Following a huge year for film and television production in Victoria, the new year sees the return of superstar Liam Neeson to film his next action-thriller, the third movie Neeson has made in Victoria in four years.
From late January, cameras will roll on The Mongoose, filming across Melbourne and regional Victoria, showing that the Victorian screen industry has a 'particular set of skills' that makes global stars and major productions come back for more.
Backed by the Victorian Government through VicScreen’s Victorian Screen Incentive, the production will create 453 jobs for Victorian screen workers and inject more than $19 million into the state economy.
The production will engage an estimated 150 local businesses, including specialist screen industry businesses to accommodation providers, retailers and hospitality.
The production team will be based out of the Melbourne Screen Hub in Footscray, a warehouse and co working space for local screen businesses. The Hub moved to expanded premises this year so it could hire spaces to visiting productions like The Mongoose.
The Mongoose stars Neeson as Ryan “Fang” Flanagan, a war hero accused of a crime he didn’t commit and with nothing to lose, who leads police on an epic televised cross-country car chase. Helped by members of his former Special Forces Army battalion he is closely monitored by a fascinated public cheering for his safe getaway.
The film will be Neeson’s third Victorian-made project following the conspiracy thriller Blacklight, filmed in 2020 and Ice Road 2: Road to the Sky which filmed in Melbourne and regional Victoria earlier this year. Ice Road 2 notably transformed the historic gold mining town of Walhalla into a Nepalese village for the film.
The Mongoose reunites Neeson with Code Entertainment, producers of Ice Road and Ice Road 2: Road to Sky. It will be directed by veteran stunt professional Mark Vanselow and the script is by Thompson Evans (Reckoning).
Code Entertainment’s Al Corley, Bart Rosenblatt and Eugene Musso will produce. Jonathan Dana will executive produce with Code’s Rich Freeman along with Steven Shapiro and Liz and Ken Whitney of Jupiter Peak Productions. Lisa Wilson and Craig Chapman of The Solution Entertainment Group will also executive produce.
This year has seen a diverse mix of screen projects produced across the Victoria; from local projects like the psychological horror Saccharine, sci-fi action thriller War Machine and the ABC series The Family Next Doors, as well as international projects including the television series All Her Fault and feature film Beneath the Storm.
The Mongoose and this year’s crop of local and international projects have been attracted to the state as a result of the VICSCREEN strategy which so far has created 29,000 jobs and generated $1.25 billion in direct economic expenditure in Victoria since 2021-22.