SHANGHAI – Sam Worthington (“Avatar,” “Somersault”) Hugh Dancy (“Hannibal”), Charles Dance (“Game of Thrones”) and Rachel Griffiths (“Six Feet Under”) head the cast of “Deadline Gallipoli,” a high-profile Australian mini-series which began shooting today.
The series explores the origin of the Gallipoli legend, when Australian and New Zealand troops were sent into a hopeless battle in Turkey during WWI. It is told from the point of view of war correspondents Charles Bean, Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, Phillip Schuler and Keith Murdoch, who lived through the campaign and bore witness to the events in 1915.
“Deadline Gallipoli” will air on Foxtel’s showcase channel in 2015 to coincide with the World War I Centenary commemorations.
Other cast include Bryan Brown, Ewen Leslie (“Top of the Lake”), Jessica De Gouw, Anna Torv, John Bell, James Fraser and newcomer Joel Jackson.
“This is a fresh take on the Gallipoli story, with these four journalists fighting the upper echelons of the military to get the truth out and stop the carnage,” Worthington said in a prepared statement.
NBCUniversal International Television Production subsidiary Matchbox Pictures (“The Slap,” “Devil’s Playground,”) will produce the four-part mini-series with Full Clip, the production company formed by Worthington.
U.S.-based Australian Michael Rymer (“The Killing,” “Hannibal,” “Battlestar Galactica”) will direct from a script by Jacquelin Perske (“Little Fish”), Shaun Grant (“Snowtown”), Stuart Beattie (“Pirates of the Caribbean,”) and Cate Shortland (“Somersault”).
Penny Chapman of Matchbox Pictures will produce the series, with John Schwarz of Full Clip, and Jacquelin Perske. Executive producers are Penny Win, Foxtel’s commissioning editor of drama, Michael McMahon of Matchbox Pictures and Worthington.
