Winton Shire Council mayor, Gavin Baskett, has seized an opportunity to invite movie star, Mel Gibson to the Vision Splendid Outback Film Festival, which begins on June 29, after discovering that he is currently location scouting in Queensland.
Home to some of Australia's biggest films, Cr Baskett is certain the rural Winton landscape would be the perfect backdrop for the Mad Max star’s next big project.
“There are so many beautifully vast spaces here and a lot of people don’t realise the diversity of the landscape,” he said. “We want to support the film and arts industry in our area, but also in Australia, so it only seems natural that we would encourage events like the festival and invite big movie personalities.”
Known as ‘Hollywood in the Outback’, Winton has lent its wide open spaces to iconic films such as Nick Cave’s Proposition and Ivan Sen’s Mystery Road and Goldstone.
With a council that strongly supports the arts, Winton is encouraging film makers like Gibson to come and take a look for themselves by attending the Vision Splendid Outback Film Festival.
With a theme this year of Celebrating the Wide Open Road, it would be particularly appropriate if Mel Gibson were to lend his presence.