Melbourne “in character” as San Francisco for US film

Local residents and business owners were alerted late in May to the upcoming filming of “an exciting new international drama feature” in Melbourne’s CBD.

A letter sent to Eastenders and Residents3000 groups warned that the shooting of interior scenes at Melbourne Town Hall and the Hotel Windsor on June 22 would see up to 150 cast and crew in the area, with a large number of vehicles, including production trucks, parked in nearby streets.

It politely apologised in advance for any inconvenience and promised crews would do their best to minimise the impact on the neighbourhood.

Without the support of local communities such as yours it would not be possible for the Victorian screen industry to contribute $500 million in economic activity to Victoria and support 8000 local jobs across creators, crews and screen businesses, it said.

The company behind the letter, Golden Gate Productions, would say nothing ahead of an official announcement.

On June 19 VicScreen revealed that the production in question was Fog City, written and directed by US billionaire Dan Pritzker, which is set in Depression-era San Francisco against the backdrop of the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Pritzker, a musician as well as director, has previously made films about jazz pioneers Buddy Bolden (Bolden) and Louis Armstrong (Louis).

“With the support of the Victorian Government through VicScreen, Fog City is utilising many of Melbourne’s heritage landmarks and the first-class stages and converted ‘backlot’ at Docklands Studios to recreate 1930s San Francisco,” the agency said.

These included not only the Windsor, Town Hall and Trades Hall, but further afield Rippon Lea Estate, the Palais and Labassa Mansion.

The production would inject $60 million into the Victorian economy, VicScreen said, with benefits including the creation of 365 jobs for local crew and 2645 roles for cast, casuals and extras while 250 local businesses would be supported.

The production had been incentivised to set up in the state by VicScreen, through the Victorian Screen Incentive and was also accessing the Federal Government’s Location Offset, VicScreen said.

It joined “a strong pipeline of high-profile projects choosing Victoria this year,” with recent productions including Michael Shanks’ Hotel Hotel Hotel Hotel starring Oscar^® winner Daniel Kaluuya, action thriller Empire City starring Gerard Butler and Hayley Atwell, drama series The Airport Chaplain starring Hugo Weaving and Shabana Azeez, comedy series Separated at Birth starring Nazeem Hussain and Urzila Carson, and children’s series Little Lunch: New Class. •