Screen Australia has announced that celebrated Australian actor Hugo Weaving (Lord of the Rings, The Matrix) will star in M4M, a contemporary take on Shakespeare’s play Measure for Measure.
Set within Melbourne’s commission flats, M4M tells the unlikely love story of a Muslim woman Jaiwara and a local loner musician Claudio. While their relationship develops, local crime figure Duke (played by Weaving) draws ever closer, along with Jaiwara’s gangster brother Farouk. Love is indeed complicated.
M4M reunites the team behind the critically acclaimed 2015 film Pawno, of Damian Hill and Paul Ireland, with the film also securing principal production investment from Screen Australia in association with the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) Premiere Fund.
While Hill and Ireland are producing an co-writing, Ireland will again be in the directing chair, with Ian Kirk, Bryce Menzies, Tony Nagle and Clement Dunn acting as executive producers.
Director Paul Ireland commented on the news, saying “The script for me is always the most important part of the process, the foundation of everything. Damian and I have spent the last two years pouring a lot of love, laughter, frustration, care and emotion into the writing of M4M, resulting in what I feel is a very relevant emotive story and world that deserves to be shared and shown. A world that is often ignored as people are happy to sit in ignorance and let the sun shine or the rain fall, thinking it doesn’t affect them.”
Head of Production at Screen Australia, Sally Caplan added “Damian Hill and Paul Ireland proved themselves as film makers with their low budget feature Pawno, and M4M is their chance to tell a story on a bigger budget. The script for M4M is exceptional and the result of much hard work and skill over a long period. This is a contemporary Australian reimagining of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure that is authentic, exciting and inclusive.”
Casting for M4M is currently taking place, with the film to officially commence shooting later this year in September.
Photo Credit Denis: Makarenko, Shutterstock.com (Provided by Screen Australia)
