Actor
Shane Jacobson his brother/direcstor Clayton, with Allan "Swampy" Marsh
at Middle Island, discussing production for Oddball.
IT
was lights, camera, action yesterday as filming started on feature film
Oddball, which adds a dose of comedy to Warrnambool’s unique story of
Maremma dogs protecting endangered penguins.
Starring
Shane Jacobson, of Kenny fame, the cast also includes Alan Tudyk, Sarah
Snook, Coco Gillies, Richard Davies, Deborah Mailman and Frank Woodley.
Two
Maremmas, several penguins and a fox will also play key roles in the
family comedy, expected to be released internationally next year.
Cameras
rolled yesterday morning at Williamstown and will move on Friday to a
Dandenongs set resembling the property of Warrnambool district chook
farmer Allan “Swampy” Marsh, who instigated the idea of using his dogs
to save the penguin population on Middle Island in 2006. The 70-plus
crew and most of the cast will then travel to Warrnambool on May 19 for a
fortnight of filming at locations including Liebig Street, Flagstaff
Hill, Stingray Bay and Viaduct Road.
Intricate
filming of interaction between penguins and dogs will later be shot in
the Docklands film studio, where a set will resemble sections of Middle
Island, which is too environmentally sensitive for the crew to be
tramping on. “We are looking forward to our time in Warrnambool,” co-producer Ella Keddie said yesterday.“There is a lot of outside shooting to be done and we want to capture the natural beauty of the area. We’ve added a few bits of comedy to the story.”
Animal
trainer Luke Hura, of Red Dog fame, has Meeko ready to play the main
role of Swampy’s dog Oddball, guarding penguins, and Kai will play
Swampy’s other dog Missy, guarding the chooks.
Hura
is also training a fox, which potentially will feature in a few shots,
while little blue penguins recruited from Sea World will be used in the
Docklands studio scenes.
The storyline is
about how Swampy, with help from his granddaughter, trains his
mischievous dog to protect the penguins and in the process reunites his
family and saves his town.
It includes a
chase scene at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village, which will involve about
130 local residents who signed up as extras.
Jacobson plays the role of Swampy, Snook his daughter and Gillies the granddaughter.
Liebig
Street, between Koroit and Timor streets, will be closed to vehicle
traffic on May 20 while the production crew works from dawn to dusk.
Warrnambool
tourism services manager Peter Abbott and Ms Keddie said there would be
vantage points where residents could observe the filming action.
No comments:
Post a Comment