The tables are turned on serial killer Mick Taylor in the latest iteration of Wolf Creek commissioned by Stan, which starts shooting today at the Adelaide Studios and numerous locations in South Australia.
Vampire Academy’s Lucy Fry plays Eve, an American tourist in the six-part series directed by Tony Tilse and Greg Mclean, scripted by Peter Gawler and Felicity Packard.
John Jarratt’s Mick sets out to murder Eve’s family but she survives, rebuilds her shattered existence and vows revenge.
The series will have a markedly different tone to Mclean’s horror movies, focusing on Eve’s journey. Stan content and product director Nick Forward tells IF, “No one wanted to make a 6-hour horror movie. We spent six months with the producers and writers looking for a hook for a televisual drama.
“Mick Taylor is still the grim reaper but this is a thriller about Eve’s journey. It will have a great cinematic look.” The DOP is Geoffrey Hall and the production designer is Paddy Reardon.
The supporting cast includes Dustin Clare (Strike Back, Spartacus: War of the Damned) as a cop, Deborah Mailman (Offspring, Redfern Now, The Sapphires), Miranda Tapsell (Love Child, Redfern Now, The Sapphires), Jessica Tovey (Wonderland, Dance Academy, Home & Away), Jake Ryan (Wentworth, Fat Tony & Co, Underbelly: Razor) and Richard Cawthorne (Catching Milat, Fat Tony & Co.).
Peter Gawler and Elisa Argenzio are producing for Screentime in association with Mclean’s Emu Creek Pictures, financed with the assistance of Screen Australia and the South Australian Film Corporation.
Mclean will direct the last one or two episodes. The EPs are Screentime’s Greg Haddrick and Mclean, who said, “I’m excited to work with such a talented group of individuals and delve deeper into the dangerous world and character of Mick Taylor, once again portrayed by John Jarratt.”
The series will premiere in mid-2016, with all six episodes available immediately. Forward said there were several “fairly decent” offers from international distributors. In the end Screentime parent Banijay International secured the sales rights outside Australia.
It’s the first time that Screen Australia has co-financed a narrative drama commissioned by a streaming service.
Fry starred in Mclean’s first US film, indie thriller 6 Miranda Drive, which Universal is distributing internationally, and in Wayne Hope’s Now Add Honey, which Roadshow is launching on November 5.
She will also be seen with James Franco, T. R. Knight and Sarah Gadon in 11/22/63, the Hulu-commissioned miniseries based on a Stephen King novel about a divorced English teacher who embarks on a quest to prevent the assassination of President Kennedy.