Richard Brancatisano and Andrea Demetriades are playing the leads in Alex & Eve, an unorthodox comedy about a Greek orthodox guy who inconveniently falls in love with a Lebanese Muslim woman.
Inspired by Alex Lykos’ stage play Alex and Eve and directed by Peter Andrikidis, the film starts a five-week shoot in Sydney’s inner West on Monday.
“It’s a lot of fun, a mismatch made in heaven, but very truthful," producer Murray Fahey tells IF, adding that he and Andrikidis want the tone to be a cross between Bend it like Beckham, My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Monsoon Wedding.
Brancatisano is taking time out from his recurring role in the US TV drama Chasing Life (which stars Italia Ricci as a budding Boston journalist who's stunned when she is diagnosed with leukaemia) to play Alex.
The character is a handsome 35-year-old school teacher still living with his overbearing parents, who expect him to marry a good Greek girl. Alex falls for Eve, a corporate lawyer whose parents have arranged for her to marry a Lebanese Muslim man.
Tony Nikolakopoulos and Zoe Carides play Alex’s parents, with Simon Elrahi and Helen Chebatte as Eve’s parents. Screenwriter Lykos is cast as Alex’s brother Stavros, the family’s golden child, and Ryan O’Kane is Alex’s best mate.
Alex pursues Eve, who accuses him of stalking her, but he convinces her to go on a Sydney Harbour Bridge climb. As they secretly spend time together, she becomes torn between Alex and her family.
Brancatisano’s credits include Dance Academy, Reef Doctors and Bait. Demetriades played Lina in Janet King and Crownies and appears in Sarah Spillane’s feature Around the Block, now in limited cinema release.
“We’re aiming to reflect the different faces of our society and to capture the flavours and sights of Sydney’s inner West,” says Fahey.
The DOP is Joe Pickering, who will preside over a two-camera shoot. It’s financed by private investors and the producer offset. Screen Australia supported the development of the project.
This is Andrikidis’ second feature; his first was Kings of Mykonos: Wog Boys 2. His TV credits include Fat Tony & Co., Janet King, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and HBO Asia’s Serangoon Road.
Alex & Eve will be released by Fahey’s distribution company Magic Box Entertainment, which he formed in 2013, aiming to release 3-5 films per year.
Among Fahey’s feature credits are Get Away, Get Away, A Change Of Heart, Encounters, Sex Is a Four Letter Word, Dags, Cubbyhouse and the documentary We Are London.