The secret's out about Victorian made feature film The Whistleblower, the latest action-packed thriller from legendary producer Bill Kong.
The blockbuster Australian-Chinese co-production premiered on over 10,000 screens in China and was released nationally in Australia, showcasing Melbourne and iconic regional Victorian locations.
Melbourne’s Chinatown, Avalon Airport, Geelong, the Great Ocean Road’s Twelve Apostles and the disused Hazelwood power station in the Latrobe Valley feature alongside Chinese stars Jiayin Lei, Wei Tang and Xi Qi in the story of a Chinese expat working in Australia who discovers the new technology developed by his company may pose serious safety concerns.
The Whistleblower is the largest ever collaboration of its kind between China and Victoria. Over five months of filming in 2018, the production injected over $38 million into the state’s economy, providing thousands of jobs for local cast and crew and engaging hundreds of local businesses in both metropolitan and regional Victoria.
Supported by Film Victoria, The Whistleblower was one of the most ambitious projects to date for Kong (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, House of Flying Daggers), co-producer Greg Basser (Concussion, Goosebumps) and writer/director Xue Xiaolu (Ocean Heaven, Finding Mr Right).
Kong and Basser settled on Victoria as the perfect production destination for the film, thanks to its diversity of locations and world-class infrastructure and crews. The filmmakers made the most of the state’s ability to double for cities and countries around the world with locations in Werribee, Dandenong and Little River standing in for Africa.
“Victoria’s locations and crews are the state’s most valuable assets from a film point of view,” said Kong, who also described Docklands Studios Melbourne as “…the most ideal studio facility in the world.”