Lisa McCune and Peter Helliar in ‘How to Stay Married.’
Lisa McCune and Daniel Gillies (The Originals, The Vampire Diaries) are the final additions to the cast of Luke Sparke’s sci-fi thriller Occupation: Rainfall.
Shooting in the Gold Coast, Newcastle, Sydney, the Snowy Mountains and Alice Springs, the sequel to Occupation sees the survivors of an intergalactic invasion fight back in a desperate ground war.
In her first film role since Josh Lawson’s The Little Death, McCune plays the military commander in charge of ground forces in the Sydney siege. The Los Angeles-based Gillies is a hard-line military leader that will do whatever it takes to win the alien war.
Temuera Morrison, Dan Ewing, Stephany Jacobsen, Aaron Jeffery, Zac Garred, Izzy Stevens and Trystan Go reprise their roles, joined by Crazy Rich Asians’ Ken Jeong, Lawrence Makoarely, Vince Colosimo and Tamala Shelton.
“Daniel has been on my radar for a few years now. I cast Daniel after long chats with him about the character he has to play and he just ‘got it’ 100 per cent. He’s really been collaborative and helped shaped the role even more before even landing out here,” Sparke, who co-wrote the screenplay with Felix Williamson, tells IF.
“Lisa obviously has a commanding presence after Blue Heelers and Sea Patrol so she is a fantastic fit for the character, who cares for her soldiers and every life under her command. Lisa fits the bill perfectly. “
Clay Epstein’s Film Mode Entertainment is pitching the film produced by Sparke, Carly Imrie and Carmel Imrie to buyers at the American Film Market. Monster Pictures will distribute in Australia/New Zealand.
McCune co-stars with Peter Helliar in How To Stay Married, a comedy co-produced by Princess Pictures and Pablo Pictures which premieres on Network 10 at 8.30 pm on November 8.
In the show created by Helliar, a spin-off of It’s a Date, they play Em and Greg Butler, who have been married for 14 years but their relationship lacks spark.
Life gets complicated when Em goes back to work for the first time since their two kids were born just as Greg is made redundant. Phil Lloyd plays Greg’s man-child brother Brad with Darren Gilshenan and Nikki Britton as their unconventional neighbours.