A small patch of water in Moreton Bay will take on a new level of importance this week when Redland City moviegoers see the finished Hollywood movie, Unbroken from Thursday.
Academy Award winner Angelina Jolie directed and produced Unbroken, an epic drama that follows the incredible life of Olympian and war hero Louis “Louie” Zamperini who, along with two other crewmen, survived in a raft for 47 days after a near- fatal plane crash in WWII — only to be caught by the Japanese Navy and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp.
Unbroken opens in theatres on January 15.
The movie received mixed reviews in the United States and the United Kingdom where it was released on Christmas Day.
But only now can the people of the Redlands get the full insight into what was happening on our Moreton Bay for a few days in October 2013.
Having part of the filming in the Redlands was a coup for the city and the excitement of having celebrities such as Angelina Jolie, together with a full scale Hollywood movie production around town sent a buzz through the Redlands.
A key part of the movie is the raft scenes that document how Zamperini played by British actor Jack O'Connell and his mates Phil and Mac (Domhnall Gleeson and Finn Wittrock) - endured the 47 days adrift in rafts after their plane was shot down.
These scenes were filmed near Peel Island with others shot in water tanks at the Village Roadshow Studios at Oxenford.
Filming in the bay was a major logistical project for the production crews who set up a base camp in the grounds of Redland Water (formerly CSIRO) at Cleveland's Toondah Harbour.
Local Volunteer Marine Rescue services were used to ferry crew to and from the floating film set, and Stradbroke Ferries provided the barge that was used as dressing and make-up rooms.
The character on which the film is based, Louis Zamperini, passed away at age 97 last year, just a few months before the public release of the film, however, he got to see the saw the Angelina Jolie gave him a Louis private screening of the film.
Adapted from Laura Hillenbrand’s (“Seabiscuit: An American Legend”) enormously popular book, Unbroken brings to the big screen Zamperini’s unbelievable and inspiring true story about the resilient power of the human spirit.
Starring alongside O’Connell are Domhnall Gleeson and Finn Wittrock as Phil and Mac—the airmen with whom Zamperini endured perilous weeks adrift in the open Pacific — Garrett Hedlund and John Magaro as fellow POWs who find an unexpected camaraderie during their internment, Alex Russell as Zamperini’s brother, Pete, and in his English-language feature debut, Japanese actor Miyavi as the brutal camp guard known only to the men as “The Bird.” Australia’s Jai Courtney plays the role of Hugh 'Cup' Cuppernell.
The film is produced by Jolie, as well as Matthew Baer (City by the Sea), Erwin Stoff (The Day the Earth Stood Still) and Clayton Townsend (This Is 40). Leading the accomplished behind-the-scenes crew is 10-time Oscar-nominated cinematographer Roger Deakins (Skyfall).
Academy Award winners Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men) rewrote the screenplay from earlier drafts by William Nicholson (Les Misérables) and Richard LaGravenese (HBO’s Behind the Candelabra).