Actor Ewan McGregor will appear in crime thriller Son of a Gun, which is set to shoot in Western Australia in early-2013.
The film, which will mark the feature debut for writer-director Julius Avery, is about a seasoned armed robber who takes a small-time thief under his wing – the two then orchestrate an ambitious heist. McGregor will play the experienced thief.
Avery's 2008 short film Jerrycan previously won the Jury Prize at Cannes and the Australian Film Institute award for Best Short Film.
The WA state government (through ScreenWest and Lotterywest) has invested in the film, which is being produced by Timothy White (The Boys are Back).
Culture and the Arts Minister John Day said the local film and TV industry was buzzing after recent production including Tim Winton’s The Turning, An Accidental Soldier and These Final Hours.
“This latest news that the star of Star Wars, Trainspotting and Moulin Rouge, Ewan McGregor, will star in a locally-made film further shows the WA film industry is making its international mark following the success of Red Dog and the anticipation surrounding Drift, starring Sam Worthington," he said in a statement. “The high-profile nature of the project and its commercial potential mean the WA screen industry will continue to grow.”