‘Underbelly Files: Chopper’. (Photo: Greg Noakes)
Filming has begun in Melbourne on Screentime’s Underbelly Files: Chopper.
The two-part mini-series for the Nine Network stars Aaron Jeffrey (Wentworth, McLeod’s Daughters, Water Rats) as the notorious Mark ‘Chopper’ Read, Michael Caton (The Castle, Packed to the Rafters) as Chopper’s father Keith, Todd Lasance (The Vampire Diaries) as Chopper’s nemesis, gangster Syd Collins, and Ella Scott Lynch (Love Child) as Read’s second wife, Margaret.
Other cast members include Zoe Ventoura, Jane Allsop, Reef Ireland, Alex Tsitsopoulos and Anna Bamford. Original Underbelly cast members Vince Colosimo and Kevin Harrington will return as Alphonse Gangitano and Lewis Moran, and Debra Byrne will also reprise her portrayal of Judy Moran.
Underbelly Files: Chopper, written by Justin Monjo, is produced by Kerrie Mainwaring and Karl Zwicky. Peter Andrikidis, who helmed the seminal season of Underbelly, will return to direct. Cinematographer Joe Pickering and production designer Paddy Reardon also return.
Screentime’s CEO Rory Callaghan, and executive chairman, Bob Campbell are executive producers alongside the Nine Network’s joint Heads of Drama, Jo Rooney and Andy Ryan.
“With this new take on the Mark ‘Chopper’ Read story Screentime is delighted to be reuniting our ‘A team’ for a mesmerising mini-series which will bring the fourth instalment of Underbelly: Files to Nine for 2018, in classic style,” Bob Campbell said.
DRG is handing international distribution.