Newcomer Cato Ayyar will star opposite Michael Sheasby in Peter Skinner’s debut feature Two Ugly People, which has commenced shooting across Sydney and regional NSW.
As previously reported by IF, the film is a psychological romance that details a chance meeting between two strangers at a remote highway motel who find they have an instant connection. As their stays go on, the nature of the encounter is brought into question.
Sheasby and Ayyar are joined in the cast by Ben Oxenbould, Di Adams, and Chaydon Jay.
Two Ugly People is the launch project for Seymour Pictures, a production company founded by Skinner alongside actor and writer Julia Gardell and writer/director Orla Doyle that is “dedicated to fostering brave new voices in Australian cinema”.
“Seymour Pictures was born from a restlessness and frustration with the barriers that we and our collaborators were coming up against trying to emerge into the Australian industry,” the trio said in a statement.
“[The company] is about creating opportunities for filmmakers and creating fresh, daring, and independent work.”
For Two Ugly People, the trio will work with producer Dinusha Ratnaweera, cinematographer Adric Watson and production designer Laura Anna Lucas on the independently-financed micro-budget feature, with casting by Danny Long Casting and post-production via Xenon Post.
Skinner, who began writing the script at the beginning of 2021, described the film as a “modern addition to the doomed romance canon” that explored desire and identity in a new way.
“I’ve always been fascinated by the different pieces of ourselves we share with the world and parts we keep in the shadows,” he said
“What we keep shadowed reveals the closest version of our truest selves, and these are the versions of the characters we uncover.”
Filming will take place up until November 3.