Light(house), cameras, action

23 October 2009

BY ADELE CHESTER

AWARD winning actor Miranda Otto is in Portland ready to film a movie with her father, Barry Otto, at the Cape Nelson lighthouse.

The duo will be here with other cast and crew for about four weeks to film a love story entitled ‘South Solitary’, set on a remote and windy lighthouse island in the 1920s, which has been described as a gentle iconic love story on the theme of the great human need for companionship.

Producer Marian Macgowan, of Macgowan Films, said the Cape Nelson lighthouse was selected for its location.

“We looked all around the world for a suitable location and we needed a location that had the worst weather we could possibly find,” Ms Macgowan said — and they found Cape Nelson!

“Cape Nelson was chosen for its unpredictable weather.”

Ms Macgowan said the story was originally set in Tasmania, but the locations weren’t suitable so the director/writer Shirley Barrett travelled along the coast of Victoria searching for the perfect site.

“It had the perfect configuration with the lighthouse, cottages and vegetation,” Ms Macgowan said.

All the exterior scenes will be filmed at the Cape Nelson lighthouse in the next four weeks, before the cast and crew move on to the Cape Otway lighthouse to film the interior scenes.

Ms Macgowan said all sets for the low budget movie were created on site in order to make the location look like a small island.

Ms Macgowan said the romantic movie was about a young girl named Meredith (Miranda Otto) who goes to an island with her uncle (Barry Otto).

“It’s about the experiences of her finding companionship on the island,” Ms Macgowan said.

Maggie Gyllenhaal, who starred in ‘The Dark Knight’, was going to play the part of Meredith if it was filmed in Ireland, Ms Macgowan said. However, she was not the writer’s first choice.

“Shirley’s first love for the part was always Miranda and she actually wrote it for her,” Ms Macgowan said.

Ms Macgowan said there would be no extras required for the movie, but they would be casting locally for the lighthouse keepers that appear in the movie at the end.

Portland’s economy is already benefiting from the filming, according to lighthouse lessee Rob Hunt.

Mr Hunt said it was having a significant financial impact with electricians, carpenters, plumbers and labourers all being employed to work on the sets.

He said hardware stores, service stations, shops and restaurants would also benefit, as well as hotels, motels and bed and breakfast establishments.

“The feedback from the crew has been very favourable, expressing how welcome the locals have made them feel and how amazed they are with Portland and its surrounding natural assets,” Mr Hunt said.

“The exposure Portland will gain after the release of the movie will be huge, just as Barwon Heads did with Sea Change.”

The movie is due to be released in about February 2011, and Ms Macgowan said there would be a screening in Portland.

Ms Otto has an extensive filmography which includes ‘The Thin Red Line’, ‘What Lies Beneath’, ‘Through my Eyes: The Lindy Chamberlain Story’, ‘War of the Words’ and more famously ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’ and ‘The Return of the King’.

Mr Otto has starred in the hit movie ‘Strictly Ballroom’ and more recently ‘Australia’.

Director/writer Ms Barrett has directed many episodes of Australian television series’, including ‘Police Rescue’, ‘Heartbreak High’ and ‘A Country Practice’.

Isabella’s Café, which is located at the light station, will experience no interruptions during the filming of the movie and will be opened seven days a week as normal.

• Another movie with a Portland link, ‘Where the Wild Things Are’, had a record opening day in the United States, and was number one at the North American box office earlier this week.

The movie, which includes scenes filmed in the sand dunes and at Swan Lake in Discovery Bay National Park, debuted at number one with $US32.5 million in tickets sold.

The movie is due to open in Australia on December 3 and features Australians Steve Mouzakis (The Secret Life of Us), Angus Sampson (Underbelly) and Nick Farnell (Underbelly and Marshall Law).