Dozens of international film productions will be executed in Australia, where cases has subsided. Over 20 international productions have been reported. The titles include “Thor: Love and Thunder,” a Marvel film starring Mr. Hemsworth, Mr. Damon, Ms. Portman, Taika Waititi, Tessa Thompson and Mr. Bale; “Three Thousand Years of Longing,” a fantasy romance starring Mr. Elba and Tilda Swinton; and “Joe Exotic,” a spinoff of the podcast that preceded the popular Netflix series “Tiger King,” starring the “Saturday Night Live” actress Kate McKinnon as the big-cat enthusiast Carole Baskin, are all either in production or set to be filmed in the coming year.
Ron Howard is directing “Thirteen Lives,” a dramatization of the 2018 Thai rescue of a soccer team from a cave, in Queensland. Later this year, Julia Roberts and George Clooney are set to arrive in the same state to shoot “Ticket to Paradise,” a romantic comedy. Though a number of American stars have landed in the country for temporary work, some like Ms. McCarthy, originally in Australia to work on “Nine Perfect Strangers,” have decided to stay on to shoot other projects, said those in the industry.
Australia appeared to get back on track to quashing the first wave of the virus, and the soap opera “Neighbors” became one of the world’s first scripted TV series to resume production. The federal government has committed more than $400 million to international productions, which, together with existing subsidies, provides film and television producers with a rebate of up to 30 percent to shoot in the country. A spokeswoman said the government had helped 22 international productions inject hundreds of millions into the local economy, while Paul Fletcher, the federal minister for communications said. “There’s no doubt it’s a very significant spike on previous levels of activity," he said.
But the Hollywood brigade was in Australia, a country that has effectively stamped out the coronavirus and has managed to lure several Hollywood directors and actors to continue film production. Many celebrities, including Natalie Portman, Christian Bale and Melissa McCarthy, have found freedom from the pandemic there. actors Chris Hemsworth, Idris Elba and Matt Damon, making the public question whether they are social distancing. “These Hollywood stars have been transported to another world where the problems of this world aren’t,” said Robert Thompson, a professor of popular culture at Syracuse University in New York said. “When you’re trying to be a star, you’ve got to go out to the West Coast to make your bones.” When you become “a really big star,” you buy property somewhere exotic, like Australia."
The country's border patrol, however, have enforce their safety measures amid the influx of celebrities, resulting in a shortage of farm labor. The Australian Border Force assured that travel exemptions for film and television productions were considered whne a financial benefit is found. “Everyone knows there’s a separate set of rules, it seems, for everyone that’s a celebrity or has money,” said Daniel Tusia, an Australian who was stuck overseas with his family for several months last year. “There are still plenty of people who haven’t been able to get home, who don’t fall into that category, who are still stranded."
