Melissa George in the recent release 30 Days of Night

BY GEORGE MELISSA GEORGE STARS IN ANOTHER THRILLER

“I’ve always loved movies that play with structure and time, like Memento and Reservoir Dogs. I wanted to employ these techniques in a psychological thriller narrative and I’m really thrilled that my script has attracted such a brilliant cast to help me do this.” – Triangle director Christopher Smith

She’s already done a few screamfests in her rocketing career, but any film set in the Bermuda Triangle is bound to be less than smooth sailing for ex-Home and Away starlet Melissa George.

Principal filming has begun on the $18 million production Triangle, a psychological thriller that takes place on board a creepy ocean liner with a character who has multiple personality disorder.

Big-scale thrillers are no longer a daunting feat for George. Since saying goodbye to Summer Bay in 1996, the 31-year-old has been working steadily in Hollywood, featuring in ho-hum productions and soon-to-be-cancelled pilots until she broke the big time when she landed the plum role of Jennifer Garner’s nasty rival in Alias.

Since then, she’s worked with directors like David Lynch and had the enviable job playing wife to actors Josh Hartnett (30 Days of Night) and Ryan Reynolds (The Amityville Horror remake). Currently starring in TV series In Treatment, George seems to have hit her stride.

In Triangle she plays the central role of Jess, a single mother with a mental disorder persuaded to join friends for a day out on the Atlantic Ocean. After being struck by violent storms, the hapless passengers are capsized and left clinging to the hull. Initially relieved when they are rescued by a mysterious liner, alarm bells begin to ring when the ship is not what it appears.

The UK/Australian production is a joint effort by Dan Films and Pictures In Paradise, and with British filmmaker Christopher Smith (Creep, Severance) at the reins, it looks set to be a spine-chilling couple of hours.

“I’ve always loved movies that play with structure and time, like Memento and Reservoir Dogs,” Smith says. “I wanted to employ these techniques in a psychological thriller narrative and I’m really thrilled that my script has attracted such a brilliant cast to help me do this.”

Along for the ride is a plethora of Australia’s latest, most exciting talent with Michael Dorman (The Secret Life of Us, Suburban Mayhem), Emma Lung (The Jammed) and Rachael Carpani (McCleod’s Daughers).

Currently shooting at various locations around Queensland, it’s taken crew two months to build the real star of the show, a three-storey-high luxury ocean liner replica, built into the water at the Southport Seaway on the Gold Coast. Director Smith, (who also wrote the film) promises the use of real background instead of CGI will make every thrill extra terrifying.

The film has been snapped up by Icon Entertainment to be distributed worldwide some time next year. With producer Chris Brown (the upcoming Daybreakers starring Ethan Hawke and Claudia Karvan, and from the directors of The Undead) and Somersault and Unfinished Sky director of photography Robert Humphreys also joining the team, Triangle looks not to follow in the fated footsteps of the recent tedious ghost ship film shot in Queensland, the cleverly titled Ghost Ship.

FILMINK