One Less God, an Australian psychological thriller inspired by the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in 2008, starts principal photography on Monday.
It’s the feature debut of writer-director Lliam Worthington, whose background is in music videos, corporate films and theatre.
Worthington says he will aim to recreate the kind of emotions and tension experienced by the people who were held hostage by members of Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist organisation for three days in two Mumbai hotels.
His film is set in an Indian hotel where a bunch of international tourists is trapped for 48 hours. “It’s real theatre-of-the-mind, not a survival story or an action thriller,” Worthington tells IF.
He’s producing the self-financed film with Greg Buchanan, his partner in New Realms Films, as executive producer, in association with Unravel Media, a post and production company owned by Brad Allen. The DOP is Ashley Barron and Maren Smith is associate producer.
The cast includes Martelle Hammer as an ambitious French journalist on assignment, Joseph J.U. Taylor as a Texan widower, Igor Kreyman as a Turkish tourist, Nathan Kaye as a dysfunctional rock star, Jan Langford-Penny as an elderly lecturer and Kieran Kumar as a so-called freedom fighter.
He says all cast and crew will get points participation in the profits. He filmed the opening scenes in Nepal during the annual Holi festival last February.
He’s shooting at the Carrington Hotel in the Blue Mountains. It’s a 32-day shoot spread over three months to accommodate the availabilities of cast and crew.
Worthington is a patient man. He attended the Australian Theatre for Young People from 1992-1994 and studied acting at the University of Wollongong.
After playing small roles in Australian TV dramas and plays, he became the director of the Heartspace Theatre Co. in 1997.
He tried to direct a movie 12 years ago but the project fell apart amid a dispute with the producers over the intellectual property. “Rather than sitting around waiting for my dream to happen, I’ve spent the last three years gathering friends and resources," he says. "Directing a film is everyone’s Everest. I’m at the base camp.”