We Bury the Dead writer and director Zak Hilditch on set in Albany. Photography by Nic Duncan.

Screenwest and Screen Australia have announced survival thriller, We Bury the Dead, kicks off filming in Albany in the Great Southern region of Western Australia this week, with Brenton Thwaites (Titans, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales )and Mark Coles Smith (Mystery Road: Origin, Sweet As) joining the cast alongside Daisy Ridley (Star Wars sequel trilogy).

Written and directed by Zak Hilditch (These Final Hours, 1922), We Bury the Dead is a terrifying yet moving story about grief, loss and the undead which follows Ava (Daisy Ridley), a desperate woman whose husband is missing in the aftermath of a catastrophic military experiment. Hoping to find him alive, Ava joins a “body retrieval unit”, but her search takes a chilling turn when the corpses she’s burying start showing signs of life.

Production is taking place in Albany and the Great Southern across the next five weeks.

The film is produced by Kelvin Munro and Grant Sputore of WA production company The Penguin Empire (I Am Mother, The Furnace), alongside Hilditch’s frequent collaborator Ross Dinerstein (1922, Rattlesnake) of Campfire Studios in the US. Also producing are Gramercy Park’s Joshua Harris and Mark Fasano with executive producers Nathan Klingher and Ford Corbett. Ari Harrison and Jeff Harrison of Umbrella Entertainment are also executive producers.

Brenton Thwaites

We Bury the Dead has attracted production funding from Screen Australia, Screenwest, Lotterywest, the WA Regional Screen Fund, Gramercy Park Media and Peachtree Media Partners. NEON and UTA Independent Film Group are managing international sales and Umbrella Entertainment will distribute the film theatrically in Australia and New Zealand.

The WA Regional Screen Fund is designed to attract screen projects to undertake production in regional Western Australia to encourage regional film industry activity, build local capacity and contribute to the liveability and vibrancy of regional WA communities.

Written and directed in his signature style, We Bury the Dead is Hilditch’s fourth feature film following two Netflix Original Films Rattlesnake and Stephen King adaptation 1922,and his debut feature These Final Hours, which was filmed in Perth and had its world premiere at the 2014 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.

Screen Australia Director of Content Grainne Brunsdon said, “We Bury the Deadpromises not only an enthralling narrative but also a stellar ensemble cast. To have the talented Daisy Ridley, Brenton Thwaites, and Mark Coles Smith bring this film to life, combined with the visionary direction of Zak Hilditch is incredibly exciting. Screen Australia is proud to back productions like We Bury the Dead, which will showcase our local talent – both in front and behind the camera – right around the globe.”

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Screenwest CEO Rikki Lea Bestall said, “Congratulations to the We Bury the Dead team on kicking off production in the beautiful Great Southern region! 2024 is well and truly shaping up to be a huge year for scripted production in Western Australia, and we look forward to seeing our talented, hardworking WA creatives and crew deliver this exciting thriller to audiences worldwide.”

Commenting from the set, director Zak Hilditch said, “It’s so exciting to finally get cameras rolling here in Albany, which is proving to not only be an incredible backdrop for our film but a great place to work. The local community has opened their doors – literally and metaphorically –  to welcome us and our incredible cast. With Daisy and now Brenton and Mark, we’ve got an incredible roster of talent to bring this story to life.”

Ridley, known for her leading role in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, is returning to the franchise this year for a new film set after the events of The Rise of Skywalker. In addition to We Bury the Dead, Ridley’s other upcoming films include Young Woman and the Sea from director Joachim Rønning; and Sometimes I Think About Dying, in which Ridley both starred and produced. Sometimes I Think About Dying premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and is currently in release. Her new film Magpie, in which she also stars and produced, will appear at SXSW next month.

Mark Coles Smith.

Thwaites has forged a successful film and television career both in Australia and the United States. He most recently played the lead role of “Dick Grayson” in the worldwide popular DC superhero series Titans for four seasons from 2018 – 2023. Major US credits include the feature films: Maleficent opposite Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales opposite Johnny Depp, Javier Bardem, and Geoffrey Rush, William Eubank’s The Signal with Lawrence Fishburne and The Giveropposite Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep.  Brenton has just concluded shooting his next Australian project, the film How To Make Gravy directed by Nick Waterman.

Coles Smith is a proud Nyikina man from Broome in Western Australia, working across several performing arts genres as an actor, writer and producer. He portrayed the iconic role of Detective Jay Swann in Mystery Road: Origin for which he was awarded an AACTA for Best Lead Actor in a TV Drama. This role also saw him nominated for Most Popular Actor, Most Outstanding Actor and the Gold Logie for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television at the 2023 Logies, making him the first Indigenous Actor nominated for the Gold. Mark is presently filming Apple Cider Vinegar for Netflix and can be seen in The Clearing on Disney+. Other recent credits include Erotic Stories, Jub Clerc’s debut feature Sweet As and Kid Snow from Director Paul Goldman.

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Ridley is repped by CAA and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern. Thwaites is repped by UTA and United Management. Coles Smith is repped by CP Artist Management. Hilditch is repped by Sugar 23 and Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz. The Penguin Empire is repped by Navigation Media Group. Campfire Studios is repped by UTA.

Production credit: We Bury the Dead is a Penguin Empire production in partnership with Campfire Studios. Major production investment from Screen Australia in association with Screenwest, Lotterywest and the WA Regional Screen Fund. Local distribution by Umbrella Entertainment. International sales by NEON.

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