Movie crew filming in Warwick
MOVIE scouts arrived here last year in search of a towering tree and failed to find what they were looking for but they did discover a timber trestle bridge.
Yesterday they returned with a cast of internationally recognised actors and a 70-strong crew to film scenes from the art house movie The Tree under the railway bridge on the Old Allora-Warwick Road.
Location manager Peter Lawless, who was the Australian scout for the recently released Mao's Last Dancer, said our bridge was perfect for the movie.
“Why Warwick? Well the city had a great timber trestle bridge on a line which could be temporarily controlled in a location that lent itself to this film,” Mr Lawless explained.
“We also shot some scenes on Warwick's pedestrian bridge over the old railway line.”
In fact so impressed was the renowned location scout with our city he went as far as recommending it for the movie's central township.
“But, unfortunately, Warwick was a little too majestic and large for our producer,” he said.
The French-Australian production has been based at Boonah.
The film tells the story of an eight-year-old girl, who loses her beloved father, and comes to believe his spirit, lives in the high branches of their Moreton Bay Fig.
Southern Downs Regional Council (SDRC) economic development officer John Randall said having movie scenes filmed here boosted the local psyche.
“It's great for everyone; we all walk a little taller after something like this,” he said.
In response to the interest from film-makers he said the SDRC was in the process of developing specific procedures to ensure they were “film friendly”.
The Tree stars Charlotte Gainsbourg, who played the wife of Sean Penn in 21 Grams alongside Marton Csokas, from Lord of the Rings fame, and Aden Young, who recently starred in Mao's Last Dancer.
The film is expected to be released next year.
To date there is no talk of an advance screening in the Rose City to get a glimpse of our railway bridge in all its glory
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