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After taking a look back at House II: The Second Story (a favorite of mine since childhood), House of 1000 Corpses (which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year), the awesomeness of Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight, the leg smashing in the Stephen King adaptation Misery, three separate moments from John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China, the “Jason vs. Tina” battle in Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, and the “all hell breaks loose” sequence from the start of Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake,

Directed by David Twohy, who also crafted the screenplay with Jim Wheat and Ken Wheat, Pitch Black has the following synopsis: A deep space transporter crash-lands on a desolate planet circled by three suns. Among the survivors are pilot Carolyn Fry, mystic Abu `Imam’ al-Walid, cop William J Johns and convicted criminal Richard B Riddick, and their first...

The Office is being remade again for the thirteenth time. This adaption will be an Australian version featuring a female lead, Felicity Ward, for the first time. Ward will be acting as Hannah Howard, the manager of one of the branches of Flinley Craddick, a packaging company. This adaption differs from the original U.K. version as it will follow what happens to Howard and the other branch workers when they must work from home due to their branch being shut down.

Prime Video Australia will be creating the show and it will be an eight-part series. Filming will start in June and is set to launch in 2024. Viewers can access the show through Prime membership, as it will be an Amazon Original show.

Other actors will star in the series including Steen Raskopoulos, Firass Dirani, Susan Ling Young, Josh Thomson, Shari Sebbens, Edith Poor, Lucy Schmit, Jonny Brugh, Raj Labade and Pallavi Sharda.

Prime Video Australia is developing a remake of The Office, which will focus on a female manager this time around. Based on Ricky Gervais' and Stephen Merchant's short-lived British comedy of the same name, The Office first premiered on NBC in 2005 before coming to an end in 2013 after nine seasons. Both the American and British versions of the show followed eccentric managers, played respectively by Gervais and Steve Carrell, at struggling paper companies.

Now, per Deadline, Gervais' original premise is set to be adapted once more, with Prime Video Australia working on a new version of The Office starring comedian Felicity Ward as Hannah Howard, the manager at packaging company Flinley Craddick. The synopsis for the show reveals that Howard will go to great lengths to keep her "work family" together after news comes down from Head Office that her branch is being shut down in favor of a work-from-home model.

Prime Video Australia is remaking The Office as a female-led comedy starring stand-up Felicity Ward in the role Ricky Gervais first made famous.

Gervais’ David Brent will become Hannah Howard in the series, with Ward putting her own spin on bad team management at packaging company Flinley Craddick. When she gets news from Head Office that they will be shutting down her branch and making everyone work from home, she goes into survival mode, making promises she can’t keep in order to keep her ‘work family’ together.

Ward is best known as a stand-up and for ABC series Spicks and Specks and The Ronnie Johns Half Hour. She also appeared in Wakefield and The Inbetweeners.

Additional cast includes Edith Poor (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, The Power of the Dog), Steen Raskopoulos (The Duchess, Feel Good), Shari Sebbens (The Sapphires, Thor: Love and Thunder), Josh Thomson...

“The Office” comedy franchise will see middle management led by a woman for the first time in an Australian version that will play on Amazon’s Prime Video.

Australian comedian and actor Felicity Ward will portray Hannah Howard, the MD of packaging company Flinley Craddick in “The Office Australia.” In a post-covid plot twist, Howard gets news from head office that her branch will be shutting down and that staff will have to work from home. She goes into survival mode, making promises she can’t keep and launches outlandish plots in order to keep her “work family” together.

The Australian adaptation is the 13th iteration of the show that was originally created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Other international retreads have included those in France, Canada, Chile, Israel and the Middle East.

Filming of the eight-part series will commence in Sydney in June. Production is by Prime Video,...

The Red Ranger in Power Rangers is usually the leader of the team, the one who gets the most prominent focus on the team and the most action figures! But which one is the best? We tried to settle that by ranking all the Red Rangers from the TV show and movies. Sorry, Supersonic Red Ranger from the Boom Comics. You died beautifully. Sorry to Hyperforce Red as well, you deserve a burrito.

44. Nick Russell (Firass Dirani)

Power Rangers Mystic Force

Nick is not great. Mystic Force was squarely focused on him and that red blanket of his. He had few redeeming qualities besides driving his bike into the face of a monster. He turned to evil in the finale for no discernible reason!

He was so ready to give up when faced with adversity, his entire team had to rally him to keep going. What kind of leader is he?...

Storm Ashwood’s war thriller Escape and Evasion will be released on Netflix next month after the streamer negotiated a deal with production company Bronte Pictures.

The film follows a lone soldier (Josh McConville) who returns home in search of solace after his men are killed on a mission in Myanmar. Hiding a dark secret and confronted by an unrelenting journalist (Bonnie Sveen), he’s forced to face the ghosts of his past one last time.

The cast also includes Hugh Sheridan, Rena Owen, Steve Le Marquand and Firass Dirani.

Escape and Evasion was released theatrically last year via The Backlot Films after its world premiere at the 2019 Gold Coast Film Festival.

Despite being released just prior to the onset of Covid-19 and the subsequent closure of cinemas, the film still managed to garner acclaim, with Josh McConville winning Best Actor at the 2020 Veteran Film Awards, and Escape and Evasion...

Well, it looks like there is another entry in the Pitch Black series coming our way called The Chronicles of Riddick 4: Furya. Franchise star Vin Diesel himself took to Instagram to let the world know that the fourth entry in the cult classic sci-fi series is written and ready to roll. The new movie is once again written by David Twohy and comes with the badass tagline: "Everyone wants to be a beast until it's time to do what real beasts do."

This fourth film is, of course, the newest entry in the Riddick series which kicked off back in 2000 with the release of Pitch Black starring Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, and Keith David. That film was followed up in 2004 with The Chronicles of Riddick costarring Thandie Newton, Karl Urban, and Colm Feore. And the whole she-bang seemingly ended in 2013 when Riddick: Rule the Dark hit theaters co-starring Katee Sackhoff,...

Nobody expects a screenwriter to get to the root of racism but this film is far from deep thinking

Early in The Combination Redemption, the aggressive but fundamentally decent boxing trainer John (George Basha) barks and hollers at one of his pupils. “Toes toes toes, get on ya fuckin’ toes!” he yells, reminding me of Clint Eastwood’s grizzled trainer from Million Dollar Baby – except without Eastwood’s age and gravitas. When he is pulled aside by his boss (the late Tony Ryan) and asked “why you pushin’ the kid so hard for?”, John – the film’s protagonist – shoots back: “He needs to be pushed.”

But in the original The Combination, an interracial Australian drama from 2009 that became controversial when one of its actors was charged with sexual assault and (in separate incidents) violence broke out at screenings in Sydney, the point was made that pushing people hard doesn’t work.

George Basha and David Field.

Nine years after their first collaboration on The Combination, co-directors David Field and George Basha are putting the finishing touches on the sequel.

Pinnacle Films will launch The Combination: Redemption on February 7 as well as handling international sales of the crime drama set in Sydney’s Western suburbs.

Field made his directing debut on the 2009 film which starred Basha as John Morkos, a Lebanese-Australian who is released after 18 months in jail and discovers his teenage brother Charlie (Firass Dirani) is involved with a Lebanese gang which is feuding with a bunch of Australian bigots.

Scripted by Basha and set six year later, the sequel follows Morkos as he is still haunted by the events that led to his death of his brother. As he begins to rebuild his life he finds solace in the boxing ring at his local gymnasium.

Meanwhile tensions are building as...

‘Escape and Evasion.’

Bronte Pictures is set to produce four features next year after signing deals for two films and a feature documentary at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Pascal Borno’s Conquistador Entertainment acquired worldwide rights to Storm Ashwood’s thriller Escape and Evasion, which follows a soldier who returns home in search of solace after his men are killed in Burma.

Instrum International agreed to handle global sales on Around the World, a documentary on freestyle football written and directed by David Amouzegh, Tom Cheve and Clement Reubrecht.

Vertical Entertainment collared North American rights to Ashwood’s debut feature The School, a supernatural horror/thriller which Bronte Pictures co-produced with Lunar Pictures’ Jim Robison.

The film starring Megan Drury as a surgeon whose son has fallen into a coma and who becomes trapped in an abandoned school where she is threatened by feral children, will open in Us...

Luke Bracey and Mel Gibson on set. (Photo credit: Mark Rogers).

If is giving away 15 double passes to Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge, coming to Australian cinemas via Icon on November 3.

Hacksaw Ridge was shot at Bringelly and Sydney's Fox Studios late last year and tells the true story of Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield), who saved 75 men in the battle of Okinawa without carrying a gun.

Passes will be sent to the first 15 readers to subscribe: .

https://secure.intermedia.com.au/index.cfm?page=mag.subscription&mid=29

Starring Andrew Garfield, Vince Vaughn, Sam Worthington, Ryan Corr and Mel Gibson's son, Milo, Hacksaw made its Australian premiere last night at the State Theatre.

On hand to present the film were Gibson, producers Bill Mechanic and Bruce Davey, and actors Teresa Palmer, Rachel Griffiths, Hugo Weaving, Nico Cortez, Luke Bracey, Harry Greenwood, Firass Dirani, Ben Mingay, Jacob Warner, Luke Pegler, Goran Kleut and others.

Director Mel Gibson (Braveheart, Passion of the Christ, Apocalypto) will be attending the Australian Premiere of Hacksaw Ridge in Sydney on Sunday, October 16 at the State Theatre.

The film stars Andrew Garfield, Vince Vaughn, Luke Bracey, Teresa Palmer, Hugo Weaving, Sam Worthington, and Rachel Griffiths..

The supporting cast is made up entirely of emerging local actors including Ryan Corr, Luke Pegler, Ben Mingay, Firass Dirani, Nico Cortez, Harry Greenwood, Milo Gibson and Nathaniel Buzolic..

The film tells the true story of Desmond Doss (Garfield) who saved 75 men without firing or carrying a gun in the battle of Okinawa.

Gibson's fifth film as director,.Hacksaw Ridge.debuted recently at Venice to strong reviews.

Mel Gibson.s Hacksaw Ridge will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September.

The announcement coincides with the release of the official trailer for the film.

Shot in various locations across New South Wales last year, Hacksaw.stars Andrew Garfield and Vince Vaughn joined by Aussies Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey, Ryan Corr, Teresa Palmer, Rachel Griffiths, Richard Roxburgh, Luke Pegler, Ben Mingay, Firass Dirani, Nico Cortez, Harry Greenwood, Milo Gibson and Nathaniel Buzolic..

It marks Gibson.s return to directing for the first time since 2006's Apocalypto..

The film will be released in cinemas across Australia and New Zealand by Icon on November 3 - one day ahead of its North American release.

Delta Goodrem.

Delta Goodrem has joined season five of Nine's House Husbands.

Goodrem will play Izzy Dreyfus, the new reading recovery teacher at Nepean South Primary School.

"Riding in on her cafe racer motorbike, brilliant, beautiful and slightly tomboyish Izzy both excites and frightens everyone in the House Husbands world and her audacious attitude is instrumental in diverting a threat to the Nepean South community that none of them see coming." .

Goodrem said: .I couldn.t be happier to join the amazing House Husbands family. It.s such a fantastic Aussie drama that I love — and my whole family loves — so I feel very lucky and cannot wait to get started..

Nine.s co-Heads of Drama, Jo Rooney and Andy Ryan, said they were excited to welcome Goodrem to the cast..

"Delta is a much-loved Australian performer who brings a special star quality to our screens. We can.t wait...

House Husbands.

House Husbands season five begins filming in Melbourne this week.

Gary Sweet, Firass Dirani, Rhys Muldoon, Julia Morris, Natalie Saleeba, Jane Allsop, Louise Siversen and Denise Scott are all back, and will be joined by Packed to the Rafters alum Hugh Sheridan.

Sheridan will play Nick Gazecki, a music teacher who makes an enemy of his new neighbour Lewis (Sweet).

Other new additions include Roy Billing and Australian musical theatre legend Nancye Hayes.

.Everyone with a family can relate to the House Husbands and their partners as they juggle the pressures of relationships, work and parenting", Nine.s co-Heads of Drama Jo Rooney and Andy Ryan said..

Sue Seeary from Playmaker said: .We are thrilled to be back again for a fifth series. With such a wonderful returning cast and the opportunity of working with Hugh Sheridan as the new House Husband, this series is sure to capture...

Miranda Tapsell.

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Screen Australia has launched a new research project into the levels of representation of cultural diversity, disability and Lgbtqi in Australian television drama broadcast over the last five years.

This new research will analyse the main characters and the actors that played them in Australian adult and live-action children.s TV dramas (including comedy) broadcast from 2011 to 2015 on commercial free-to-air networks, public broadcasters and subscription channels.

Concurrently, a series of surveys will explore experiences and perceptions of barriers and successes in representing diversity in TV drama. Actors, agents, casting directors and the credited producers, writers and directors of television drama will be surveyed and responses will be anonymous.

Working in association with the Australian Human Rights Commission and the Diversity Council Australia, and with consulting partners the ABC, Sbs, Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, Australian Writers Guild, Australian Directors Guild and Screen Producers Australia, Screen Australia intends to...

Mel Gibson is set to present at the 5th Aacta Awards in Sydney next week.

Gibson, who is currently filming World War II film Hacksaw Ridge in Nsw, will be joined by Manu Feildel, Magda Szubanski, Megan Gale, Erik Thomson, and Brenton Thwaites.

Emma Freedman will host the show.s red carpet.

Birds of Tokyo and UK dance group Rudimental will also perform live at the Ceremony..

Since releasing their debut album Home in 2013 (which sold over half a million copies) Rudimental has received a swag of Awards, including a Brit Award for Best British Single for .Waiting All Night...

Justice Crew recently recorded the Aacta Awards Ceremony show opener on location in Sydney off the back of their brand new single, Good Time; a rhythmic urban track written by Dante Jones and Andrew Bolooki..

The show opener also features top favourite TV talent including Mandy McElhinney, Home and Away...

Hugo Weaving has joined the cast of Mel Gibson's star-studded Australian film Hacksaw Ridge.

Weaving will join Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington, Vince Vaughn, Rachel Griffiths and Richard Roxburgh in the film, which is now in production.

Hacksaw Ridge is the true story of conscientious objector, Desmond Doss (Garfield), who, in Okinawa during the bloodiest battle of WWII, saved 75 men without firing a gun..

Believing that the War was just but killing was nevertheless wrong, he was the only American soldier in WWII to fight on the front lines without a weapon.

Doss single-handedly evacuated the wounded near enemy lines, braved fire while tending to soldiers and was wounded by a grenade and hit by snipers. He is the only conscientious objector to ever win the Us Medal of Honour.

Weaving will play Garfield's son, Tom Doss.

Producers of the film include Bill Mechanic, Bruce Davey, Paul Currie, David Permut and executive Producer,...

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Daniel MacPherson and director Shane Abbess are mates and close creative collaborators, but that didn.t stop the pair having some robust discussions before the actor signed on for futuristic thriller SFv1.

MacPherson had appeared in Abbess. Infini and was developing several projects with the director when he was offered the co-lead role of Kane.

The actor did not have a clear sense of the narrative or the characters in the screenplay by Abbess and co-creator Brian Cacha, which is divided into multiple chapters, and asked for elucidation.

.We had a couple of heated creative discussions before I got on board,. MacPherson tells If. .But once I was in, I was 110 per cent in. Shane gives the cast the absolute freedom to own their characters. It.s a pretty extraordinary, ambitious movie with breathtaking sets by George Liddle..

Set during a period of interplanetary colonisation, SFv1stars Twilight.s Kellan Lutz as Sy,...

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Rachel Griffiths, Richard Roxburgh, Teresa Palmer and Ben O.Toole are among a large contingent of Aussies who are appearing in Hacksaw Ridge, Mel Gibson.s WW2 drama now shooting in New South Wales.

The screenplay by Andrew Knight, Robert Schenkkan and Randall Wallace chronicles the true story of conscientious objector Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield).

In the battle of Okinawa Doss, an Army medic who believed the war was just but that killing was wrong, saved 75 soldiers without firing a gun.

As previously announced Sam Worthington is playing Captain Glover, who led the 77th Sustainment Brigade, with Vince Vaughn as Sergeant Howell, whose job was to get the new recruits ready for battle. Luke Bracey is Smitty Ryker, the alpha dog of the Doss. platoon.

Palmer plays Doss.s sweetheart Dorothy Shutte and Griffiths is his mother Bertha Doss. Roxburgh is Colonel Stelzer and O.Toole is Corporal Jessop.

The...

Aussie actors Isabel Lucas ("Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen") and Luke Ford ("The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor") have joined the cast of the sci-fi thriller "SFv1".

Set in the future when humanity has spread out into interplanetary colonies, Kellan Lutz plays a drifter who falls in with an off-world military contractor (Daniel MacPherson) trying to rescue his daughter (Teagan Croft) from peril while evading a global crisis caused by the military contracting company he works for.

Lucas and Ford will play the roles of Gyp and Bill respectively. The film is currently shooting in both Sydney and the Australian Outback. Temuera Morrison, Bren Foster, Rachel Griffiths, Firass Dirani, Dwaine Stevenson and Grace Huang also star.

Matthew Graham, Brett Thornquest, Sidonie Abbene and Shane Abbess are producers. Abbess directs from his own screenplay

Source: Deadline...

Isabel Lucas and Luke Ford have joined the cast of Shane Abbess. new sci-fi feature SFv1.

They join Kellan Lutz (Expendables 3, Hercules 3-D, The Twilight Saga) and Daniel MacPherson (Infini, Shannara Chronicles, The Cup).

The ensemble cast includes Temuera Morrison (Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones, Star Wars: Episode III . Revenge of the Sith, Once Were Warriors), Bren Foster (Infini, The Last Ship, Terminus, Days Of Our Lives), with Rachel Griffiths (Saving Mr Banks, Beautiful Kate, Brothers & Sisters, Six Feet Under, Muriel.s Wedding), Firass Dirani (House Husbands, Underbelly: The Golden Mile, The Combination, The Black Balloon) Dwaine Stevenson (Infini, Gabriel), Grace Huang (The Man with the Iron Fists 1 and 2, Infini, Hiding) and introduces Teagan Croft.

Currently filming in Sydney and outback South Australia, the film is set in the future in a time of interplanetary colonization, when Sy (Kellan Lutz), a drifter,...

Indiana Evans and Justine Clarke have joined the cast of the fourth season of Playmaker Media.s House Husbands, now shooting in Melbourne.

Evans (Secrets & Lies, Janet King) is playing Tash, a single mother new to Melbourne who ignites a tumultuous love triangle. Clarke is Eve, the hot-headed tuckshop lady who competes with the catering business run by Kane (Gyton Grantley).

Also new to the cast are Akos Armont (Winter, Janet King) as the charming and ambitious Dr Saxon, whose presence creates tension within the hospital, and Jane Kennedy as Belinda, the resident Director of Medical Services.

Returning regulars include Lewis (Gary Sweet), Justin (Firass Dirani), Mark (Rhys Muldoon), Gemma (Julia Morris), Abi (Natalie Saleeba), Alex (Darren McMullen) and Miss Looby (Louise Siversen). Mark.s controlling boss Rachel, played by Jane Allsop in season one, makes a fiery comeback . Also returning from season one to cause trouble is Rodney (Nicholas Coghlan...

The Nine Network.s drama House Husbands is being remade in France and Italy.

The French version of the Playmaker Media series co-created by Ellie Beaumont and Drew Proffitt will be produced by Paris-based Made in Pm.

The Italian remake will be produced by Rome-based Publispei. Both companies will adapt the scripts of the first season.

Neither has yet been sold to a broadcaster, although Made in Pm produces drama for the channels TF1 and France2. The format deals were negotiated by Zdf Enterprises.

Playmaker Media.s David Maher said, .'The rise of the stay at home dad is obviously happening everywhere and it's great when a warm, funny and relatable Aussie drama like House Husbands resonates internationally..

Andy Ryan, Nine.s co-head of drama, said, .We are thrilled to be exporting the House Husbands format to such competitive TV markets. Just like Australian viewers, the French and Italian networks...

Neighbours star Remy Hii is being honoured with a special Logie Award.

The actor has been selected as the 2014 recipient of the Graham Kennedy Award For Most Outstanding Newcomer for his performance in Better Man.

Hii - who also has played Hudson Walsh in Neighbours - led the cast of Better Man, a film based on the true story of a man arrested in Singapore for drug trafficking.

He will receive a trip to Hollywood and a scholarship to the Stella Adler Academy Of Acting And Theatre in La for winning the prestigious Graham Kennedy Award.

The actor said of his win: "I'm so excited to be named the winner of the Graham Kennedy Award this year!

"Playing Van Tuong Nguyen in Sbs's Better Man was an incredible journey for me and it's a huge honour to receive this recognition.

"I'm hugely grateful and excited for what this will mean for me in the future.

Shamus Kelley Feb 11, 2020

After over two and a half decades, Power Rangers has given us a ton of Red Rangers. Which crimson warrior is the best?

The Red Ranger in Power Rangers is usually the leader of the team, the one who gets the most prominent focus on the team and the most action figures! So in honor of the arrival of the second season of Power Rangers: Beast Morphers we’re ranking all the Red Rangers from the TV show and movies. Sorry, Supersonic Red Ranger. You died beautifully. Sorry to Hyperforce Red as well, you deserve a burrito.

We leave no stone unturned here at Den of Geek. If you haven’t heard of some of these Rangers, clearly you haven’t been binge watching all 800+ episodes.

42. Nick Russell (Firass Dirani) Power Rangers Mystic Force

Nick is the worst. Mystic Force was squarely focused on him and that stupid red blanket of his.

Channel Nine series House Husbands has begun shooting season two this week in Melbourne. Starring Firass Dirani, Gary Sweet, Gyton Grantley and Rhys Muldoon, the series, created by Ellie Beaumont and Drew Proffitt, follows four stay-at-home dads and their families. Debuting on September 2, 2012, the first episode of House Husbands averaged a record-breaking 1.376 million viewers. It was announced House Husbands was renewed for a second season on 23 September 2012. Returning to the series alongside the men are Julia Morris, Natalie Saleeba, Tim Campbell and Leah de Neise, plus Anna McGahan and Georgia Flood.

There will also be a number of new cast members joining the team, including guests Craig McLachlan (Rescue: Special Ops), Madeline West (Underbelly), Geraldine Turner (Home and Away) and Rick Donald (Underbelly: Razor). Heads of Drama for the Nine Network, Jo Rooney and Andy Ryan, said: .We are thrilled to have House Husbands returning for a second season. .With...

Chasing the dream of making your own feature requires time and perseverance as well as, dare it be mentioned, money. Yet, for those who hang in there, the dream is achievable.

There.s no greater example than that of 64 year-old David Pulbrook. After working as an editor for over forty years, he has made his feature directorial debut with the claustrophobic-thriller Last Dance.

.I certainly want to do it again,. he says. .Even at my age, in my declining years, I just look at Clint Eastwood and think there.s hope for all of us..

The idea for the film, a study of the relationship between a Jewish holocaust survivor (Julia Blake) and a young, Palestinian terrorist (Firass Dirani), first came to Pulbrook 25 years ago. However, it wasn.t until eight years ago that he approached scriptwriter Terence Hammond and the first 60 pages were penned.

.It.s taken a long...

ABC telemovie Mabo and its two lead actors Deborah Mailman and Jimi Bani have scooped the best film and actor categories at the 2012 Deadly Awards.

The telemovie about Eddie and Bonita Mabo (played by Bani and Mailman), and their fight for indigenous land rights, was directed by Rachel Perkins (Bran Nue Dae, First Australians) and written by Sue Smith (Bastard Boys, Brides of Christ).

The television show of the year was awarded to Sbs series The Straits, which was set in.Far North Queensland and the Torres Strait, and followed the drug-smuggling Montebello family. The cast included Rena Owen, Jimi Bani, Firass Dirani and Suzannah Bayes-Morton and Aaron Fa.Aoso.

Indigenous feel-good movie The Sapphires, which has taken more than $12 million at the box office to date, was also recognised. The original Sapphires - Beverly Briggs, Naomi Mayers, Lois Peeler, Laurel Robinson and Tony Briggs - who wrote the original...

Popular Nine Network drama House Husbands will return for a second season.

The new series, which stars Gary Sweet, Julia Morris, Rhys Muldoon, Gyton Grantley and Firass Dirani, will begin filming next year according to Nine and production house Playmaker Media.

House Husbands is currently Australia.s highest rating drama, attracting an average weekly audience of just over 2 million viewers each week, according to consolidated OzTam figures quoted by Nine.

The success of the drama comes as Nine struggles under an onerous debt burden and after a string of dramas - apart from its Underbelly franchise - which failed to capture a widespread audience such as Tricky Business and Cops L.A.C.

Playmaker Media directors David Taylor and David Maher said in a statement: .We couldn.t be more pleased our House Husbands are back for another series. It is a huge credit to our dedicated team of writers,...

Nine has recommissioned its family drama House Husbands for a second series.

The announcement:

The Nine Network and Playmaker Media today confirmed that House Husbands will return for a second season.

New episodes of Australia’s favourite new family drama will begin filming in 2013.

Gary Sweet, Julia Morris, Rhys Muldoon, Gyton Grantley and Firass Dirani will all return, along with Natalie Saleeba, Tim Campbell, Anna McGahan and Leah de Niese as well as the younger cast of children the country has fallen in love with.

Nine’s Director of Television, Michael Healy, says: “I am delighted Australian audiences have taken House Husbands into their hearts and made it the number one drama in the country.

“I am thrilled to confirm a second series of House Husbands will go into production with the same acclaimed cast and crew.”

Directors of Playmaker Media, David Taylor and David Maher, add: “We couldn’t...

The Melbourne International Film Festival has announced its first 30 films.

Joining the The Sapphires, already announced as the opening night film, two Australian thrillers have been selected in the feature film section.

The directorial debut by the Colin and Cameron Cairnes, 100 Bloody Acres, is a gruesome comedy starring Angus Sampson and Damon Herriman.

Last Dance, by first-time director David Pulbrook, editor of The Cup and Hotel Sorrento, tells of the fallout of a terrorist attack on a synagogue by surviving bomber Sadiq Mohammad, played by Underbelly’s Firass Dirani as he seeks shelter in the house of holocaust survivor Ulah Lippman, played by Julia Blake.

Joining the Australian films are Sundance and Cannes winner Beasts of the Southern Wild, directed by Benh Zeitlin and Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom.

In the documentary section Paul Kelly: Stories of Me, about Australian musician Paul Kelly while Make Hummus Not War, tries to answer which nationality – Lebanon,...

Melbourne-made drama Last Dance and local horror comedy 100 Bloody Acres will screen as part of the 2012 Melbourne International Film Festival (Miff).

The festival has revealed a sneak peek of their program ahead of the official launch in July.

Last Dance, which was filmed in and around St Kilda at the end of last year, follows Sadiq Mohammad (Firass Dirani), a radical Palestinian, who, after fleeing from a suicide bombing that has gone wrong, takes holocaust survivor, Ulah Lippman (Julia Blake), hostage in her own apartment. The film, which was directed by David Pulbrook and produced by Antony I. Ginnane, received part of its financing from the Miff Premiere Fund.

Horror film 100 Bloody Acres stars Damon Herriman and Angus Sampson as Reg and Lindsay Morgan, brothers with a small fertiliser business called 'Blood and Bone' which uses dead car crash victims to make its product. When Reg comes across...

Australian production company Playmaker and the Nine Network have announced the cast of new series House Husbands.

The 10 part series about stay-at-home dads is due to begin production at the end of the month.

The series is produced by Slide’s Sue Seeary and Lockie Leonard’s Drew Proffitt and created by Proffitt and Ellie Beaumont and directed by The Great Mint Swindle’s Geoff Bennett and Offspring’s Shirley Barrett.

The cast includes Gary Sweet of Rescue Special Ops, Rhys Muldoon of Lockie Leonard, Gyton Grantley of Underbelly and Firass Dirani of Underbelly: Golden Mile as well as Celebrity Apprentice’s Julia Morris, Underbelly: Razor’s Anna McGahan and Winners and Losers’ Natalie Saleeba.

Executive producers are Nine’s Jo Rooney and Andy Ryan and Playmaker’s David Maher and David Taylor.

House Husband’s received funding from Screen Australia two weeks ago.

The Becker Film Group has just acquired Australian and New Zealand rights to Caught in Flight, the film in which Naomi Watts is to play Princess Diana.

The UK film is scheduled to go into production in July and is the first to be represented internationally by sales and financing company Embankment Films, which has already made sales to more than 40 territories.

.From my perspective, Princess Diana is one of the great stories of our time, and Naomi Watts has a great profile in Australia and I hope she will come out and support the release,. said Richard Becker.

The film is a love story between Princess Diana and heart surgeon Dr Hasnat Khan to be directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, who made Downfall. The producers are Robert Bernstein and Douglas Rae of Ecosse Films, and the script has been written by Stephen Jeffreys.

Becker said Caught in Flight and his...

The Secret Life of Us and Offspring's producer John Edwards has joined the TV racism debate in Australia. Samoan actor Jay Laga'aia recently claimed that he was axed from Home and Away because of his race, while The Straits' Firass Dirani claimed that most Aussie TV networks do not "create roles for people from a broad range of cultural backgrounds". Although the Seven Network labelled Laga'aia's comments as "offensive" and "insulting", the discussion has gone into overdrive as various other stars have joined the debate. Edwards told The Age that he cast indigenous actress Deborah Mailman in both of his shows (more)...

Home and Away bosses have been forced to deny accusations of racism after dropping actor Jay Laga'aia from the soap. The actor, who is of Samoan descent, filmed his final scenes as Elijah Johnson late last year, and Australian viewers will see the character make his exit in April. Writing on Twitter yesterday, Laga'aia alleged that he was axed by producers due to his ethnicity. His comments came after actor Firass Dirani made a public call for TV producers to start reflecting the "different flavours and different cultures" of Australian society. Laga'aia tweeted: "Hats off to you Firass Dirani, for a call to stop commercial network producers casting only white actors. Only on Australian screens. Shame! "As someone who lost his job on (more)...

Peter Andrikidis is one of Australia's most respected directors. The Straits marks the third series where he has worked with rising talent Aaron Fa.Aoso, and the first to be based on aspects of his life.

.He.s had a pretty hard life . he.s got a lot to say,. Andrikidis says, who first worked with Fa'Aoso on crime series East West 101 and the soon-to-be released bikie telemovie Brothers in Arms.

"Aaron.s grown so much from East West one to East West three . he.s just learnt so much. He.s like a sponge and he just keeps getting better and better. Certainly, with this character [Noel Montebello] there.s a balance of humour and also, he has a heavy touch as well, so getting the tone of the show right was the big thing with all that cast, so it.s not corny stuff and it still has dramatic levels.

After the likes of Crank and Shoot ‘Em Up, the prospect of seeing fellow Brit action stars Jason Statham and Clive Owen go head to head is certainly an exciting one. It is therefore intriguing that they chose a relatively low-key true life thriller Killer Elite, released on Blu-ray and DVD this week, as the film that brings them together on screen for the first time.

Based on Sir Ranulph Fiennes’ 1991 novel The Feather Men, the film follows ex-special ops agent Danny Bryce (Statham) as he is lured out of retirement to rescue his mentor Hunter (Robert De Niro) who has been taken hostage in Oman by Sheikh Amr (Rodney Afif) after failing to accomplish a mission for him. Bryce makes a deal to finish the mission which involves killing three former Sas assassins protected by a secret society known as the Feather Men led by Spike Logan (Owen). A...

Chicago – In our latest action edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Blu-ray, we have 5 Blu-rays up for grabs for the home entertainment release of “Killer Elite”! The film, which stars Jason Statham, Clive Owen and Robert De Niro, comes to Blu-ray, DVD and digital download on Jan. 10, 2012 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

“Killer Elite,” which is based on a true story, also stars Dominic Purcell, Yvonne Strahovski, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Michael Dorman, Grant Bowler, Ben Mendelsohn, Kristy Barnes-Cullen, Firass Dirani, Sandy Greenwood, Daniel Messier, Aden Young and Lachy Hulme from writer and director Gary McKendry based on the novel by Ranulph Fiennes.

To win your free “Killer Elite” Blu-ray courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, all you need to do is answer our question in this Web-based submission form. That’s it! Directions to enter this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup and win can be found beneath the graphic below.

“Killer Elite” with Jason Statham and...

Matchbox Pictures has released the trailer to its new series, The Straits.

The production company that produced The Slap tells the story of the Montebellos, a family of gangsters in far north Queensland dealing with drug runners, Png raskols, the police and the inner workings of the family unit. At the head of the family is Harry Montebello, played by Brian Cox (Braveheart, Bourne Supremacy).

Joining Cox is Rena Owen playing his part Torres Strait Island, part Maori wife, Kitty plus AFI Nominated Aaron Fa’aoso (East West 101, Ran), Logie winner Firass Dirani (Underbelly, Pitch Black) as well as new Australian talent; Jimi Bani (Ran, The Sapphires) and Suzannah Bayes-Morton (All Saints, The Tumbler), who together play the Montebello’s children.

The shoot began in June.

Matchbox Pictures won Producer of the Year at Spaa’s Independent Producers Awards.

Gena Rowlands Barred From Australian Movie Gena Rowlands has been bumped from the Australian film Last Dance because of restrictions on casting of foreign talent, the Australian reports. The 81-year-old actress was to have played a Holocaust survivor of German and Jewish origin who is taken hostage in her apartment by a radical Palestinian (Underbelly‘s Firass Dirani). Under Australian union guidelines, a local production must obtain 30% foreign investment if it hires foreign actors although that rule apparently did not apply to Last Dance because of its less than A$2.5million budget. Terence Hammond wrote the screenplay with Rowlands in mind and she rehearsed for months. The decision by the actors union comes weeks after it bowed to pressure and allowed Richard E. Grant to star in The Kath and Kim Fillum now shooting in Melbourne. The barring of Rowlands has raised the ire of the production industry and placed...

Purporting to be a drama torn from today's headlines, David Pulbrook's feature debut, Last Dance, will explore themes of ideology, faith, freedom, oppression and the power of compassion.   The film stars British born AFI award winning actress Julia Blake, known for roles in films such as Innocence and The Boys are Back, the cult eighties series Prisoner, and the recent ABC television series, Bed of Roses.   Blake will star alongside Firass Dirani, known for his portrayal of Lebanese nightclub owner, John Ibrahim, in Underbelly: The Golden Mile and who will be seen in the soon to be released actioner Killer Elite.

Australian film Last Dance has begun production in Melbourne.

Directed by David Pulbrook, principle photography began on Monday in and around St Kilda, Melbourne.

The film is Pulbrook’s debut feature film. Pulbrook has had a long history as an editor, beginning his career in the 60s working on episodes of Homicide and Division 4. He’s since edited Gillian Armstrong’s Smokes and Lollies, Kevin Dobson’s Squizzy Taylor, Michael Pattinson’s Street Hero and Ground Zero which he won an AFI for. Most recently he edited Simon Wincer’s The Cup.

The film stars Julia Blake (Innocence, Bed of Roses), Firass Dirani (Killer Elite, Underbelly) and Alan Hopgood.

Pulbrook said of his film: “Last Dance digs beneath the stereotypes to reveal the basic humanity of the two principle protagonists and transcends the tragedy of their pasts and speaks of optimism, possibilities and tolerance. We were careful not to...

New 'Killer Elite' movie delivered lots of brutal action,thrills & more Open Road Films released their new Jason Statham, action/thriller flick "Killer Elite" into theaters this weekend. I just checked it out today,and I thought it was ok. However, I did find myself dozing off quite a bit. I don't know what it was about this flick,but I just couldn't quite get into it until towards the end. The film stars: Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Robert De Niro, Yvonne Strahovski, Dominic Purcell, Aden Young, Ben Mendelsohn, Lachy Hulme, Firass Dirani, Grant Bowler,and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. In the flick,character Danny (Jason Statham) and a couple of other men,including his mentor Hunter (Robert De Niro) pull off a murder job,but when Danny finds a little kid in the car,he vowed that's his last job and can't do it anymore.

New ‘Killer Elite’ Movie Delivered Lots Of Brutal Action,...

Chicago – In our latest action/thriller edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 40 admit-two movie passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of the new film “Killer Elite” starring Jason Statham, Clive Owen and Robert De Niro!

“Killer Elite,” which is based on a true story, also stars Dominic Purcell, Yvonne Strahovski, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Michael Dorman, Grant Bowler, Ben Mendelsohn, Kristy Barnes-Cullen, Firass Dirani, Sandy Greenwood, Daniel Messier, Aden Young and Lachy Hulme from writer and director Gary McKendry based on the novel by Ranulph Fiennes.

The film opens on Sept. 23, 2011. To win your free pass to the advance Chicago screening of “Killer Elite” courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, just answer our question below. That’s it! This advance screening is on Monday, Sept. 19, 2011 at 8 p.m. in downtown Chicago. Directions to enter this Hookup and win can be found beneath the graphic below.

The movie poster for “Killer Elite” with Jason Statham,...

Robert De Niro, Clive Owen and Jason Statham headline the upcoming Open Road Films action thriller "Killer Elite." The new trailer for the Gary McKendry directed film is now online.The movie also stars Dominic Purcell, Grant Bowler, Yvonne Strahovski, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Ben Mendelsohn, Michael Dorman and Firass Dirani.Watch the trailer below;"Killer Elite" is released across the Us and UK from September 23rd.When his mentor (Robert De Niro) is taken captive, a retired member of Britain's Elite Special Air Service (Jason Statham) is forced into action. His mission: kill three assassins dispatched by their cunning leader (Clive Owen).

The second trailer for Killer Elite has arrived and you can check it out in the player below.

In the film, an ex-special ops agent is lured out of retirement to rescue his mentor. To make the rescue, he must complete a near-impossible mission of killing three tough-as-nails assassins with a cunning leader.

Here’s the official plot synopsis for Killer Elite:

Inspired by true events, Killer Elite is an action adventure spy film following Danny (Jason Statham), one of the world’s most skilled special-ops agents. Lured out of self-imposed exile to execute a near-impossible feat of retribution and personal salvation, Danny reassembles his old team of operatives to help rescue his former mentor (Robert DeNiro), and to penetrate the highly feared and respected military unit, the British Special Air Service (Sas). Facing off against a covert group of ex-sas soldiers known as The Feather Men, who, under...

The full trailer for action-thriller Killer Elite is now online and can be watched below. Two clips have also been released which you can view via this link . Opening on September 23, the Gary McKendry-directed film stars Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Robert De Niro, Yvonne Strahovski, Dominic Purcell, Aden Young, Ben Mendelsohn, Lachy Hulme, Firass Dirani, Grant Bowler and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. Based on a true story, Killer Elite races across the globe from Australia to Paris, London and the Middle East in the action-packed account of an ex-special ops agent (Statham) who is lured out of retirement to rescue his mentor (De Niro). To make the rescue, he must complete a near-impossible mission of killing three tough-as-nails assassins with a cunning leader (Owen).