Producers of the Russell Crowe action thriller Bear Country defended their choice to film the Los Angeles-set story on Australia’s Gold Coast during a news conference at the Taormina Film Festival.
Mark Fasano of Nickel City Pictures and Jeffrey Greenstein of A Higher Standard said high costs and legislation in the United States drove the decision.
“It’s very expensive to shoot films in the United States these days,” Fasano said. He added that the team wants changes to make production more film friendly but will continue shooting abroad until that happens.
Director Derrick Borte praised Australian crews and locations that stood in convincingly for Los Angeles sites including Koreatown and Manhattan Beach. The film, adapted from Thomas Perry’s novel Strip, stars Crowe alongside Nina Dobrev, Aaron Paul and Daniel Zovatto.
Bear Country was scheduled to world premiere last night in Taormina’s Ancient Greek amphitheater ahead of an August 26 release in Italy.
