by FilmInk Staff
Another major feature film has landed in NSW, with production underway in Sydney on cosmic sci-fi thriller Starman, starring Oscar® winner Brendan Fraser and two-time Emmy® winner Jeff Daniels.
Written and directed by Emmy-winning filmmaker Josh Wakely, Starman is supported by Screen NSW’s Made in NSW Fund and is expected to generate over $23 million in expenditure for the NSW economy and create an estimated 229 local cast and crew jobs.
Led by Fraser and Daniels, the star-studded cast also includes BAFTA-winning Irish actress, writer and comedian Aisling Bea, who joins Australian actors Claudia Karvan, Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Ewen Leslie, Stephen Curry, Huw Higginson and Heather Mitchell. Newcomer Oliver Aldrich also joins the cast. Filming has taken place on locations across Sydney, in the Blue Mountains, and at Moore Park’s Disney Studios Australia.
Starman joins a growing number of major international productions calling NSW home, thanks to support from Screen NSW’s Made in NSW Fund. In 2026, Sydney has hosted genre-bending crime drama Kockroach, starring Chris Hemsworth, Taron Egerton and Zazie Beetz, Netflix’s features The Big Fix, starring Riz Ahmed and Mark Wahlberg, and Extraction 3, starring Chris Hemsworth and Idris Elba, and Apple Original WWII drama Greyhound 2, starring Tom Hanks and Stephen Graham. These have been in production in NSW alongside local film and television projects including Easy Tiger’s third season of hit series Colin From Accounts, Roadshow Rough Diamond’s medical drama The F Ward, See-Saw’s legal drama The Great White, Bus Stop Films’ feature Boss Cat and coming-of-age thriller Bluebottle, from directing duo Jack Clark and Jim Weir.
Starman is a GRACE: A Storytelling Company production and is produced by Eddie Vaisman of Sight Unseen—who most recently produced Fraser’s Searchlight film Rental Family—and Josh Wakely and Rebecca Graham of GRACE: A Storytelling Company. David S. Goyer (Batman Begins) executive produces alongside Tarek Sherif, Ryan Graves, Matt Tedder and Sight Unseen’s Julia Lebedev. The film is financed by Sherif, Graves and Tedder and commenced principal photography in June. Anton is handling international sales, which launched at the Marché du Film de Cannes.
Screen NSW Executive Director Kylie Munnich said: “Sydney is the perfect place for this film to lift off, and I’m pleased to welcome Starman and the entire team, including writer/director Josh Wakely, to NSW. With an all-star Australian and international cast, Starman joins a growing list of high-end productions choosing to film here, with support from Screen NSW.
“Our state is Australia’s screen production powerhouse. With world-class filmmakers, cast and crew, incredible locations and facilities, and competitive incentives, it’s no surprise we are seeing so many projects choosing to film in NSW. These major productions are creating opportunities and jobs for local cast and crew, as well as injecting millions into the NSW economy, with industries outside screen getting a boost when cameras roll in our state.”
Producer Rebecca Graham of Grace: A Storytelling Company said: “Starman is an ambitious film, and NSW gave us everything it needed—the scale, the locations, and hundreds of exceptional local cast and crew. We’re grateful to Screen NSW and the Made in NSW Fund for helping us bring it here and supporting us. We couldn’t have asked for a better place to make this film.”
About Starman
In Starman, Tom Adams (Fraser) is an architect of the future who launches a historic expedition to Mars, positioning himself at the forefront of humanity’s next great frontier. But when unforeseen events strand him millions of miles from Earth, his mission becomes an urgent race against time—driven not by survival alone, but by love.
Image: Jeff Daniels by Sam Jones, Brendan Fraser by Chad Griffith
