Bernard Curry, Geoff Morrell and Grace O’Sullivan will join Liam Neeson for the sequel to 2021 action film Ice Road, set to begin filming in Victoria this month.
Written and directed by Jonathan Hensleigh, The Ice Road 2: Road To The Sky will again centre on Neeson’s Mike McCann, this time as he heads to Nepal to sprinkle his brother’s ashes on Mount Everest. When Mike and his mountain guide come upon a bunch of mercenaries while traveling on a tour bus they are forced to fight to save themselves, the passengers, and the country.
The production was lured to Victoria via the state government’s Victorian Screen Incentive and Regional Location Assistance Fund, with the expectation it would inject more than $30 million into the state economy and create nearly 600 jobs for screen industry workers and extras, with 15 locals taking on heads of department roles.
The Gippsland town of Walhalla is set to be the backdrop for some of the film’s action sequences, while filming will also take place across Melbourne, making use of Nanstudios’ volume screens and technology at Docklands Studios.
Producing the film are Code’s Al Corley, Bart Rosenblatt, and Eugene Musso, along with Shivani Rawat of ShivHans and Hensleigh, as well as Lee Nelson and David Tish of Envision Media Arts (EMA). Jonathan Dana is executive producing, along with Julie Goldstein and Connor Flanagan of ShivHans, and Lisa Wilson and Myles Nestel of The Solution Entertainment Group, and David Buelow of EMA.
Acting Victorian Creative Industries Minister Natalie Hutchins said the CodeEntertainment/Shivhans/EMA production joined Netflix series’ Apple Cider Vinegar and The Survivors, as well as the third season of Werner Film Production’s The Newsreader in the “strong pipeline” of local and international productions that would power the state’s screen industry this year
“Victoria is a sought-after destination for international productions because of our phenomenal locations, state-of-the-art screen infrastructure and renowned local talent and crew,” she said.