Last year there were rumblings of this project’s inception, and now Tropfest creator John Polson has confirmed his plans for a multi-million dollar cinematic ode to Sydney bolstered by an A-List cast allegedly including Oscar winning Australian actors Cate Blanchett, Russell Crowe and Australian Of The Year(s) Geoffrey Rush in the same vein as New York, I Love You and Paris, je t’aime.
This year’s reiterated confirmation of the working-titled “The Sydney Project” comes on the 20th anniversary of Polson’s beloved Tropfest, with the director securing a number of high-profile and as yet unknown actors for their directorial debuts of the short films that will compose the larger project.
”It’s a film which is a series of short segments that are all set in Sydney that are made either by people who live in Sydney, who love Sydney or who are from Sydney. We’ve put together a dozen of the most exciting film names, certainly in Australia, but also around the world. It’s a pretty incredible list,” Polson told The Herald.
‘‘I mean, look at the talent we have here – people either born here or living here – and yet no-one’s ever really tapped into that. We said ‘look, come and make a 10 or 12 minute film and we’ll string them together and make this kind of an ode to Sydney. And it’s really worked. We’ve had almost nobody say ‘no’.” Polson obviously neglected to see Australia then, remember that film that tapped into both local and international talent, compiling a working list of some of the most exciting names in film?
Production is slated to begin in the second half of 2012, with eight scripts being finalised for the final cut. If you’ve ever seen this guy live, his enthusiasm is so infectious it’s hard not to get swept up in his cinephilic and city-specific paramour. If you haven’t, Tropfest is on tonight and if this year is anything like previous years, 150,000 punters will be heading down to The Domain with all kinds of territory-staking picnic blankets, those ridiculous beach shelters (sheltas!), and enough hummus to feed the ravenous hoards of film-goers, so you might want to leave now and claim your spot if you haven’t already.
You might just be able to get your #GatsbyStalk on if rumours are to be believed.
Image by: AFP via Getty
