Movie-star charisma

CHRIS CALCINO land was working hard to secure more productions.

“Our reputation as destination for film production is growing stronger and stronger with each film deal we secure for Queensland,” she said.

“Far North Queensland with its rainforests, beaches and stunning Great Barrier Reef and international airport has much to offer.”

Ms Palaszczuk specifically raised Far North Queensland, including the Torres Strait and Cape York, at the meetings.

“The companies are looking to showcase areas that would be ideal site locations,” she said.

Cairns-based film location expert Karen Jones said there was “always interest” but to her knowledge no major productions were in a mature enough phase to actually com- mit to filming in the region.

“Sometimes they might be looking at doing something two or three years away. That’s how long these things take,” she said.

“There is a lot of money, a lot of planning and it’s a very competitive situation.”

Ms Jones has worked in the industry for more than two decades, on films such as The Thin Red Line, Fools Gold and TV movie South Pacific. The 2015 film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales had been touted for partial production in Far North Queensland but ultimately stuck with the Gold Coast due to budgetary constraints.

“They were able to achieve what they wanted without schlepping the entire crew up here and bumped it up with CGI,” Ms Jones explained.

“At this point there is talk of productions, but they’re not confirmed and they are a little way off yet.

“These productions we’re talking about are ones that would be a great fit for the area – not huge films where we pretend we’re some Marvel Comic location.

“There are a couple of film projects a little way off yet that I’m not at liberty to talk about.”