Paul Upham’s World: “Underbelly 3 - The Golden Mile”
06-Dec-09 20:55
By Paul Upham: It was a busy time in Sydney last week and not just with all the excitement and happenings surrounding the Danny Green-Roy Jones Jr boxing match. I also found time to squeeze in an appearance in the new Channel 9 television series “Underbelly 3: The Golden Mile”.
Cast in a small role, I appeared in two scenes for the 2010 series, which will premiere on the Nine free to air network in March. Upon arrival at the production operations centre in Palmer Street, I was processed through wardrobe, make-up and briefed by the assistant director, with a quick check of the script.
Filming was held at the iconic Fitzroy Gardens in Kings Cross on Macleay Street, the location of the famous El Alamein fountain and right in front of the local police station. After travelling to the set by bus, upon arrival I found it interesting that it was hard to distinguish the cast from the locals.
“Underbelly 3” tells the story of the criminal element operating in Kings Cross from 1989 to 1999 and the police who fought to bring them to justice.
It was pleasing to find one of the scenes I was involved in was starring John Seru, well known as “Vulcan” from the original Australian Gladiator series. He has also had a number of prominent roles over the years, including a lead henchman cap in the James Bond film “The World Is Not Enough” starring Pierce Brosnan.
John is a big boxing fan and we spent the downtime between shots talking about the upcoming Green-Jones Jr fight.
The crew was extremely professional and they navigated the shoot without incident, despite having to work outdoors in front of many curious on-lookers. They can usually film about 8 minutes of real screen time per day. This current shoot began in August and will wrap on December 15.
Staring Emma Booth as Kym Hollingsworth, Wil Traval as cop Joe Dooley, Diarmid Heidenreich as cop Eddie Gould, Damian Garvey as detective “Chook” Fowler, and newcomer Firass Dirani as teenage Kings Cross identity John Ibrahim, the latest “Underbelly” tale will run for 13 one hour episodes and likes its series predecessors, is expected to make quite an impact on Australian television.
Paul Upham
Content Editor, SecondsOut.com
uppy@optusnet.com.au
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