By Travis Johnson
Thanks to investment from Screen Australia, Winchester, the upcoming thriller from Australian genre specialists Peter and Michael Spierig and starring Helen Mirren, will commence production in early 2017.
Based on a true story (or as true as ghost stories get), Winchester revolves around Sarah Winchester (Mirren) and the building of the famous Winchester Mystery House. As the official synopsis states:
“After the sudden deaths of her husband and child, firearm heiress Sarah Winchester (Helen Mirren) believed she was haunted by the souls killed at the hands of the Winchester repeating rifle. She threw herself into the 24-hour a day, seven days a week construction of an enormous 160-room mansion designed to keep the evil spirits at bay. But when skeptical San Francisco psychiatrist Eric Price is dispatched to the estate to evaluate her state of mind, he discovers that her obsession may not be so insane after all.”
Additional funding comes from Film Victoria’s Production Incentive Attraction Fund and Production Investment from Screen Queensland. Winchester is produced by Blacklab Entertainment’s Tim McGahan (Predestination) and Imagination Design Works’ Brett Tomberlin. The film will shoot in Melbourne, Docklands Studios and surrounds before shooting on location at the actual Winchester Mystery House, reputed to be one of the most haunted sites on earth.
The Spierigs said, “There have been few haunted house stories that have captured our imaginations quite like the legend of the Winchester House. Sarah Winchester was an eccentric pioneer, an inventor, a woman plagued by her family’s legacy, we couldn’t be more thrilled to have Helen Mirren bring this fascinating character to life.”
“Screen Australia is thrilled to be co-funding Winchester, which gives the Spierig brothers a chance to work with A-List international talent including Helen Mirren,” Screen Australia CEO, Graeme Mason, said. “Films like Winchester telegraph to the international market the breadth of films that can be made in Australia, using not only our locations but our creative and producing talent.”
