Ryan Kwanten (Photo credit: Matt Byrne).
Half-way through shooting Seth Larney’s 2067 in Adelaide, Ryan Kwanten is convinced the sci-fi mystery thriller will have a lasting impact on moviegoers.
“There is something behind Seth’s vision which makes this feel like it’s more than a movie,” says the actor, whose extensive credits include HBO’s True Blood, Ivan Sen’s Mystery Road, Fox’s comedy New Girl and Peter Templeman’s Not Suitable for Children.
“It has a deeper consciousness and is one of those projects that I know will stay with me for a long time. It will play with people’s snap judgments: it’s not your classic case of good versus evil. There really isn’t a bad person in this movie. Everyone has intentions which they think are honourable.”
Set in a deforested and oxygen-deprived world – the result of climate change – the plot follows Kodi Smit-McPhee as Ethan Whyte, an arrogant and selfish underground tunnel worker who embarks on a journey through time that tests his faith in humanity.
Kwanten plays Jude Mathers, who serves both as Ethan’s protector and his conscience. While the two form a bond in a brutal world, as time goes on Jude is forced to make a decision which will haunt him.
Aaron Glenane is Richard Whyte, Ethan’s father and one of the greatest scientific minds of his time who tries to solve the oxygen crisis. Storm Boy’s Finn Little plays the young Ethan and Deborah Mailman is Regina Jackson, a corporate powerhouse who is Richard’s benefactor.
Full of praise for his co-star, Kwanten says: “Kodi is one of those guys you come across who seem like they have been here before. He is other-worldly, not just here but other places we haven’t been to. He is the perfect unlikely hero of our story.”
He marvels at Little’s combination of maturity, innocence and curiosity and Mailman’s “magnetic, magnanimous” personality and nurturing presence.
Produced by Lisa Shaunessy and Kate Croser and funded by Screen Australia, the SAFC and Create NSW, the film will be released in Australia/NZ by Umbrella Entertainment.
The actor who moved to Hollywood 16 years ago after a five-year stint in Home and Away looks forward to collaborating again with Sen next year in Loveland. He will co-star with Hugo Weaving in the futuristic sci-fi action film which they first started discussing while shooting Mystery Road in 2013.
Kwanten stars in and serves as one of the producers of The Oath, a crime drama commissioned by Sony’s streaming service Crackle which was filmed in Puerto Rico. He plays Steve Hammond, leader of the Ravens gang and son of crime family patriarch Tom Hammond (Sean Bean). Sony has renewed the show created by former LA undercover cop Joe Halpin (Hawaii Five-O) for a second season.
He had the pleasure of working with Nicolas Cage in Kill Chain, a thriller from Millennium Media and CineTel Films, a tale of murder, betrayal and revenge involving crooked cops, gangsters, hitmen, a femme fatale and an ex-mercenary.
It was his second collaboration with writer-director Ken Sanzel, a former New York cop, after the actioner Blunt Force Trauma, which co-starred Kwanten and Mickey Rourke. He describes Cage as a sheer professional who still has fire in the belly for his craft.
Check back tomorrow for Kodi Smit-McPhee’s take on 2067 and his broader career.