Underbelly shoots the ’70’s

Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities has been filming in the Hawkesbury region in Richmond and Freemans Reach. The Hawkesbury has proven suitable for their requirements because it offers open spaces in which all the vehicles could fit, in an area that fit the 1970s storylines. The prequel focusses on the 1970s drug industry and Robert Trimbole (Roy Billing) and the Donald Mackay (Andrew McFarlane).

There were scenes shot at a Retravision store in Richmond doubling as the furniture store owned by anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay. Not even rain was able to sabotage the production schedule.

“We got everything we needed, and although I can’t speak for everybody on the shoot, it seemed everything went very well,” said production crew member Bill Goodes.

“It turned out that we were shooting in ‘McKay’s Furniture Shop’ throughout the day and then in the evening, when we moved to the bank carpark, the rain had stopped,” Mr Goodes said.

In Richmond Park there was a stage set up sporting a banner that read ‘Griffith says no to drugs’. Around 50 extras were dressed in various attire from the ‘70s.

Andrew McFarlane took to the stage as ‘70s Griffith politician and anti-drugs campaigner Donald Mackay and began rallying the crowd to push for the criminalisation of marijuana.

“Do we really want to be known as the pot capital of Australia?” he belted into the microphone.

A large number of locals turned up to catch a piece of the action.

“They were all very lovely and extremely well behaved,” Goodes said. “We were very lucky to have that location (the park) and then when we moved to the carpark in the evening, the location was restricted so there were no problems.”

Mr Goodes said the production was on a tight budget, meaning it was unable to use “prima locations” for filming. The crew will be moving to Luddenham and then to Warwick Farm in coming days.

Shooting for the series is expected to wind up in March.

Source / photos: Hawkesbury Gazette,