WHEN ALEX MET BONNIE: NEW TALENT, NEW TECH IN PROYAS' FUTURE

Internationally acclaimed director Alex Proyas is driven by the unlimited potential of modern movie making in all its forms. His latest work, the horror short Mask of The Evil Apparition, will reveal his latest exercise in filmmaking forethought - the visionary images being crafted in his state-of-the-art studio, Heretic Foundation, and the big screen luminescence of his leading lady, Bonnie Ferguson.

The highly-anticipated film premieres for cast and crew at a private screening in Sydney next week, ahead of festival screenings and an online release via Proyas' YouTube channel, Mystery Clock Cinema. 

Inspired by the director’s love for Britain’s Hammer Horror classics, the plot synopsis for Mask of The Evil Apparition reads, ‘A young woman lost in a nocturnal, dreamlike city, with twin psychic brothers, who try to help her find her way home as she is pursued by a shadowy cult known as The Mysterious Ones’. With Ferguson (pictured, above) as lead character ‘Olivia’, the cast also includes Dean Kyrwood (The Flood; Beast No More) in the dual role of mysterious brothers; Alex King as the enigmatic Sandra; and Goran D. Kleut (Hacksaw Ridge; Nekrotronic) as a vast number of cult members.  

Having met initially through family friends, Proyas and Ferguson have proven to be a potent creative force. “She’s incredibly smart, of course, but she is also what some people call an ‘old soul’,” says the director (pictured, right), whose credits include the Australian cult classic Spirits of The Air Gremlins of the Cloud and Hollywood blockbusters The Crow, I-Robot and Knowing. “She’s got wisdom beyond her years and I think that will serve her well. For me, that’s always important in an actor, having someone who gets beyond the surface level narrative, and she’s one of those rare talents.”

For Ferguson, the mentorship provided by Proyas has been invaluable, citing a 2019 photoshoot with the director as a turning point. “During that shoot, he worked on creating a supernatural mood, crafting this ethereal environment, which I absolutely loved and responded to and we promised to work with each other again,” says the actress, who has built an impressive resume with roles in Book Week, Moon Rock for Monday, the series Made for This, the soon-for-release feature Just Ruby and the currently-in-production film R.S.V.P.

Mask of The Evil Apparition is the second short that the pair have shot together; in 2019, their mood piece Phobos became a web sensation. “We shot Phobos over five hours, in Sydney peak hour, jumping on and off of trains,” says Ferguson, fondly recalling the guerilla-style production. “Alex started shooting with a very clear vision, which is exactly what you want as an actor. And his eye for capturing the most beautiful images [by] managing natural light is wonderful. Alex has a wealth of knowledge and experience on massive productions, but he was so enthusiastic about just scaling it back.”

Proyas agrees, saying “[We] basically went out one day, just me and a camera and Bonnie and surfed the inner-city railways. It was great fun, we enjoyed working together, so I got her to come back in for Mask…” (Pictured, right; Ferguson on-set, at the Heretic Foundation facility)

Proyas has acknowledged that Mask of The Evil Apparition has become an extension-of-sorts of his cult classic, Dark City. In March 2020, he told If.com.au, “When Liz Palmer, my brilliant costume designer on Dark City and nearly everything I’ve done, started dressing our gorgeous cast in these hybrid neo-1940s fashions, that’s when this notion began to present itself. Filmmakers are often doomed to repeat themselves; the same concerns and obsessions keep reappearing in our work.”

The current wave of production activity for Proyas is a crucial element in his expansion plans for Heretic Foundation, the virtual-studio facility providing photo-real 3D backdrops for Mask of The Evil Apparition. The director told if.com.au, “This short is R&D for the technology as well as the economics of eventually producing features in this way. This allowed us to shoot very fast and to achieve a polished finished product set in a stylised ‘German-Expressionist’ city,” he says. (Pictured, left; Goran D. Kleut as 'The Mysterious Ones')

Since shooting Mask... with Ferguson, Proyas has employed his green-screen studio and Unreal Engine 3D creation software to film a teaser for his proposed 2021 project Box, with Nicole Pastor and the feature Sister Darkness, a gothic ghost story with Lauren Grimson and Rodger Corser.