Filmmaker Alex Proyas is set to shoot his next film, The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag, in Australia later this year.
It follows the failure of his Paradise Lost film – an adaptation of John Milton's famous poem, which was expected to create 1300 jobs in Australia before production house Legendary Pictures pulled the plug in February due to concerns that the slated CGI effects were to ambitious for its $US120 million budget.
The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag is expected shoot in Australia sometime between September and December this year although which Australian state will host the production has not yet been announced. The film is likely to be eligible for the 40 per cent Producer Offset rebate, which applies to productions which pass the 'significant Australian content' test.
The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag is based on a 1942 novella by science-fiction author Robert Heinlein and inspired Proyas' Dark City. The title character in Hoag is struck one evening with the realisation that he has no memory of what he does during the day. He contacts a husband and wife detective agency and asks them to follow him, which leads to a series of frightening revelations, beginning with a group of shadowy figures who gravely warn of dire consequences unless the pair immediately cease their inquiry into the nature of Hoag’s identity.
The film will be fully financed and co-produced by LA-based production, finance and international sales company Red Granite Pictures with Mythology Entertainment, Phoenix Pictures and Proyas' Sydney-based company, Mystery Clock Cinema. Red Granite recently co-produced the romantic comedy Friends with Kids, starring Jon Hamm, and its next film is The Wolf of Wall Street, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
Hoag's producers are Riza Aziz and Joey McFarland (Red Granite), Bradley Fischer (Mythology Entertainment), Mike Medavoy and Arnie Messier (Phoenix Pictures), Alex Proyas (Mystery Clock Cinema) and Vince Gerardis. Joe Gatta, Topher Dow and Vincent Sieber are executive producers.
Red Granite’s Pictures sales arm, Red Granite International, will handle foreign sales for the film.
Contact this reporter at bswift@www.if.com.au or on Twitter at @bcswift.