Actress Laura Collier started shooting The Silent City, a film noir, in Perth in late May for first-time writer/director Matt Soutar.
Filming wrapped in September but that wasn’t a marathon shoot: the cast and crew worked primarily at weekends.
David Partridge plays Martin Cole, a boozy private eye who’s hired to recover a stolen heirloom. Laura plays Elizabeth, his P.A. who tries to keep him on the straight and narrow. Things go awry when Elizabeth is kidnapped.
The producer is Nate Strider-Knight and it was shot by cinematographer Ross Metcalf. The producers are screening an extended trailer followed by a digitally remastered print of Roman Polanski’s Chinatown on November 7 at Event Cinemas Innaloo. Before the screening there will be a silent auction of items donated by sponsors.
Collier, who also serves as associate producer, tells IF the event will raise funds to enter the film in international festivals next year. She says the producers are in talks with Australian distributors and international sales agents.
The 22-year-old was cast as a forensic scientist in John V. Soto’s Perth-shot thriller The Reckoning, which stars Luke Hemsworth, Viva Bianca, Hanna Mangan Lawrence and Jonathan LaPaglia and opens in Australia next year.
She played the co-lead in Never Too Late, a 9-minute film written, produced and directed by Aaron Kamp. James Helm plays Danny, a troubled man who makes some wrong decisions. Laura plays his girlfriend Rachel, a born-again Christian who tries to lead him on the right path. Jack Jovcic is Jack, a hardened criminal who teaches Danny the tricks of the trade.
The film was entered into the 168 Film Festival held in August in Los Angeles, showcasing short films from around the world that are shot and edited in 168 hours. Collier was nominated for best supporting actress and Jovcic for best supporting actor.
The actress is studying philosophy at the University of Western Australia. She is deferring her course next year as she plans to go to Los Angeles to study at the Actors Centre and to meet with casting directors and agencies.
She already has an LA-based mentor in producer Coppelia Tingley, whose teenage daughter Freya Tingley is a friend from Perth. Freya starred in the TV series Hemlock Grove and is now shooting Jersey Boys, Clint Eastwood’s film based on the stage musical.