10 August 2008

Is Top Gear filming in Canberra today?

| thingamy
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Parkes Way is closed to traffic today from just after the Acton Peninsula turn off to the round about at the bottom of Anzac Parade.

When we attempted to drive that way this morning, we saw a bright orange lotus parked just beyond where the road had been closed off. Is Top Gear filming in Canberra today?

UPDATED: Sepi says: “It is closed so a movie can film a car chase.

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Holden Caulfield12:27 am 12 Aug 08

I highly doubt The Stig is an “actual” F1 driver either. Ben Collins is the most common name bandied about, with reasonable circumstantial evidence to back up the suggestion. Please, enlighten me with your supposed facts.

I just think it’s pretty damn funny that iCanberran reckons the Australian guys are a bunch of metrosexuals yet he chooses to judge them by their fashion, while electing to conveniently overlook the bona fide driving credentials of Cox and Pizzati. Hahahaaa, love your work!

If they are genuinely funny, and get on in a quirky way (but are not told to replicate uk characters) then the show will go fine.

Oh yeah, while this is my opinion at the moment, I’m certainly hoping it turns out great. Who knows, there may have been some bad words said when the first pick of the UK team was published.

I think the cast has promise and SBS have a good record with local production these days.

So I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt and will watch the first couple.

Holden Caulfield said :

iCanberran said :

if it were the UK Top Gear I’d be excited. The Aussie Top Gear looks like it’s going to be pretty weak. Three metro sexual, skinny latte sipping whimps who spend more time picking out shirts and doing their hair (judging by the promo shots) than actually talking about cars.

Perhaps instead of just looking at the promo shots you might have taken the time to read their bios. On driving talent and achievements alone two of the Australian crew have far better qualifications than any of the UK originals. Which just goes to show it’s as much about how they work together and the efforts of the producers.

How about you give them a chance before thinking you’re an expert.

http://www21.sbs.com.au/topgear/media/images//1053062009483df9a083fa9.jpg

Their Bios:

Charlie Cox was a broadcast journalist with a number of Sydney radio stations before moving to England to continue his career in radio and to race cars.

Warren Brown is an award winning cartoonist and regular motoring columnist with The Daily Telegraph.

Steve Pizzati is the youngest member of the cast and calls himself a ‘gun for hire’. Steve is an advanced driving instructor and race driver for Porsche Australia and is part of the International Audi driver training team in Melbourne. He freelances as a motoring journalist and photography stunt driver, is a self confessed science geek and was on track to become a jet pilot but was knocked back in the final round due to poor eyesight.

So instead of a print journalist with whose an honorary Doctor in Engineering (Clarkson), a classical pianist and journalist (May) and TV/Radio presenter (Hammond) plus the Stig (an actual F1 driver)…

… we get a cartoonist who writes for a tabloid, a half blind science geek and radio personality who prefers Britain. Indeed, much better credentials. I think one look at what these guys wear though screams that they take themselves too seriously.

Holden Caulfield10:43 am 11 Aug 08

iCanberran said :

if it were the UK Top Gear I’d be excited. The Aussie Top Gear looks like it’s going to be pretty weak. Three metro sexual, skinny latte sipping whimps who spend more time picking out shirts and doing their hair (judging by the promo shots) than actually talking about cars.

Perhaps instead of just looking at the promo shots you might have taken the time to read their bios. On driving talent and achievements alone two of the Australian crew have far better qualifications than any of the UK originals. Which just goes to show it’s as much about how they work together and the efforts of the producers.

How about you give them a chance before thinking you’re an expert.

OzChick said :

SheepGroper said :

It was the last item on today’s ABC news, they devoted a couple of minutes to footage of the chase being filmed and an interview with the driver. Pretty car.

Thought the actor driving the car was pretty cute. Yes, the car was very nice…

OMG – sexist comment!!! I had to run my eyes over it and demand that it be stopped!!!!

I wonder why they’re filming this in Canberra? That cinematographer sounds like a pretty heavy-hitter. Interesting stuff.

SheepGroper said :

It was the last item on today’s ABC news, they devoted a couple of minutes to footage of the chase being filmed and an interview with the driver. Pretty car.

Thought the actor driving the car was pretty cute. Yes, the car was very nice…

The aliens are fine!

I wish Canberra drivers would abandon the planet.

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy8:38 pm 10 Aug 08

Perhaps the idea was irritate the aliens so badly with Canberra driving that they abandoned the planet.

It was the last item on today’s ABC news, they devoted a couple of minutes to footage of the chase being filmed and an interview with the driver. Pretty car.

Seems pretty fitting that they wanted to film a movie about aliens in Canberra…

Found this on ScreenACT’s Website

It was announced by Canberra based Andrew Dillon, executive producer of That’s-A-Wrap Productions, that the company has signed award-winning Australian cinematographer Andrew Lesnie to be Director of Photography for its upcoming science fiction action-adventure project, Resistance.

Resistance is the story of a covert attempt by aliens from outer space to take over the Earth and a guerrilla-style battle to stop them when most of the world won’t believe the threat exists. Its focus is on a band of super-smart teenagers at the centre of the conflict: who help save the world while dealing with school, hormones and dating.

Andrew Lesnie is a master cinematographer with a broad range of experience in television and motion pictures, his recent work includes all three of the Lord of the Rings movies (for which he won an Oscar) as well as King Kong and I Am Legend.

“I pride myself on bringing to every production a wealth of passion, enthusiasm and desire for great filmmaking” said Lesnie. “I become inspired by my collaborators and great projects. And Resistance is a project that truly excites me. It should be a lot of fun.”

Full production on the feature length Resistance project is planned for late 2008, with some preliminary scenes being shot in Canberra in upcoming months.

Actually Davo many rip off shows work well in Aust. It is just that we don’t realise they are rip offs.

Anything that’s usually made to rip off an overseas tv show is destined to fail. Just look at queer eye Australia, it got pulled off the air after 2(?) shows.

Good luck to the new film, hope it is actually good.

if it were the UK Top Gear I’d be excited. The Aussie Top Gear looks like it’s going to be pretty weak. Three metro sexual, skinny latte sipping whimps who spend more time picking out shirts and doing their hair (judging by the promo shots) than actually talking about cars.

Page 5 of yesterday’s times said it was closed for making a film called “Resistance”, with a car chase scene apparently by someone who had something to do with the Matrix.

Wishful thinking. (@3+4)

why assume its top gear?

I wondered where I had left my car. Thanks 🙂

I heard that it was for a movie too.

It is closed so a movie can film a car chase. There was a para in yesterday’s paper about it.

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