Movie insider: GC high on the A-list’s hitlist
The Gold Coast is poised to be Australia’s top movie-making destination because of infinite capacity” to grow and A-listers loving the place, a key figure behind the Aussie Oscars says.
The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Awards (AACTAs) brought Hollywood to the Gold Coast over the weekend, with Margot Robbie, Cate Blanchett, Joel Edgerton, Harry Connick Junior and the cream of Aussie talent descending for its annual awards.
Expect more to come for big budget projects with AACTA director of programming and international engagement Sam Buckland tipping Gold Coast film making to lead the way nationally.
“There are so many films being shot here - Eden, Mortal Kombat, Godzilla, Elvis there’s the cream of the crop coming in from overseas with $200 million budgets but there is this next level of production which people are coming up here to do,” he told the Bulletin.
Baz Luhrmann filmed Elvis on the Gold Coast and enjoyed it so much he moved here. Thirteen Days director Ron Howard has returned to make his second Gold Coast-based movie, Eden.
“There are so many skilled communities on the Gold Coast now that there is enough industry to service it - and with (Mayor) Tom Tate building new studios and Village Roadshow going great guns, there are facilities here to do it.”
Mr Buckland added movie financial incentives in the state coupled with the Gold Coast having a proximity between its hotels and the studios that Alisters liked was a powerful magnet.
“I think it could take over as the main screen sector of Australia - it has infinite capacity to grow unlike Sydney. You’ve got the land (here) and it only takes 20 minutes to get to these new sites - and A-list talent don’t want to travel.
“It’s so beautiful - you have the hotels and the beaches, every time I come up here I have a swim in the ocean every morning and it sorts me out.
“It’s got all the ingredients Alist talent like - they can come out here and have a sumptuous five-star experience while also shooting at facilities that are close by. There isn’t too many places around the country with facilities growing like this that can service the A-listers like you can,” Mr Buckland said.
The AACTAs and an associated festival - which this year featured 110 events from screenings, to workshops to Q&As and more - are locked in to return for two more years.
But AACTA bosses and Mayor Tom Tate have signalled a willingness to explore extending that, as revealed in
Monday’s Gold Coast Bulletin.
Mr Buckland added word of mouth among the movie industry elite was key: “It really helps - they all know each other. The George Clooneys and Juliet Roberts’s know the Leo DiCaprios and say ‘Look I had a great experience filming in Queensland’.
“Quite often those movers and shakers if shooting in Spain and something goes wrong with the union, I know for a fact the Gold Coast comes up as an option.”
Homegrown A-lister Margot Robbie, who is marking 10 years of her LuckyChap Entertainment production company - which had a $1 billion success with Barbie - revealed she is aiming to film on the Gold Coast in future.
The Wolf of Wall Street star who started on Neighbours said on Saturday: “Trust me I keep trying. It’s going to happen.”
ryan.keen@news.com.au