Gold Coast Bulletin
FRI 22 JUL 2005
Answering Coast Call

David drawn to Dili drama to be filmed amid Steiglitz canefields

By by Melanie Pilling film industry reporter

MOVIE Star David Wenham says a 'magnetic force' keeps bringing him back to the Gold Coast.

Yesterday the Lord of the Rings star was on set near Jacob's Well for the $8 million mini-series Answered by Fire.

He plays a lead role as Australian policeman Mark Waldman, volunteering for a United Nations mission in the lead-up to the 1999 referendum in East Timor.

It is his second 'business trip' to the Gold Coast and fourth in Queensland in three years after starring roles in The Proposition, Gettin' Square and The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course.

"There must be some sort of magnetic force that keeps bringing me back here," said Wenham during a break in filming yesterday.

"I have a great affinity to the Gold Coast. I feel very at home here."

Wenham said he agreed to work on Answered by Fire, as opposed to potential larger film offers, because he felt passionate about the storyline. He said working with many East Timorese actors and extras who had lived through the horrifying event was a rare opportunity.

"I feel extremely privileged to be involved because it is a story I was well aware of at the time and to be involved in the telling of it is fantastic," he said.

"I feel passionate about this project and it is a really great cast and crew. The opportunity to work with people like Alex (Tilman, who plays in the lead role of a young Timorese translator) is something that you don't get to experience very often."

The large Steiglitz site has been transformed into East Timor capital Dili, with some of the sugarcane fields levelled to make way for the main set, the United Nations Regional Headquarters, the marketplace, police station and the church.

Production designer Nick McCallum spent a week in Dili with the film's director exploring and taking photographs to ensure the Steiglitz set was true to the East Timor landscape. He said the set took six weeks to build.

"This area was perfect because we could so easily make it look like downtown Dili," said McCallum.

The eight-week shoot is at the halfway point, with only one day lost to rain despite the deluge three weeks ago.

Arts Minister Anna Bligh also toured the set yesterday, describing it as 'very reminiscent' of East Timor.

"I went over there in 2001 just after the disruption. This has really brought all that to life," she said.

Ms Bligh also announced another production starting on the Coast on Monday, Voodoo Lounge.

The $3 million feature film is about a group of kids who are lured to an island and get caught up in ancient voodoo.

A second feature film, 48 Shades of Brown, will also begin production in Brisbane on August 22.