Cameron Miller, Chairman of Verdict Film Group, said: “Geelong will be a great place and I have been amazed since the first madmax was realized in Geelong that producers no longer choose Geelong for their films.
Miller started the distribution company to support local cinema and as a fundraiser for the Shaun Miller Foundation, named in honor of his son Shaun who died 10 years ago of childhood congenital heart disease at the 17 years old.
“Seventy percent of the distribution proceeds will go to the Shaun Miller Foundation to build cardiac care homes for parents and families who have lost children to CCHD,” Miller said. The houses will function as a retreat for families who have suffered a loss.
Pinball will begin filming in July on a six-figure budget ahead of a 2023 release, and is the first of several planned projects for Verdict Film Group.
Read, who spent 23 years in prison for violent crimes, shot to fame after the movie Chopper, starring Eric Bana, came out in 2000. His nickname is said to come from his literal cutting off of victims’ toes. The film was based on a bestselling book that Read wrote in prison with the help of age detective writer John Silvester.
He becomes a columnist for Nuts and FHM magazines, writes a children’s book, releases a hip-hop album and organizes an art exhibition. Before his death, in an interview with The New York TimesRead said, “Honestly, I haven’t killed that many people”, before putting the estimate at “probably between four and seven, depending on how you look at it”.
Read died in 2013. He had been diagnosed with advanced liver cancer and his scenes had been shot a year earlier, over three days, as part of the original. Pinball feature film, which had a budget of $1.5 million.
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Film producer Al Clark, whose credits include Chopper and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, had previously opted Pinball and tried for four years to raise its funding target to $5.75 million, but said government funding body Screen Australia was reluctant to support crime films and the project was eventually scrapped.
Last year, Holcomb decided to revive the film as a low-budget feature, but COVID-19 meant those plans had to be put on hold.
Alan Finney, chairman of national film industry body AFI/AACTA, mentored Holcomb on the original Pinball functionality and is involved in the new version.
Finney was a former senior executive at Roadshow Film Distributors and local Walt Disney film distributor, and is now vice president of Verdict Films.
“Australia in the past has really embraced films with somewhat similar concepts with extreme characters,” Finney said.
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“I remember when I was first introduced Trample Romper. Who would have known this would be the success it would be? As you know, the film industry is full of substantial risks.
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