Underbelly: Squizzy set visit

TV Tonight recently swung by the set of Underbelly: Squizzy at the Railway Hotel in West Melbourne.

The old pub is undergoing renovations (some of it looked ready for demolition), so Screentime producers have been able to use it for several days of shooting without causing anyone interruption.

Directing was Karl Zwicky (Tricky Business, Home and Away, City Homicide) with 22 year old Jared Daperis playing ladies’ man, gangster Squizzy Taylor.

And as Zwicky explained, Squizzy was also a bit of a media whore gangster!

Daperis has been acting ever since he was a baby but is more recently known for his appearances in The Cup  and Small Time Gangster. Playing the title role in a profile commercial TV series, will undoubtedly put him on the map. Just don’t use the words ‘overnight sensation.’

Also filming was Luke Ford as Squizzy‘s sidekick Tankbuster and in a small role, Hannah Gadsby (Adam Hills in Gordon Street Tonight) as a photographer.

Wardrobe and make-up had worked hard to get extras to play the part of hotel patrons in the 1920s.

The series, to air next year on Nine, takes a darker look at the infamous Melbourne crim than the feature film which starred David Atkins.

Daperis told TV Tonight he had held off watching the film so as not to influence his portrayal.