A tiny community with a population of just nine people in the South Australian outback has been transformed into an unlikely Hollywood set where big-name stars including Hugo Weaving and Julia Garner have been calling home.
Garner, the breakout star of Ozark and Inventing Anna, and Matrix legend Weaving are among the cast of The Royal Hotel, about backpacking buddies who take live-in jobs at a pub in a remote mining town before their adventure takes a dark and bloody turn .
The disused pub in the remote town of Yatina, 222km north of Adelaide, has been transformed into the namesake movie centrepiece. Neighbor Ken Cowery told 7NEWS he was surprised when about 100 cast and crew set up next to his home from him.
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“I’ve heard all these cars pull up and I thought what the hell was that?” he said. “They’ve been wonderful people, nobody’s making noise or nothing. They’ve been very quiet”
Flming is expected to take place in several locations around the state over the next month, with the South Australian Film Corporation saying the project will create more than 200 jobs and bring in $4.6 million to the local economy.
Among those jobs are extras for scenes inside the pub. The local council put an ad out for people to play drinkers with “no experience required”.
Peterborough Mayor Ruth Whittle said she never expected the pub, which was built in 1874 but hasn’t been open for years, would be the backdrop for a horror movie.
“(It’s) a bit of wild west in South Australia,” she added.
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