Screen NSW has confirmed more cast for Josh Wakely’s Starman, the Brendan Fraser and Jeff Daniels-led sci-fi thriller now filming in Sydney, with Claudia Karvan, Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Huw Higginson and Heather Mitchell joining the set.
As reported by IF, the film has begun production in Sydney, with Fraser starring Tom Adams, a visionary technologist whose expedition to Mars becomes a race against time when he’s stranded millions of miles from Earth. Daniels plays Ed Watkins, the co-leader of the company Adams built, and Irish actress Aisling Bea has joined the cast as photographer Julia Hanley, who sees past Adam’s world-changing ambition to the man beneath it.
The film will also feature newcomer Oliver Aldrich, along with the previously announced Ewen Leslie and Stephen Curry.
Screen NSW confirmed the production is supported by the Made in NSW Fund and is expected to generate more than $23 million in expenditure for the NSW economy, creating an estimated 229 local cast and crew jobs.
From left are Stephen Curry, Ewen Leslie, Aisling Bea and Lewis Fitz-Gerald.
Principal photography commenced in June, with filming taking place across Sydney, in the Blue Mountains, and at Moore Park’s Disney Studios Australia.
Starman is a Grace: A Storytelling Company production, produced by Eddie Vaisman of Sight Unseen, who most recently produced Fraser’s Searchlight film Rental Family, alongside writer/director Josh Wakely and Rebecca Graham of Grace: A Storytelling Company. David S. Goyer executive produces alongside Tarek Sherif, Ryan Graves, Matt Tedder and Sight Unseen’s Julia Lebedev. Anton is handling international sales, having launched the title at the Marché du Film de Cannes. The film is financed by Sherif, Graves and Tedder.
Screen NSW executive director Kylie Munnich said the state’s infrastructure and talent base continued to draw high-end productions.
“Sydney is the perfect place for this film to lift off, and I’m pleased to welcome Starman and the entire team, including writer/director Josh Wakely, to NSW,” she said.
“With an all-star Australian and international cast, Starman joins a growing list of high-end productions choosing to film here, with support from Screen NSW. Our state is Australia’s screen production powerhouse. With world-class filmmakers, cast and crew, incredible locations and facilities, and competitive incentives, it’s no surprise we are seeing so many projects choosing to film in NSW.”
Graham said the state was well suited to host production on the sci-fi thriller.
“Starman is an ambitious film, and NSW gave us everything it needed, the scale, the locations, and hundreds of exceptional local cast and crew,” she said.
“We’re grateful to Screen NSW and the Made in NSW Fund for helping us bring it here and supporting us. We couldn’t have asked for a better place to make this film.”