The First Seeds Sown
Our incredible team are still working behind-the-scenes to get the final shots for the upcoming pilot release of Vendetta 19. Make sure you don’t miss out on your chance to see one of the live screenings by visiting www.Vendetta19.com
In the upcoming pilot of Vendetta 19, we have found some truly amazing on-screen partners, and one that should be watched with anticipation is that of Tom Levi, playing Squizzy Taylor, and Daniel Sultana playing William Edwards. As mates who were imprisoned together, Squizzy and Edwards both had female partners who worked together at Dolly Gray’s bordello, and both were imprisoned together in 1908.
Don’t miss the screening of Vendetta 19 in select cinemas this October to December.
Meet Our Officers
We have been so incredibly lucky to have landed. The cast of actors we have landed who will play the prison offices in Vendetta 19. In the group photo below, from left is an inspirational young man named Tom Kay, next to an incredibly generous historian of the race track named Steve Caroll. Next to Steve is our head officer, and the man who inspired us to write prison offices into the script, Matt Jackson. Adding a final compliment to the crew is none other than AFL and Carlton Football Club legend, Anthony Koutoufides.
Initial script of Vendetta 19 certainly had a Pentridge prison officer present in it, however, they were restricted to visible roles that had no speaking dialogue. During the interview process though, when we auditioned Matt Jackson, his performance was so impressive that we realised the strength and potency he could bring if given the opportunity to shine properly. Once Matt was secured and he had signed his papers, we were easily able to convince Roy Maloy to embellish the importance of the Pentridge officers in the narrative.
A late arrival in the casting process was Tom Kay. As the youngest member of the Prison officers, he is an amazing candidate. Outside of his stunning looks, piercing eyes and chiselled features, he is a real life FitnessGuru and Mental Health advocate. His stoic and strong disposition in real life adds to an incredible depth of character as a prison officer in the screenplay.
As typical in real life prisons, the role of prison officers is one of the longest lasting job types in the country today. The average duration of an officer in a Gaol is between 20 to 30 years in the job. As a favour to the author, Steve Carroll agreed to play the role of a longtime prison officer with a short temper. As an expert in Australian harness racing and horse racing history, Steve and Roy have been good friends for quite some time. Steve brings to the role the typical look of a prison officer who had returned from any number of 20th Century wars and found their way into a similar role in a prison.
Bringing in the last part of our team is none other than Carlton Football Club legend, Anthony Koutoufides. Anthony’s willingness and generosity to participate in this role as a favour to longtime supporter and patron of the arts, Ricky Nixon, has gone on to create what we will become some of the most memorable scenes in Vendetta 19. During the fight choreography in the screenplay, they could be no question that the Italian superman is still every bit as powerful as he ever was.
As filming gets underway for Vendetta 19, we are thrilled to announce another of our amazing cast with Tom Kulik joining the team.
As an actor, Tom brings a wealth of life skills along with the grit and determination of his unique acting style to the screenplay in the role of one of the Pentridge prison officers in Vendetta 19. Tom grew up struggling with obesity from a young age. His childhood was marked by a deep sense of insecurity, which kept him from pursuing his love of acting. Often glued to video games and movies, some of Tom’s fondest memories came to be movies. He became mesmerised by the actors on screen and dreamed of what it would be like to act like them.
Despite his fascination with acting, Tom never dared to explore his passion. The mirror was his harshest critic, reflecting back a boy who felt he didn’t belong in the world of the confident and glamorous. As an adult, driven by an unyielding desire to change his life, Tom shed 60 kilograms and dropped 12 pants sizes in 13 months, and fell in love with fitness.
Over the past decade, Tom has channelled his experience and passion into coaching men through extreme weight loss, helping others to reclaim their lives just as he did. His journey from insecurity to empowerment has been nothing short of inspiring. The physical transformation was profound, but the emotional and psychological shifts were even more significant. It was this newfound confidence that reignited his long-held dream of acting, a dream he now felt ready to chase with fervour.
We believe that Tom’s years of overcoming personal battles and combating those who tormented him, trying to tie him to a troubled past version of himself that no longer exists, will bring a unique depth to his performance. By channelling these experiences, he will be able to understand and convey the complex dynamics of his character. This raw, authentic emotion will be an asset to the film as he works to bring his character to life.
Vendetta 19 begins filming on 15 June and will drop in October 2024. We are excited to see Tom’s incredible journey unfold on screen, and we know audiences will be moved by the depth and intensity he brings to his performance.
As we count down the days until the shooting of Vendetta 19, we took a minute out of our busy schedules to meet up as a whole cast and enjoy a VIP tour of D Division Pentridge. It was an amazing experience to see the actual cells where these stories truly took place, and it was a wonderful moment for the actors to be inspired by lived experiences of these incredible locations. Thank you to Bluestone College of Knowledge for the tour (which is an amazing experience for any corporate group event). And thank you to Tim Henshall Photography for these amazing photos.
