UK actors in Kalgoorlie and Perth for first feature film production since WA border reopened
Well-known UK actors have touched down in the Goldfields-Esperance region for the first feature film production in Western Australia since our border reopened, with production of Kid Snow made possible thanks to major investment from the State Government.
Billy Howle of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Outlaw King and On Chesil Beach fame joins Tom Bateman who starred in Netflix series Behind Her Eyes as well feature films Thirteen Lives, Death on the Nile, Cold Pursuit and Murder on the Orient Express. The British pair join Australian actress Phoebe Tonkin who was previously on the big screen in Tomorrow, When the War Began and on TV in H2O: Just Add Water, Bloom, Westworld, The Originals and Safe Harbour.
The Goldfields-Esperance region and Perth will be the backdrop to a compelling love story that shines a light on a little-known aspect of Australia’s sporting history – tent boxing.
Production of this “modern Western” set in the 1970s outback is supported through major State Government investment via the Western Australian Screen Fund, Screenwest and Lotterywest.
In this cinematic film, an Irish boxer named Kid Snow gets a chance to redeem himself in a rematch against a man he fought a decade prior, on a night that changed his life. When Kid Snow meets single mother Sunny, he is forced to consider a future beyond boxing. Director Paul Goldman describes it as an exotic, authentic, sweat-drenched tale of stale beer, campfires and mateship in dust and blinding sunlight. The film is based on the days in the 1900s when boxing tents toured small Australian towns and local fighters who beat professionals became legends in their community.
State Government support for the WA screen industry is critical in creating employment opportunities and regional economic outcomes.
Western Australians can look forward to watching the film when it’s released and looking to spot familiar locations on the big screen, such as red dirt and heritage buildings of Kalgoorlie in the Goldfields-Esperance region to the Claremont Showgrounds of Perth.
This true-to-life story of tent boxing in the last frontier is bound to pack a visual and emotional punch for local, national and international audiences. And it’s a boost for WA tourism and job creation on the ground.
Kid Snow Background:
- Billy Howle, Tom Bateman and Phoebe Tonkin join Western Australian actors including Tasma Walton (How to Please a Woman, Mystery Road), Mark Coles Smith (Mystery Road: Origin, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Last Cab to Darwin) and Shaka Cook (Top End Wedding, Operation Buffalo) and Australian actors Hunter Page (Fires, Streamline, Cleverman), Robert Taylor (Into the Ashes, Longmire) and Anthony Hayes (Gold, Total Control, Animal Kingdom).
- Produced by Lizzette Atkins (Looking for Grace), Megan Wynn (The Childhood of a Leader) and Bruno Charlesworth (Ladies In Black) with Executive Producer Matthew Gledhill (Far from Men, The War of the Buttons, Gainsbourg).
- A Unicorn Films, Immaculate Conception and Wynn Media production, with major production investment from Screen Australia in association with Screenwest, Lotterywest and the Western Australian Screen Fund. Financed with support from Soundfirm and Film Victoria, it will be distributed by Madman.