Father Geek here with Tamsin's latest report from the Southern Hemisphere half the globe away... What NO Ned Kelly news...Oh well, here's her regular column anyway...

DOWNUNDER REPORT 36

The Daily Telegraph had this interesting article about a stunt for THE MATRIX RELOADED which has been approved in Sydney.

Here is the article:

A HELICOPTER will fly at low level through Sydney's CBD next month in one of the most spectacular aerial movie scenes ever filmed. The stunt for the $200 million sequel to the 1999 blockbuster THE MATRIX will take at least two days to film.

The helicopter will fly below rooftop level from the eastern end of Bridge St towards George St in what insiders say is the climactic scene of THE MATRIX RELOADED.

The scene will be shot over at least one, and possibly two, weekends in July.

Stars Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne, who have been fixtures in Sydney's social scene for almost a year, are not expected to be involved in the shoot, which is reminiscent of the jaw-dropping helicopter sequences in the first MATRIX.

Details of the stunt are being closely guarded, with directors Larry and Andy Wachowski fearing other studios could steal their ideas.

Producer Joel Silver last month said filming was about to enter a critical stage.

"The most complicated sequence of the movie will not start shooting for two or three weeks," he said.

"That is a 14-minute sequence that is the most complicated sequence ever put on film."

The Wachowskis will meet officials from the Premier's Department on Tuesday to discuss safety details.

Most of the streets surrounding the stunt will be closed to the public.

"We want to keep encouraging international film-making in Sydney, but we have to balance that with ensuring the safety of the public," a spokesman for Premier Bob Carr said.

It is not the first time the area around Bridge St has been used for helicopter stunts - Tom Cruise (or, at least, his stunt double) rappelled from a helicopter on to Governor Macquarie Tower for one scene in Mission: Impossible II.

The Matrix Reloaded shot several scenes around the tower in May, as well as at other locations around Sydney including St James Station and White Bay power station.

The film will be released in May next year, with a second sequel, The Matrix Revolutions, released seven months later, in December.

BAD EGGS

Comedians Tony Martin and Mick Molloy are currently deep in the middle of production on their latest offering, the feature film, BAD EGGS. The writer/director Martin has described the film as "like a conspiracy thriller, but with idiotic elements at the centre." The film has been shot in and around Melbourne for the past six weeks, and centres on a pair of undercover law enforcers played by Mick Molloy and Bob Franklin, who work in an elite department known as the Zero Tolerance Unit.

Mick Molloy is also involved in the post-production of his own first film, CRACKERJACK which should be finished later this year.

THE BOY FROM OZ

Hugh Jackman is starring in THE BOY FROM OZ, a new Broadway musical based on the life of Aussie performer Peter Allen. The production features the music of Allen (who cowrote such '70s ballads as Olivia Newton-John's "I Honestly Love You" and Melissa Manchester's "Don't Cry Out Loud"), with the book written by Martin Sherman. The show is scheduled to open in New York September 2003.

39 STEPS in Australia

Robert Towne, (screenwriter of CHINATOWN), tells Empire Magazine Australia that he's setting the remake of THE 39 STEPS in Australia. Towne is writing and directing a new version of the classic Hitchcock film, which he says will be set in Australia. "I'm using the movie primarily although I have read and enjoyed the John Buchan book. I'm setting it in Australia. It'll be similiar to the old movie, but also quite different because of where it's set and partly because of the nature of the central characters", says Towne. He says it's in "mid-screenplay" status and that he made the decision to film in Australia because he was impressed by a number of Australian productions. "I don't think anything has impressed me more than BLUE MURDER. It's not technically a film, but there are lots of Australian films that have impressed me - the work of Peter Weir, Fred Schepsi, Bruce Beresford."

UNDEAD

The Australian film, UNDEAD now has a trailer. It's pretty awesome. I'm really looking forward to seeing this one on the big screen.

Check it out at: Their musky old online Crypt of Terror

SOME NEWS RE: AUSSIE DIRECTOR MARK SAVAGE...

Australian director Mark Savage is currently in pre-prod on TRAIL OF PASSION for a late August shoot for an L.A.-based company. Mark has just finished FISHNET for the same company who are releasing it in the States and worldwide.

SENSITIVE NEW AGE KILLER is out now through 20th Century-Fox on DVD and VHS and is appearing in foreign territories on DVD and VHS, too.

He is currently in development with John (THE WOG BOY) Brousek on THE ORPHAN FACTORY, a childrens' fantasy. Also wrapping up script and into financing of STAINED, a crime drama based on explosive real events that are happening now.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT

Mel Gibson's $200 million, 10-hour mini-series, ALEXANDER is scheduled to start shooting in September in Morocco, Italy and Thailand.

Gibson believes his 10-hour mini-series will have the edge over his feature-film rivals. "It's such a huge story," he says. "You just can't tell the story of Alexander the Great in a couple of hours."

SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL

The Sydney film festival has begun. The Opening Night film was the Australian-British co-production, BLACK AND WHITE, which is based on a legal case involving Max Stuart, an Aboriginal man played by David Ngoombujarra, who was accused of raping and murdering a nine-year-old girl in 1958. Directed by Craig Lahiff (FEVER, HEAVEN'S BURNING), it also stars Robert Carlyle, Charles Dance, Kerry Fox and Colin Friels and Ben Mendelsohn as the young Rupert Murdoch.

Some other international films featuring at the festival include, the documentary LOST IN LA MUNCHA, which looks at how former Monty Python member Terry Gilliam (BRAZIL) failed in an attempt to adapt Don Quixote for the screen. DARK WATER, directed by Japanese horror maestro Hideo Nakata (THE RING, THE RING II). This psycho-thriller is about a divorcee who moves into a new apartment where strange things happen. Another documentary is THE TROUBLE WITH MERLE, directed by Maree Delofski. It looks at the elusive past of Hollywood actress Merle Oberon who claimed to have been born in Tasmania. The documentary TEXAS, about Russell Crowe's backstage antics with his band Thirty Off Foot of Grunts.

So if you're in the Sydney area check out the details below for more info:

DETAILS

49th Sydney Film Festival

June 7-21

www.sydneyfilmfestival.org

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Melbourne International Film Festival has secured a record 12 films direct from their recent premiere screenings at Cannes. The MIFF screenings will be the Australian premieres of these films from Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas, of which five are Award-winning films.

Some films which will be featured at MIFF

• o CHIHWASEON (South Korea) directed by Im Kwon-Taek and co-winner Best Director, screened in Official Competition.
• o DIVINE INTERVENTION (Palestine) Elia Suleiman, winner Jury Prize, screened in Official Competition.
• o JAPON (Mexico) directed by Carlos Reygadas awarded Camera D'Or - Special Recognition, screened in Directors' Fortnight
• o WAITING FOR HAPPINESS (Mauritania) directed by Abderrahmane Sissako, F.I.P.R.E.S.C.I. Award Winner, screened in Un Certain Regard
• o LE FILS (Belgium) directed by Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, Best Performance By An Actor (Oliver Gourmet), screened in Official Competition
• o 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE (UK) directed by Michael Winterbottom, screened in Official Competition
• o MON-RAK TRANSISTOR (Thailand) directed by Pen-ek Ratanaruang, screened in Directors' Fortnight
• o UNKNOWN PLEASURES (China) directed by Jia Zhang Ke, screened in Official Competition
• o MARIE-JO ET SES DEUX AMOURS (France) directed by Robert Guediguian, screened in Official Competition
• o CRY WOMAN (China) directed by Liu Bingjian, screened in Un Certain Regard
• o CHICKEN HEART (Japan) directed by Hiroshi Shimizu, screened in Critics' Week
• o ETRE ET AVOIR (France) directed by Nicolas Philibert, screened in Official Selection

Check out the website for more info about THE MELBOURNE FILM FESTIVAL screenings. web: www.melbournefilmfestival.com.au

Send Aussie and New Zealand news and reviews to My Super Secret AICN Undersea Offices Somewhere Just Off the Great Barrier Reef.

Until next week, Tamsin