Cactus | |
---|---|
Directed by | Jasmine Yuen-Carrucan |
Written by | Jasmine Yuen-Carrucan |
Produced by | Paul Sullivan |
Starring | Travis McMahon David Lyons Bryan Brown Shane Jacobson |
Cinematography | Florian Emmerich |
Edited by | Mark Perry |
Music by | Nerida Tyson-Chew |
Production company | Open Space Films |
Distributed by | Hoyts Distribution |
Release date |
|
Running time | 85 minutes |
Country | Australia |
Budget | A$1,200,000 |
Cactus is a 2008 Australian mystery-thriller film, it is the directing debut for Jasmine Yuen-Carrucan. [1]
Cactus is a road movie centred on a kidnapping.
The movie begins with John Kelly pulling Eli Jones (David Lyons) from his city residence, drugging him and driving across regional Australia for three days. On the journey, John and Eli begin to interact and talk, as well as having a run-in with a rogue cop and encountering "Thommo", a trucker.
The directing debut of Jasmine Yuen Carrucan was shot in New South Wales in the cities of Bathurst, Broken Hill, Cobar, Sydney and Wilcannia. [2] Bryan Brown worked on it as executive producer. [3]
The film uses many of the classic road movie motifs such as break downs, fuel stops and long stretches of empty road, [4] with a cinematography that is conventionally modern.
The film premiered on 1 May 2008 in Australia. [5] It was part of the Brooklyn International Film Festival in June 2008 and the Munich Film Festival on 28 June 2008. [6]
The Keystone Cops are fictional, humorously incompetent policemen featured in silent film slapstick comedies produced by Mack Sennett for his Keystone Film Company between 1912 and 1917.
The cinema of Australia began with the 1906 production of The Story of the Kelly Gang, arguably the world's first feature film. Since then, Australian crews have produced many films, a number of which have received international recognition. Many actors and filmmakers with international reputations started their careers in Australian films, and many of these have established lucrative careers in larger film-producing centres such as the United States.
Catherine Élise Blanchett is an Australian actor and film producer. Regarded as one of the best performers of her generation, she is recognized for her versatile work across independent films, blockbusters, and the stage. Blanchett has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, four British Academy Film Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Tony Award.
Karl-Heinz Urban is a New Zealand actor. His career began with appearances in New Zealand films and television series such as Xena: Warrior Princess. His first Hollywood role was in the 2002 horror film Ghost Ship. Since then, he has starred in many high-profile movies, including as Éomer in the second and third installments of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Vaako in the second and third installments of the Riddick film series, Leonard McCoy in the Star Trek reboot film series, Kirill in The Bourne Supremacy (2004), John "Reaper" Grimm in Doom (2005), Judge Dredd in Dredd (2012), Gavin Magary in Pete's Dragon (2016), and Skurge in Marvel Studios' Thor: Ragnarok (2017). In 2013, he starred in the sci-fi series Almost Human. Since 2019, he has starred as Billy Butcher in Amazon Prime Video's superhero streaming television series The Boys.
Greta Scacchi, OMRI is an actress known for her roles in the films White Mischief (1987), Presumed Innocent (1990), The Player (1992), Emma (1996) and Looking for Alibrandi (2000).
Bryan Neathway Brown AM is an Australian actor. He has performed in over eighty film and television projects since the late 1970s, both in his native Australia and abroad. Notable films include Breaker Morant (1980), Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984), F/X (1986), Tai-Pan (1986), Cocktail (1988), Gorillas in the Mist (1988), F/X2 (1991), Along Came Polly (2004), Australia (2008), Kill Me Three Times (2014) and Gods of Egypt (2016). He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award for his performance in the television miniseries The Thorn Birds (1983).
The Gold Coast Film Festival (GCFF), formerly Gold Coast Film Fantastic, is an annual Australian film festival, as of 2022 held at the Home of the Arts (HOTA) in Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast, Queensland. Founded in 2002 as a fantasy film festival, GCFF now delivers a program of feature films, short films (SIPFEST), web series, film awards, and special events.
Dirty Deeds is a 2002 film shot in Australia. It was directed by noted fringe director David Caesar and stars Bryan Brown, Toni Collette, Sam Neill, Sam Worthington, John Goodman and Andrew Sommerich and produced by Nine Films and Television, the film and television production arm of the Nine Network, owned by PBL Media, now Nine Entertainment Co.
Shane Jacobson is an Australian actor, entertainer, director, writer, and comedian, best known as the "Dunny Man" for his performances as the eponymous character Kenny Smyth, a plumber working for a portable toilet rental company, in the 2006 film Kenny and the spin-off TV series, Kenny's World. In 2006, he won the Australian Film Institute's Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for that performance. In 2017 and 2018 he presented Little Big Shots, on the Seven Network, based on the American series of the same title. In 2019, Jacobson became a judge on Australia's Got Talent.
Travis Fimmel is an Australian actor. He is known for his role as Ragnar Lothbrok in the History Channel television series Vikings (2013–2017), and as Anduin Lothar in the live-action adaptation of Warcraft (2016). He also starred as Marcus in the HBO Max science fiction series Raised by Wolves (2020–2022).
The Elements trilogy of films by Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta deals with controversial issues of social reform on the Indian subcontinent. Fire, the first release in 1996, dealt with issues of arranged marriage and homosexuality in the patriarchal culture of India. Earth, released in 1998, dealt with the religious strife associated with the partition of India and the formation of Pakistan in the mid-20th century. Water, released in 2005, was the most critically successful of the three, and dealt with suicide, misogyny, and the mistreatment of widows in rural India.
The Stagecoach Festival is an annual country music festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colorado Desert. Organized by Goldenvoice, a subsidiary of AEG Presents, it is a sister event to the Coachella festival, and held on the weekend immediately following the conclusion of Coachella.
Observe and Report is a 2009 American crime comedy film written and directed by Jody Hill and starring Seth Rogen, Anna Faris, and Ray Liotta. It follows a mentally unstable vigilante mall cop who attempts to join the police academy and pursues a flasher tormenting female visitors to the mall where he works. It was released on April 10, 2009, and grossed $27 million.
Swerve is a 2011 Australian thriller film written and directed by Craig Lahiff and starring Emma Booth, Jason Clarke and David Lyons. Lyons plays an honest man who, after coming upon a car accident, retrieves a suitcase full of cash from a wrecked car.
Watershed Music Festival is an annual country music festival held at the Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington. Produced by Live Nation, the first event was held August 3–5, 2012. Watershed is a summer festival and is usually a three day event. The main attractions of the festival are the multiple stages of live music, featuring a mixture of country music superstars, newcomers and local country performers.
Deserted is a 2016 American psychological thriller film written and directed by Ashley Avis and starring Mischa Barton, Trent Ford, Winter Ave Zoli, Jackson Davis, Kelly Brannigan, Lance Henriksen, Jake Busey, Gerry Bednob and Dana Rosendorff.
Christopher James Baker is an Australian actor known for his work as Henry King Sr. / Brainwave in the DC Universe series Stargirl.
Surviving Summer is an Australian teen drama television series that premiered on 3 June 2022 on Netflix. The first season consists of 10 episodes. In November 2022, the series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on 15 September 2023.
Boy Swallows Universe is an Australian coming of age television limited series for Netflix based on the semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by Trent Dalton. Produced by Andrew Mason and Troy Lum and written by John Collee, the story revolves around Eli Bell, a working-class youth who enters Brisbane's underworld to save his mother from danger. It features an ensemble cast led by Travis Fimmel, Phoebe Tonkin, Felix Cameron, Lee Tiger Halley, Zac Burgess, Simon Baker, Bryan Brown, Anthony LaPaglia and Sophie Wilde.