Media Release: Wednesday, August 5, 2015
JACKI WEAVER
Announced to star in Australian mini-series
SECRET CITY
Foxtel today announced two-time Academy Award nominee and Australian acting royalty Jacki Weaver will headline the cast of Secret City, the new political thriller mini-series, which begins shooting in Canberra this month.
Ms Weaver will play Senator Catriona Bailey, Attorney-General and Australian Labor Party powerbroker in the series inspired by the best-selling novels The Marmalade Files and The Mandarin Code, written by Canberra journalists Chris Uhlmann and Steve Lewis.
Known for her outstanding work in theatre, film, and television over four decades, Ms Weaver is internationally recognised for her performance as Janine “Smurf” Cody in Animal Kingdom (2010) which earned her a Supporting Actress Oscar nomination, as well as winning an AFI Award, the National Board of Review Award, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award and a Satellite Award.
It was her role as Dolores Solatano in Silver Linings Playbook (2012) for which she received her second Supporting Actress Oscar nomination, co-starring with Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence.
Foxtel Head of Drama Penny Win said: “We are delighted to announce this huge casting coup, and honoured to have one of Australia’s most acclaimed and respected actors join this exciting new Foxtel mini-series.
Set in the backdrop of the nation’s capital, Secret City will be a compelling and intriguing Australian political drama and we are very proud of the cast and creatives we are assembling for this program.”
Most recently, Ms Weaver completed production on the upcoming US comedy series Blunt Talk, opposite Patrick Stewart, and appears with Michael Caton in the anticipated Australian film Last Cab To Darwin.
In Secret City, Ms Weaver will be joined by stellar cast including Anna Torv (Fringe, Foxtel’s Deadline Gallipoli), Damon Herriman (Justified, The Water Diviner) and Dan Wyllie (Puberty Blues, Foxtel’s Tangle), with further casting to be announced soon.
The six-part series is set in a world of secrets, lies, murder and betrayal – beneath the placid facade of Canberra. Amidst rising tension between China and America, senior political journalist Harriet Dunkley (Torv) uncovers a secret city of interlocked conspiracies, putting
innocent lives in danger – including her own. Secret City will air on Foxtel’s showcase in March 2016.
Secret City is a Matchbox Pictures production for Foxtel, supported by Screen Australia and Screen ACT.
-Brad