster designer Kiana Jones.
Proclivitas, a Lake Martin Films production, was the 2023 recipient of Screenwest’s West Coast Visions initiative, which included $750,000 of production funding from the state agency and a $500,000 pre-commitment from Screen Australia. Earlier this week, Screenwest announced Tim Barretto and Melanie Filler’s End to End had been chosen to receive this year’s funding.
Tunnecliffe said it was a pleasure to make a film in her hometown with the support of Screenwest and Screen Australia.
“I’m absolutely thrilled to be working with such incredible talent in front of, and behind the camera,” she said.
“I can’t wait to share it with the world.”
Separovich was confident the film would “scare the bejesus out of people”.
“There’s nowhere I’d rather be making films than here in WA – the benefit of being a Western Australia-based producer and having the incredible support of Screenwest, as well as Screen Australia and our distributor Icon puts my business in a great position to grow into the future,” he said.
Screenwest CEO Rikki Lea Bestall said she was pleased to see Tunnecliffe and Separovich take the next step.
“Screenwest has been following and supporting Kate and Miley’s careers for over 10 years and we are so pleased to see them kick off production on their debut feature film,” she said.
“It’s so great to see two WA actresses, Rose and Hayley take on starring roles alongside an entirely WA crew.”
Icon will distribute the film locally.