Robert Downey Jr. stars as not one, but four characters in HBO’s newest thriller series, “The Sympathizer.”
The limited series, which is based on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel of the same name, follows a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy as he hides his identity from a refugee community in Los Angeles during the final days of the Vietnam War.
Keep on reading for the full breakdown of all the characters in “The Sympathizer,” and where you’ve seen each actor before.
Hoa Xuande in “The Sympathizer.” (Hopper Stone/HBO)
Hoa Xuande as The Captain
Hoa Xuande stars as the Captain, a spy for North Vietnam who becomes embedded in a refugee community in Los Angeles. His dual identities prompt him to get caught between his conflicting loyalties and contradicting desires.
Xuande has been featured in “Last King of the Cross,” “A Stitch in Time,” “Cowboy Bebop” and “Hungry Ghosts.
The limited series, which is based on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel of the same name, follows a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy as he hides his identity from a refugee community in Los Angeles during the final days of the Vietnam War.
Keep on reading for the full breakdown of all the characters in “The Sympathizer,” and where you’ve seen each actor before.
Hoa Xuande in “The Sympathizer.” (Hopper Stone/HBO)
Hoa Xuande as The Captain
Hoa Xuande stars as the Captain, a spy for North Vietnam who becomes embedded in a refugee community in Los Angeles. His dual identities prompt him to get caught between his conflicting loyalties and contradicting desires.
Xuande has been featured in “Last King of the Cross,” “A Stitch in Time,” “Cowboy Bebop” and “Hungry Ghosts.
- 4/15/2024
- by Loree Seitz
- The Wrap
Exclusive: Fox has given a script commitment to Elfquest, a one-hour animated drama series based on the epic fantasy adventure comic series created by Wendy and Richard Pini, from Rodney Rothman and Adam Rosenberg’s Modern Magic. Susan Hurwitz Arneson (The Last Amazon) will pen the series adaptation and serve as showrunner and executive producer.
Created in 1978, Elfquest, published by Dark Horse Comics, is a fantasy story about a community of elves and other fictional species who struggle to survive and coexist on a primitive Earth-like planet with two moons.
Rothman and Rosenberg will executive produce for Modern Magic, along with Arneson and Wendy and Richard Pini. Bento Box Entertainment is the studio.
“ElfQuest couldn’t be in better hands,” said Wendy and Richard Pini in a statement to Deadline. “Our collaborators trust the story. We have the highest regard for their previous achievements, and they have our blessing and input.
Created in 1978, Elfquest, published by Dark Horse Comics, is a fantasy story about a community of elves and other fictional species who struggle to survive and coexist on a primitive Earth-like planet with two moons.
Rothman and Rosenberg will executive produce for Modern Magic, along with Arneson and Wendy and Richard Pini. Bento Box Entertainment is the studio.
“ElfQuest couldn’t be in better hands,” said Wendy and Richard Pini in a statement to Deadline. “Our collaborators trust the story. We have the highest regard for their previous achievements, and they have our blessing and input.
- 1/11/2024
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Back in January, the band Ok Go got involved in a bizarre lawsuit with Post Foods over the right to use the band’s name for a line of instant cereal cups named Ok Go! Now, the two parties have reached a confidential settlement and asked a Minnesota federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit permanently.
According to Billboard, the court filing said the band and the cereal giant had “settled this action on terms agreeable to all parties” without specifying the terms of the agreement in public court records. As such, it’s not clear whether Ok Go will be paid or whether the Ok Go! brand will continue with a different name.
However, the band itself shared a statement on social media reading, “The litigation with Post over the Ok Go trademark was resolved pursuant to a confidential settlement agreement and Post has agreed to withdraw its application to register ‘Ok Go!
According to Billboard, the court filing said the band and the cereal giant had “settled this action on terms agreeable to all parties” without specifying the terms of the agreement in public court records. As such, it’s not clear whether Ok Go will be paid or whether the Ok Go! brand will continue with a different name.
However, the band itself shared a statement on social media reading, “The litigation with Post over the Ok Go trademark was resolved pursuant to a confidential settlement agreement and Post has agreed to withdraw its application to register ‘Ok Go!
- 6/5/2023
- by Eddie Fu
- Consequence - Music
Prime Video Australia is remaking The Office as a female-led comedy starring stand-up Felicity Ward in the role Ricky Gervais first made famous.
Gervais’ David Brent will become Hannah Howard in the series, with Ward putting her own spin on bad team management at packaging company Flinley Craddick. When she gets news from Head Office that they will be shutting down her branch and making everyone work from home, she goes into survival mode, making promises she can’t keep in order to keep her ‘work family’ together.
Ward is best known as a stand-up and for ABC series Spicks and Specks and The Ronnie Johns Half Hour. She also appeared in Wakefield and The Inbetweeners.
Additional cast includes Edith Poor (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, The Power of the Dog), Steen Raskopoulos (The Duchess, Feel Good), Shari Sebbens (The Sapphires, Thor: Love and Thunder), Josh Thomson...
Gervais’ David Brent will become Hannah Howard in the series, with Ward putting her own spin on bad team management at packaging company Flinley Craddick. When she gets news from Head Office that they will be shutting down her branch and making everyone work from home, she goes into survival mode, making promises she can’t keep in order to keep her ‘work family’ together.
Ward is best known as a stand-up and for ABC series Spicks and Specks and The Ronnie Johns Half Hour. She also appeared in Wakefield and The Inbetweeners.
Additional cast includes Edith Poor (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, The Power of the Dog), Steen Raskopoulos (The Duchess, Feel Good), Shari Sebbens (The Sapphires, Thor: Love and Thunder), Josh Thomson...
- 5/31/2023
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
“The Office” comedy franchise will see middle management led by a woman for the first time in an Australian version that will play on Amazon’s Prime Video.
Australian comedian and actor Felicity Ward will portray Hannah Howard, the MD of packaging company Flinley Craddick in “The Office Australia.” In a post-covid plot twist, Howard gets news from head office that her branch will be shutting down and that staff will have to work from home. She goes into survival mode, making promises she can’t keep and launches outlandish plots in order to keep her “work family” together.
The Australian adaptation is the 13th iteration of the show that was originally created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Other international retreads have included those in France, Canada, Chile, Israel and the Middle East.
Filming of the eight-part series will commence in Sydney in June. Production is by Prime Video,...
Australian comedian and actor Felicity Ward will portray Hannah Howard, the MD of packaging company Flinley Craddick in “The Office Australia.” In a post-covid plot twist, Howard gets news from head office that her branch will be shutting down and that staff will have to work from home. She goes into survival mode, making promises she can’t keep and launches outlandish plots in order to keep her “work family” together.
The Australian adaptation is the 13th iteration of the show that was originally created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Other international retreads have included those in France, Canada, Chile, Israel and the Middle East.
Filming of the eight-part series will commence in Sydney in June. Production is by Prime Video,...
- 5/31/2023
- by Katherine Tulich
- Variety Film + TV
The CW announced on Monday its acquisition of two more international series — The Rising, and Barons — that will make their Stateside bows… pretty soon!
The Rising, a supernatural crime thriller via the UK, will premiere Monday, May 29 at 8/7c, where it will be followed at 9 pm by Barons, an Australian surfer drama set in the 1970s. (Both series debuted in their homelands back in spring of 2022.)
More from TVLineRiverdale Video: Veronica Flirts With Jughead -- Are You 'Shipping Them?The CW Sets Season Finale Dates for Superman & Lois and All AmericanRiverdale Recap: A Make-Out Party Leaves Everyone Hot and Bothered...
The Rising, a supernatural crime thriller via the UK, will premiere Monday, May 29 at 8/7c, where it will be followed at 9 pm by Barons, an Australian surfer drama set in the 1970s. (Both series debuted in their homelands back in spring of 2022.)
More from TVLineRiverdale Video: Veronica Flirts With Jughead -- Are You 'Shipping Them?The CW Sets Season Finale Dates for Superman & Lois and All AmericanRiverdale Recap: A Make-Out Party Leaves Everyone Hot and Bothered...
- 4/24/2023
- by Matt Webb Mitovich
- TVLine.com
Miranda Otto, Jesse Spence and Guy Pearce are among the high-profile stars featuring on Disney+’s debut slate in Australia and New Zealand.
Announced at an event at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art, the 2022/23 slate comprises three dramas, four documentaries and two lifestyle/general factual entertainment series. Several are for Disney+’s adult vertical Star.
On the scripted drama front, The Clearing is adapted from Jp Pomare’s novel ‘In the Clearing’ and is inspired by Australian cult The Family and its founder Anne Hamilton-Byrne, one of the few female cult leaders in history.
Teresa Palmer (A Discovery of Witches), Miranda Otto (The Usual Suspects) and Guy Pearce (Jack Irish) lead the cast, alongside the lies of Hazem Shammas (Safe Harbour), Mark Coles-Smith (Mystery Road), Tom Budge (Bloom).
Written and created by Matt Cameron (Jack Irish) and Elise McCredie (Stateless) alongside co-writer Osamah Sami (Ali’s Wedding), it comes from...
Announced at an event at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art, the 2022/23 slate comprises three dramas, four documentaries and two lifestyle/general factual entertainment series. Several are for Disney+’s adult vertical Star.
On the scripted drama front, The Clearing is adapted from Jp Pomare’s novel ‘In the Clearing’ and is inspired by Australian cult The Family and its founder Anne Hamilton-Byrne, one of the few female cult leaders in history.
Teresa Palmer (A Discovery of Witches), Miranda Otto (The Usual Suspects) and Guy Pearce (Jack Irish) lead the cast, alongside the lies of Hazem Shammas (Safe Harbour), Mark Coles-Smith (Mystery Road), Tom Budge (Bloom).
Written and created by Matt Cameron (Jack Irish) and Elise McCredie (Stateless) alongside co-writer Osamah Sami (Ali’s Wedding), it comes from...
- 5/17/2022
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Peacock is heading down under for its latest straight-to-series order.
The streamer has handed a ten-part order to Irreverent, an Australia-set crime drama from Matchbox Pictures, the production company behind Cate Blanchett’s Stateless.
Irreverant was created by Paddy Macrae (Wanted) and follows a criminal from Chicago bungles a heist and is forced to hide out in a small Australian reef town in Far North Queensland posing as the new church Reverend.
Matchbox Pictures is owned by NBCUniversal International Studios, a division of Universal Studio Group and the series is a co-production between Peacock and Netflix in Australia.
It will be filmed in Australia and will be exec produced by Debbie Lee (Hungry Ghosts) and Andrew Knight (Rake). Tom Hoffie (Clickbait) and Macrae will serve as producers.
Jonathan Teplitzky (A Discovery of Witches) is attached to direct three episodes, while Macrae, Knight, Andrew Anastasios (Wentworth), Angela McDonald (Operation Buffalo...
The streamer has handed a ten-part order to Irreverent, an Australia-set crime drama from Matchbox Pictures, the production company behind Cate Blanchett’s Stateless.
Irreverant was created by Paddy Macrae (Wanted) and follows a criminal from Chicago bungles a heist and is forced to hide out in a small Australian reef town in Far North Queensland posing as the new church Reverend.
Matchbox Pictures is owned by NBCUniversal International Studios, a division of Universal Studio Group and the series is a co-production between Peacock and Netflix in Australia.
It will be filmed in Australia and will be exec produced by Debbie Lee (Hungry Ghosts) and Andrew Knight (Rake). Tom Hoffie (Clickbait) and Macrae will serve as producers.
Jonathan Teplitzky (A Discovery of Witches) is attached to direct three episodes, while Macrae, Knight, Andrew Anastasios (Wentworth), Angela McDonald (Operation Buffalo...
- 8/23/2021
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Rarriwuy Hick leads the ensemble cast of Bunya Productions’ drama True Colours (formerly Copping It Black), now shooting in the Northern Territory’s Macdonnell Ranges for Sbs and Nitv.
The four-part series stems from an original concept from Arrernte singer-songwriter Warren H. Williams, who also stars, and co-creator, writer and director Erica Glynn.
Hick plays Detective Toni Alma, assigned to investigate a suspicious car accident in Perdar Theendar, the Indigenous community she left as a child and has had little to do with over the years. The beauty of Indigenous art and the sometimes-devious practices in the global art market take the detective on an epic hunt for a killer.
Starring alongside Hick are Luke Arnold, Erroll Shand, Emilie de Ravin, Trisha Morton-Thomas, Ben Oxenbould and Miranda Otto.
The series will also include a range of fresh faces such as Kumalie Riley, Kurt Abbott, Sabella Turner, Natalie Peperill, Warren ‘Wazza’ Williams,...
The four-part series stems from an original concept from Arrernte singer-songwriter Warren H. Williams, who also stars, and co-creator, writer and director Erica Glynn.
Hick plays Detective Toni Alma, assigned to investigate a suspicious car accident in Perdar Theendar, the Indigenous community she left as a child and has had little to do with over the years. The beauty of Indigenous art and the sometimes-devious practices in the global art market take the detective on an epic hunt for a killer.
Starring alongside Hick are Luke Arnold, Erroll Shand, Emilie de Ravin, Trisha Morton-Thomas, Ben Oxenbould and Miranda Otto.
The series will also include a range of fresh faces such as Kumalie Riley, Kurt Abbott, Sabella Turner, Natalie Peperill, Warren ‘Wazza’ Williams,...
- 8/4/2021
- by Jackie Keast
- IF.com.au
The Australian screen industry is experiencing a boom, with Australia being seen as an affordable and safe place to film. This presents a distinct opportunity, not just for the Australian economy, but for modernising an industry ripe for change that can better meet the needs of contemporary audiences moving forward.
Although it is great to have all these international productions coming to Australia, we must also strive to protect Australian content and the unique value proposition that our productions bring to the global stage.
“The government is providing a whole lot of money for film and television at the moment but it’s principally for the Hollywood productions, and I welcome the jobs that come with that, but if they can pay for Hollywood stories to be told here, they can sure as hell make sure your stories are funded too,” Shadow Minister for the Arts Tony Burke told the...
Although it is great to have all these international productions coming to Australia, we must also strive to protect Australian content and the unique value proposition that our productions bring to the global stage.
“The government is providing a whole lot of money for film and television at the moment but it’s principally for the Hollywood productions, and I welcome the jobs that come with that, but if they can pay for Hollywood stories to be told here, they can sure as hell make sure your stories are funded too,” Shadow Minister for the Arts Tony Burke told the...
- 6/11/2021
- by Oakley Kwon
- IF.com.au
The second season of ABC’s Mystery Road, lockdown ABC comedy Retrograde and Sbs thriller Hungry Ghosts have won the 11th annual Equity Ensemble Awards.
The actors who starred in these programs were recently voted the most outstanding Australian small screen ensembles in their respective categories by the Meaa Equity National Performers’ Committee (Npc).
Equity president Jason Klarwein said: “There’s never been a more important time to celebrate Australian stories and the talented Meaa members who bring them to life. As our industry begins to recover from the last 12 months we must stand together and campaign for more quality local productions like our finalists and winners across every platform.”
Retrograde, which stars Pallavi Sharda, Ilai Swindells, Maria Angelico, Esther Hannaford, Nick Boshier and Max Brown, won in the comedy category.
Judges said of the Unless Pictures and Orange Entertainment Co series: “Through their zoom the characters negotiate their friendships,...
The actors who starred in these programs were recently voted the most outstanding Australian small screen ensembles in their respective categories by the Meaa Equity National Performers’ Committee (Npc).
Equity president Jason Klarwein said: “There’s never been a more important time to celebrate Australian stories and the talented Meaa members who bring them to life. As our industry begins to recover from the last 12 months we must stand together and campaign for more quality local productions like our finalists and winners across every platform.”
Retrograde, which stars Pallavi Sharda, Ilai Swindells, Maria Angelico, Esther Hannaford, Nick Boshier and Max Brown, won in the comedy category.
Judges said of the Unless Pictures and Orange Entertainment Co series: “Through their zoom the characters negotiate their friendships,...
- 5/10/2021
- by Staff Writer
- IF.com.au
Stephen Corvini has partnered with Fremantle Australia and Fremantle-owned Israeli production company Abot Hameiri to develop a passion project based on the story of Melbourne-born Mossad recruit Ben Zygier.
Titled Prisoner X, one of the placeholder names used for Zygier while imprisoned, the eight-part series will follow his journey from suburban Melbourne to the Israeli Defence Force, before joining Mossad.
Described as a character-driven drama, the series will follow Zygier’s dreams of heroism – dreams which tragically disintegrated when he was imprisoned and stripped of his identity. Zygier died in custody in Tel Aviv in 2010 under mysterious circumstances.
Corvini, the producer behind Safe Harbour, Hungry Ghosts and Secret City 2 – Under the Eagle, will EP the co-production under his Live Wires banner. He had previously been developing the project with Keshet International.
Giula Sandler is attached as lead writer, and former ABC Foreign Correspondent reporter Trevor Bormann, who broke the story of Zygier’s death,...
Titled Prisoner X, one of the placeholder names used for Zygier while imprisoned, the eight-part series will follow his journey from suburban Melbourne to the Israeli Defence Force, before joining Mossad.
Described as a character-driven drama, the series will follow Zygier’s dreams of heroism – dreams which tragically disintegrated when he was imprisoned and stripped of his identity. Zygier died in custody in Tel Aviv in 2010 under mysterious circumstances.
Corvini, the producer behind Safe Harbour, Hungry Ghosts and Secret City 2 – Under the Eagle, will EP the co-production under his Live Wires banner. He had previously been developing the project with Keshet International.
Giula Sandler is attached as lead writer, and former ABC Foreign Correspondent reporter Trevor Bormann, who broke the story of Zygier’s death,...
- 3/15/2021
- by Jackie Keast
- IF.com.au
Shannon Murphy’s feature debut Babyteeth leads the early Aacta Awards race, scoring nods in 12 out of 13 film categories, while Mystery Road and Stateless are ahead in television.
The Australian Academy revealed the first round of nominees for the annual awards over the weekend, to be presented across two ‘reimagined’ events later this month.
Television and documentary craft nominations, visual effects and animation, casting, hair and make-up and subscription television presenter categories are yet to be announced, expected on November 12.
Despite the disrupted year for film, some 19 narrative features are nominated so far.
However, six dominate alongside the aforementioned Babyteeth: Justin Kurzel’s True History of the Kelly Gang, with 10 nominations, John Sheedy’s H is for Happiness with nine, Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man and Unjoo Moon’s I Am Woman close behind with eight and seven nominations respectively, and Natalie Erika James’ Relic with five. Each will...
The Australian Academy revealed the first round of nominees for the annual awards over the weekend, to be presented across two ‘reimagined’ events later this month.
Television and documentary craft nominations, visual effects and animation, casting, hair and make-up and subscription television presenter categories are yet to be announced, expected on November 12.
Despite the disrupted year for film, some 19 narrative features are nominated so far.
However, six dominate alongside the aforementioned Babyteeth: Justin Kurzel’s True History of the Kelly Gang, with 10 nominations, John Sheedy’s H is for Happiness with nine, Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man and Unjoo Moon’s I Am Woman close behind with eight and seven nominations respectively, and Natalie Erika James’ Relic with five. Each will...
- 11/2/2020
- by Jackie Keast
- IF.com.au
Female-led caper mini-series “The Unusual Suspects” has begin filming in Sydney this week. The four-part series, which also highlights Australia’s ethnic diversity, is being produced for publicly-funded broadcaster Sbs.
Set in the upmarket eastern suburbs of Sydney, the story features the theft of a multi-million-dollar necklace and the women from different walks of life who come together to ensure that justice is served.
The cast is headlined by Miranda Otto as well as Filipina-American actress Aina Dumlao, and Michelle Vergara Moore.
The series is written by Jessica Redenbach, Roger Monk and Vonne Patiag, with Margarett Cortez as script consultant. It is directed by Emmy Award-winning Natalie Bailey and Melvin Montalban.
“Suspects” is produced by award-winning filmmaking duo Angie Fielder and Polly Staniford. Vonne Patiag (“Halal Gurls”) is associate producer, while executive production credit goes to Sbs’s acting head of scripted, Amanda Duthie.
It has major production investment from...
Set in the upmarket eastern suburbs of Sydney, the story features the theft of a multi-million-dollar necklace and the women from different walks of life who come together to ensure that justice is served.
The cast is headlined by Miranda Otto as well as Filipina-American actress Aina Dumlao, and Michelle Vergara Moore.
The series is written by Jessica Redenbach, Roger Monk and Vonne Patiag, with Margarett Cortez as script consultant. It is directed by Emmy Award-winning Natalie Bailey and Melvin Montalban.
“Suspects” is produced by award-winning filmmaking duo Angie Fielder and Polly Staniford. Vonne Patiag (“Halal Gurls”) is associate producer, while executive production credit goes to Sbs’s acting head of scripted, Amanda Duthie.
It has major production investment from...
- 9/28/2020
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Monica Zanetti’s screenplay of Ellie & Abbie (& Ellie’s Dead Aunt), Ben Lawrence and Beatrix Christian’s Hearts and Bones and Ally Burnham’s Unsound have been nominated for best original feature in the 53rd annual Awgie Awards.
The contenders for the feature film adaptation prize are Thomas M. Wright and Erik Jensen’s Acute Misfortune, Lisa Hoppe’s H is for Happiness, Shaun Grant and Harry Cripps’ Penguin Bloom and C.S. McMullen’s The Other Lamb.
The TV series prize promises to be a close race between episodes of Glen Dolman’s Bloom, Michael Petroni’s Messiah for Netflix, Belinda Chayko’s Stateless, Samantha Strauss’ The End and Pip Karmel’s Total Control.
Timothy Hobart, John Ridley, Jeremy Nguyen, Alan Nguyen and Michele Lee’s Hungry Ghosts will square off against Matthew Cormack and Niki Aken’s The Hunting for best miniseries.
In the TV serial category it must...
The contenders for the feature film adaptation prize are Thomas M. Wright and Erik Jensen’s Acute Misfortune, Lisa Hoppe’s H is for Happiness, Shaun Grant and Harry Cripps’ Penguin Bloom and C.S. McMullen’s The Other Lamb.
The TV series prize promises to be a close race between episodes of Glen Dolman’s Bloom, Michael Petroni’s Messiah for Netflix, Belinda Chayko’s Stateless, Samantha Strauss’ The End and Pip Karmel’s Total Control.
Timothy Hobart, John Ridley, Jeremy Nguyen, Alan Nguyen and Michele Lee’s Hungry Ghosts will square off against Matthew Cormack and Niki Aken’s The Hunting for best miniseries.
In the TV serial category it must...
- 9/25/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Sigrid Thornton and Kate Jenkinson will star in ‘Amazing Grace.’
The pandemic-induced advertising downturn and temporary suspension of the local content quotas have not impacted the Nine Network’s prime-time commissioning and acquisitions for 2021.
That’s according to Nine’s program director Hamish Turner, who spoke to If today after the network’s virtual Upfront.
The network revealed Kate Jenkinson and Sigrid Thornton will star in Amazing Grace (previously The Midwife), Playmaker Media’s drama set in the unconventional birth centre attached to a major city hospital.
Apart from that and the previously announced fifth season of Easy Tiger’s Doctor Doctor, there are no local dramas on the schedule.
However Turner is delighted with Beyond Lonehand’s Halifax: Retribution, which has been winning its Tuesday night slot since launching a month ago and will assess the data at series’ end before deciding on a renewal.
He flagged there will...
The pandemic-induced advertising downturn and temporary suspension of the local content quotas have not impacted the Nine Network’s prime-time commissioning and acquisitions for 2021.
That’s according to Nine’s program director Hamish Turner, who spoke to If today after the network’s virtual Upfront.
The network revealed Kate Jenkinson and Sigrid Thornton will star in Amazing Grace (previously The Midwife), Playmaker Media’s drama set in the unconventional birth centre attached to a major city hospital.
Apart from that and the previously announced fifth season of Easy Tiger’s Doctor Doctor, there are no local dramas on the schedule.
However Turner is delighted with Beyond Lonehand’s Halifax: Retribution, which has been winning its Tuesday night slot since launching a month ago and will assess the data at series’ end before deciding on a renewal.
He flagged there will...
- 9/16/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Pallavi Sharda, Ilai Swindells and Maria Angelico.
The ABC has ordered a six-part narrative comedy from Unless Pictures and Orange Entertainment centred on Covid-19 isolation, due to start filming – remotely – this month before airing in July.
Titled Retrograde, the series follows the lives of a group of 30-something friends, as they drown their sorrows at a ‘virtual bar’ during the pandemic. It will star Pallavi Sharda, Ilai Swindells, Maria Angelico, Esther Hannaford and Nick Boshier, with guest star Ronny Chieng.
The cast will film from their respective locations, activated by remote technical operators and working with an overarching technical director, as they record a group video chat that forms the central storyline. In addition to the main eps, there will be extended digital content to deepen audience engagement.
The full synopsis: “Gemma is about to embark on an exciting career in Korea when Covid-19 crashes her farewell party. Faster than...
The ABC has ordered a six-part narrative comedy from Unless Pictures and Orange Entertainment centred on Covid-19 isolation, due to start filming – remotely – this month before airing in July.
Titled Retrograde, the series follows the lives of a group of 30-something friends, as they drown their sorrows at a ‘virtual bar’ during the pandemic. It will star Pallavi Sharda, Ilai Swindells, Maria Angelico, Esther Hannaford and Nick Boshier, with guest star Ronny Chieng.
The cast will film from their respective locations, activated by remote technical operators and working with an overarching technical director, as they record a group video chat that forms the central storyline. In addition to the main eps, there will be extended digital content to deepen audience engagement.
The full synopsis: “Gemma is about to embark on an exciting career in Korea when Covid-19 crashes her farewell party. Faster than...
- 6/10/2020
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
Vessela Karadjova.
Writer-director Michael Beets plans to stage horror movie In the Shadow It Waits as a live performance with the actors in their own homes in different states across Australia.
In another twist, the filmmaker and his cast have never met: All their interaction, from auditions to rehearsals and technical preparations, has been online.
The highly topical plot follows five twenty-something co-workers who are bored with their day jobs and sick of being locked up in isolation.
Looking for escapism, they play an online game, Billybillybilly.net, which unwittingly proves the truth of an urban legend.
The five will be played by Vessela Karadjova, Eddie Orton, Robert Pham, Nalani Wakita and Sc Wilson, while Naomi Plucke has a supporting role.
Most are fresh faces. Pham has had guests roles in Neighbours, Hungry Ghosts, It’s a Date, The Time of Our Lives and Kinne .
A National Theatre Drama School graduate,...
Writer-director Michael Beets plans to stage horror movie In the Shadow It Waits as a live performance with the actors in their own homes in different states across Australia.
In another twist, the filmmaker and his cast have never met: All their interaction, from auditions to rehearsals and technical preparations, has been online.
The highly topical plot follows five twenty-something co-workers who are bored with their day jobs and sick of being locked up in isolation.
Looking for escapism, they play an online game, Billybillybilly.net, which unwittingly proves the truth of an urban legend.
The five will be played by Vessela Karadjova, Eddie Orton, Robert Pham, Nalani Wakita and Sc Wilson, while Naomi Plucke has a supporting role.
Most are fresh faces. Pham has had guests roles in Neighbours, Hungry Ghosts, It’s a Date, The Time of Our Lives and Kinne .
A National Theatre Drama School graduate,...
- 5/27/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Marshall Heald.
Despite Covid-19, Sbs director of TV and online content Marshall Heald says the broadcaster is still commissioning and developing local content, and pursuing initiatives with Screen Queensland, Film Victoria and Screen Australia.
Q: You have said 30-40 of your shows, mostly factual, have been disrupted in various ways by the production shutdown but your schedule is intact?
A: Like many other broadcasters, our commissioned slate of content has been significantly impacted by Covid-19 in some way, with the limited exceptions of shows that were in post-production and some children’s animation for Nitv that was able to continue. It’s been a case-by-case basis, depending on the individual production and what stage it was at.
Whilst these delays have caused disruption to our primetime schedule we’ve also been able to maintain a consistent schedule – from a genre, mix and time-slot perspective – by bringing some titles forward, mainly acquisitions,...
Despite Covid-19, Sbs director of TV and online content Marshall Heald says the broadcaster is still commissioning and developing local content, and pursuing initiatives with Screen Queensland, Film Victoria and Screen Australia.
Q: You have said 30-40 of your shows, mostly factual, have been disrupted in various ways by the production shutdown but your schedule is intact?
A: Like many other broadcasters, our commissioned slate of content has been significantly impacted by Covid-19 in some way, with the limited exceptions of shows that were in post-production and some children’s animation for Nitv that was able to continue. It’s been a case-by-case basis, depending on the individual production and what stage it was at.
Whilst these delays have caused disruption to our primetime schedule we’ve also been able to maintain a consistent schedule – from a genre, mix and time-slot perspective – by bringing some titles forward, mainly acquisitions,...
- 5/24/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Laura Carmichael and Jessica de Gouw in ‘The Secrets She Keeps.’
The BBC has bought the UK rights to Lingo Pictures’ The Secrets She Keeps, the psychological thriller starring Laura Carmichael (Downton Abbey), Jessica de Gouw (The Crown) and Michael Dorman (Patriot).
Adapted by Sarah Walker and Jono Gavin from the Michael Robotham novel, the six-part series is expected to premiere in the northern spring.
Carmichael plays Agatha Fyfle, a battler who works in a supermarket as a shelf stacker. She’s ecstatic to be pregnant, pinning her hopes and dreams on a much longed-for ‘miracle baby,’ although the father Hayden (Michael Sheasby), a sailor, is oblivious to her condition.
DeGouw is Meghan Shaughnessy, an upper middle class mother-of-two who is married to Jack (Dorman), an ambitious TV sports reporter. Meghan runs a popular “mummy” blog, which masks her less than perfect home life.
When Agatha discovers Meghan is pregnant...
The BBC has bought the UK rights to Lingo Pictures’ The Secrets She Keeps, the psychological thriller starring Laura Carmichael (Downton Abbey), Jessica de Gouw (The Crown) and Michael Dorman (Patriot).
Adapted by Sarah Walker and Jono Gavin from the Michael Robotham novel, the six-part series is expected to premiere in the northern spring.
Carmichael plays Agatha Fyfle, a battler who works in a supermarket as a shelf stacker. She’s ecstatic to be pregnant, pinning her hopes and dreams on a much longed-for ‘miracle baby,’ although the father Hayden (Michael Sheasby), a sailor, is oblivious to her condition.
DeGouw is Meghan Shaughnessy, an upper middle class mother-of-two who is married to Jack (Dorman), an ambitious TV sports reporter. Meghan runs a popular “mummy” blog, which masks her less than perfect home life.
When Agatha discovers Meghan is pregnant...
- 2/16/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Stephen Corvini.
Prolific drama producer Stephen Corvini is back in the independent sector after leaving Matchbox Pictures, his base for the past four and a half years.
Corvini, who plans to operate under the banner Live Wires, is developing several projects including a noir crime series created by Eddie Baroo and a drama based on the true story of a Melbourne man who was recruited by Mossad, the Israeli secret service.
As a producer and drama development executive at Matchbox Pictures he produced the upcoming Hungry Ghosts for Sbs, Safe Harbour for Sbs and Hulu, Secret City 2 – Under the Eagle for Foxtel and Netflix, telemovie Oddlands, a collaboration with Back to Back Theatre for the ABC and the Adelaide Film Festival, and Hyde & Seek for the Nine Network.
Earlier in his career he produced the telemovie Schapelle for Nine, Better Man for Sbs and Devil’s Dust for the ABC,...
Prolific drama producer Stephen Corvini is back in the independent sector after leaving Matchbox Pictures, his base for the past four and a half years.
Corvini, who plans to operate under the banner Live Wires, is developing several projects including a noir crime series created by Eddie Baroo and a drama based on the true story of a Melbourne man who was recruited by Mossad, the Israeli secret service.
As a producer and drama development executive at Matchbox Pictures he produced the upcoming Hungry Ghosts for Sbs, Safe Harbour for Sbs and Hulu, Secret City 2 – Under the Eagle for Foxtel and Netflix, telemovie Oddlands, a collaboration with Back to Back Theatre for the ABC and the Adelaide Film Festival, and Hyde & Seek for the Nine Network.
Earlier in his career he produced the telemovie Schapelle for Nine, Better Man for Sbs and Devil’s Dust for the ABC,...
- 1/21/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Leanne Tonkes, Martin Sacks and Victoria Garrett.
Martin Sacks enjoyed working with director Victoria Garrett in her debut feature Don’t Tell so much that he was keen to collaborate with her again.
The actor had been mulling the idea of a film about a father and son relationship which is tested by an unforeseen tragedy, so he pitched the concept to Garrett early last year.
She immediately sparked to the idea and is now developing the project with Sacks, screenwriter John Ridley and producer Leanne Tonkes.
Sacks will play the lead, the father of two teenage sons who live in a small country town. He’s an ordinary man on an ordinary day until he finds his life turned upside down by an indiscriminate tragedy.
Susie Porter, Nathaniel Dean and Daniela Farinacci will play supporting roles.
For the key role of the 15-year-old son the producers are keen to find a fresh face.
Martin Sacks enjoyed working with director Victoria Garrett in her debut feature Don’t Tell so much that he was keen to collaborate with her again.
The actor had been mulling the idea of a film about a father and son relationship which is tested by an unforeseen tragedy, so he pitched the concept to Garrett early last year.
She immediately sparked to the idea and is now developing the project with Sacks, screenwriter John Ridley and producer Leanne Tonkes.
Sacks will play the lead, the father of two teenage sons who live in a small country town. He’s an ordinary man on an ordinary day until he finds his life turned upside down by an indiscriminate tragedy.
Susie Porter, Nathaniel Dean and Daniela Farinacci will play supporting roles.
For the key role of the 15-year-old son the producers are keen to find a fresh face.
- 1/19/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Sue Masters.
After five years as Sbs’s head of scripted, Sue Masters is set to depart the broadcaster to pursue independent drama development.
Having led the drama commissioning team, Masters leaves a legacy that includes the International Emmy Award-winning Safe Harbour, Sbs’s most successful drama ever, The Hunting, Robbie Hood, Sunshine, The Principal, The Family Law, Deep Water, Dead Lucky, On The Ropes, and the upcoming Hungry Ghosts.
Until recruitment for the position commences in 2020, Amanda Duthie has joined Sbs as acting head of drama. Most recently Duthie was the head of production and development and studios at the South Australian Film Corporation, and prior to that was the creative director/CEO of the Adelaide Film Festival and head of arts & entertainment at ABC.
Masters will continue to work across some Sbs initiatives, including The R.I.D.E Feature Film Fund, a feature film project and partnership with Screen Queensland,...
After five years as Sbs’s head of scripted, Sue Masters is set to depart the broadcaster to pursue independent drama development.
Having led the drama commissioning team, Masters leaves a legacy that includes the International Emmy Award-winning Safe Harbour, Sbs’s most successful drama ever, The Hunting, Robbie Hood, Sunshine, The Principal, The Family Law, Deep Water, Dead Lucky, On The Ropes, and the upcoming Hungry Ghosts.
Until recruitment for the position commences in 2020, Amanda Duthie has joined Sbs as acting head of drama. Most recently Duthie was the head of production and development and studios at the South Australian Film Corporation, and prior to that was the creative director/CEO of the Adelaide Film Festival and head of arts & entertainment at ABC.
Masters will continue to work across some Sbs initiatives, including The R.I.D.E Feature Film Fund, a feature film project and partnership with Screen Queensland,...
- 12/9/2019
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
‘New Gold Mountain’ writers Peter Cox, Benjamin Law and Yolanda Ramke.
Sbs has commissioned a 4-part drama set during the 1850s gold rush from the perspective of desperate Chinese miners from Goalpost Television, to be directed by The Hunting’s Ana Kokkinos.
The broadcaster’s 2020 slate unveiled today includes documentaries spotlighting immigration, identity, homelessness, addiction and domestic violence.
Among the returning shows, Bert Newton, Lisa Wilkinson and country music star Troy Cassar-Daley will be among the eight identities who search for their family history in Warner Bros. Australia’s Who Do You Think You Are?
In the third season of Blackfella Films’ Filthy, Rich & Homeless five high-profile Aussies including Dr Andrew Rochford will swap their privileged lives to discover what life is like for the nation’s homeless.
Scripted by creator/lead writer Peter Cox (the Kiwi’s first Australian screen credit), Benjamin Law and Yolanda Ramke, Goalpost’s New...
Sbs has commissioned a 4-part drama set during the 1850s gold rush from the perspective of desperate Chinese miners from Goalpost Television, to be directed by The Hunting’s Ana Kokkinos.
The broadcaster’s 2020 slate unveiled today includes documentaries spotlighting immigration, identity, homelessness, addiction and domestic violence.
Among the returning shows, Bert Newton, Lisa Wilkinson and country music star Troy Cassar-Daley will be among the eight identities who search for their family history in Warner Bros. Australia’s Who Do You Think You Are?
In the third season of Blackfella Films’ Filthy, Rich & Homeless five high-profile Aussies including Dr Andrew Rochford will swap their privileged lives to discover what life is like for the nation’s homeless.
Scripted by creator/lead writer Peter Cox (the Kiwi’s first Australian screen credit), Benjamin Law and Yolanda Ramke, Goalpost’s New...
- 11/19/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Matchbox Pictures/Sbs’s ‘Hungry Ghosts’, shot in Victoria. (Image: Sarah Enticknap)
Film Victoria and Sbs have teamed up on Pitch to Pilot, a joint development initiative which will focus on “bold, vivid and pressing” 4 x 60 TV drama series that celebrate Australia’s diverse and multicultural society.
The two-stage program is open to both new voices and established content creators. Up to four projects will receive up to $20,000 for development, with each team then given the opportunity to pitch their ideas to Sbs. The successful team will then receive an additional $20,000 to write a pilot script.
“For a vibrant screen culture, it’s vital to hear from a wide range of voices. We’re excited to be partnering with Sbs to offer new opportunities to Victorian content creators and bring stories that surprise audiences and provoke conversations one step closer to our screens,” said Film Victoria CEO Caroline Pitcher, who...
Film Victoria and Sbs have teamed up on Pitch to Pilot, a joint development initiative which will focus on “bold, vivid and pressing” 4 x 60 TV drama series that celebrate Australia’s diverse and multicultural society.
The two-stage program is open to both new voices and established content creators. Up to four projects will receive up to $20,000 for development, with each team then given the opportunity to pitch their ideas to Sbs. The successful team will then receive an additional $20,000 to write a pilot script.
“For a vibrant screen culture, it’s vital to hear from a wide range of voices. We’re excited to be partnering with Sbs to offer new opportunities to Victorian content creators and bring stories that surprise audiences and provoke conversations one step closer to our screens,” said Film Victoria CEO Caroline Pitcher, who...
- 11/12/2019
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
Before “The Angry Birds Movie 2” first screened in London, Sony proudly showed off the trailer for the new “Jumanji” movie (“The Next Level”) which the studio is obviously hoping will be its big Christmas hit. That film’s very existence, re-animated by Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart et al, proves you can never write off an old franchise or an even older video game — and there’s every chance that the further adventures of the flightless cartoon birds and their green pig adversaries can feather the nest for Sony this summer.
Not that “Angry Birds 2” is a very good film. Let’s not go crazy here. Compared to Disney/Pixar, the work here is rudimentary in terms of artistry, character and script. There are hardly any gags in the dialogue, not even terrible bird-based puns. And as for any wholesome or heart-warming family message, forget it. But that in itself may prove somewhat refreshing,...
Not that “Angry Birds 2” is a very good film. Let’s not go crazy here. Compared to Disney/Pixar, the work here is rudimentary in terms of artistry, character and script. There are hardly any gags in the dialogue, not even terrible bird-based puns. And as for any wholesome or heart-warming family message, forget it. But that in itself may prove somewhat refreshing,...
- 8/13/2019
- by Jason Solomons
- The Wrap
Hugo Weaving and Jillian Nguyen in ‘Loveland’.
Jillian Nguyen landed her first screen role – as Molly Kane in Justin Kurzel’s True History of the Kelly Gang – just two weeks after graduating from 16th Street Actors Studio in Melbourne last year.
Since then her career has rocketed as she played the lead in Ivan Sen’s romantic sci-fi drama Loveland followed by a key supporting role in Hungry Ghosts, Matchbox Pictures’ genre-bending 4-parter for Sbs directed by Shawn Seet.
There was one speed bump after Kurzel’s film wrapped: She was so depressed she got fired from her retail job. It’s unlikely she will have to go back to such work, as Seet says: “I was blown away by Jillian. She is a real, natural talent.”
Stephen Corvini, who produced Hungry Ghosts with Timothy Hobart, tells If: “She is a superstar in the making. On the screen her energy crackles and pops.
Jillian Nguyen landed her first screen role – as Molly Kane in Justin Kurzel’s True History of the Kelly Gang – just two weeks after graduating from 16th Street Actors Studio in Melbourne last year.
Since then her career has rocketed as she played the lead in Ivan Sen’s romantic sci-fi drama Loveland followed by a key supporting role in Hungry Ghosts, Matchbox Pictures’ genre-bending 4-parter for Sbs directed by Shawn Seet.
There was one speed bump after Kurzel’s film wrapped: She was so depressed she got fired from her retail job. It’s unlikely she will have to go back to such work, as Seet says: “I was blown away by Jillian. She is a real, natural talent.”
Stephen Corvini, who produced Hungry Ghosts with Timothy Hobart, tells If: “She is a superstar in the making. On the screen her energy crackles and pops.
- 7/21/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Suzy Wrong as Roxy in ‘Hungry Ghosts.’
Suzy Wrong worked as a performer in her native Singapore but apart from a guest role in an episode of Crownies in 2011 she had abandoned hopes of acting.
As a transgender woman she saw little or no hope of playing trans characters, particularly because those few she had seen were almost always portrayed as tormented and struggling.
Happily that all changed when she won a key supporting role in Hungry Ghosts, Matchbox Pictures’ four-part, character-driven supernatural drama based on an original idea by Timothy Hobart, which explores three generations of Vietnamese Australian families, all haunted by the traumatic events of war.
Commissioned by Sbs and produced by Stephen Corvini and Hobart, the Shawn Seet-directed series opens on the eve of the Hungry Ghost Festival in Melbourne when a vengeful spirit is unleashed, wreaking havoc across the Vietnamese Australian community.
Bryan Brown stars as Neil Stockton,...
Suzy Wrong worked as a performer in her native Singapore but apart from a guest role in an episode of Crownies in 2011 she had abandoned hopes of acting.
As a transgender woman she saw little or no hope of playing trans characters, particularly because those few she had seen were almost always portrayed as tormented and struggling.
Happily that all changed when she won a key supporting role in Hungry Ghosts, Matchbox Pictures’ four-part, character-driven supernatural drama based on an original idea by Timothy Hobart, which explores three generations of Vietnamese Australian families, all haunted by the traumatic events of war.
Commissioned by Sbs and produced by Stephen Corvini and Hobart, the Shawn Seet-directed series opens on the eve of the Hungry Ghost Festival in Melbourne when a vengeful spirit is unleashed, wreaking havoc across the Vietnamese Australian community.
Bryan Brown stars as Neil Stockton,...
- 7/3/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
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