A new feature about the multi-decade murder investigation of Scott Johnson is in the works, with Nicholas Verso attached to write and direct.
A Fremantle and Invention Studios production, The Surface of Venus will centre on the case of the young US man who was found sprawled below a cliff on a rugged beach at Sydney’s North Head in 1988. While Police initially ruled his death to be a suicide, Scott’s brother Steve Johnson wasn’t convinced, believing his sibling had been killed as part of a series of gay-bashing murders in Sydney in the 1980s and ’90s.
More than three decades after the body was found, an arrest was made, with 49-year-old Scott White initially pleading guilty to murder before changing his plea to manslaughter, for which he received a nine-year sentence last year. The case has helped to unveil a secret history of more than 50 possible murders of gay men by homophobic mobs in Australia since the 1970s.
Nicholas Weinstock and Divya D’Souza are producing for Invention Studios.
Steve Johnson’s quest for justice was previously explored in Blackfella Films and Show of Force miniseries Never Let Him Go, awarded Best Documentary/Factual Series at the Australian International Documentary Awards in March.
Verso, who is currently shooting Invisible Boys for Stan, told IF it had so far been “a tough but rewarding experience” shining a light on this “dark period in Australia’s history and the bravery of the people who dared to expose it”.
“It’s been a huge honour working with Nicky Weinstock, Steve Johnson and all the other brilliant warriors who fought for truth and justice,” he said.
The timing and location of the shoot are yet to be confirmed.