The casting search for the supporting roles in Blackbird, a Hitchcockian thriller starring Cate Blanchett that was due to shoot in Sydney in January, has halted.
Agents have been told that writer-director David Mamet has decided to shoot the film in the US. That’s despite Mamet’s visit to Sydney last week where he scouted locations including Federation homes in Sydney’s inner-West, and casting agent Nikki Barrett being engaged to work on the project.
Blanchett is set to play a woman who travels to Los Angeles for the funeral of her grandfather, a Hollywood visual effects artist who moonlighted for US special operations agencies. The old man harboured secrets concerning the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which pose a threat to his granddaughter.
Aussie producer Andrew Mason had joined the creative team headed by French producer Saïd Ben Saïd. The project was first unveiled in May by Variety, which quoted Ben Saïd as saying the film would be shot in Sydney, part financed by Australian tax breaks.
