On the 27th of April, the film Agent Elite has its red carpet premiere at the Gold Coast Film Festival. Shot on the coast and featuring some excellent local talent, Agent Elite aims to have the stunts and thrilling story of an international production. The story follows Agent Alex (aka E7685) on her journey through training and the discovery of a twist from her childhood. I had the chance to speak to Mirko Grillini who plays Montgomery Lomax – the mentor and trainer of the agents – about Agent Elite, breaking into the LA business and the Queensland film industry.
Currently switching between LA and Melbourne, Grillini has just had success with his first gig – “a music video for a really famous musician” which I’m sure is the first in a series of successes. Starting off in the modelling world when he hit his late teens/early 20s (“it was an egotistical thing”), Grillini was then almost the next Italian Jamie Oliver, having dabbled in the celebrity chef career. Upon taking an acting class to improve his on-screen manner, Grillini “fell in love” with the craft.
This love has been transferred to his latest project Agent Elite, formerly Agent Provocateur until the discovery that “when people searched it they found a lingerie website!” Filmed with a tiny budget on the Gold Coast, Grillini explains that his character Lomax “is trying to protect Alex (the protagonist) because he feels she’s not ready, and also he can see the agency changing” – but we’ll have to wait and see how that truly unfolds. This is not a story of revenge as the trailer may initially portray, as it alludes to the fact that the agent’s parents were killed in her infancy – “it’s more about her process of learning and training to be an assassin for the agency and then in the second half we learn more about the parents.” Whilst actress Naomi Karparti certainly gets a run around in the stunts and combat department, Grillini’s preparation was primarily researched based – as his character works with ‘bodies and souls’.
An interesting point is the fact Grillini’s relocated to Melbourne from Brisbane – when asked why it was an obvious choice. “The work is down here, in Sydney and Melbourne. Queensland has been losing a lot of big projects, I read that they just lost 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, they lost another recent one with The 34th Battalion (now shooting in Port Macquarie), the government just doesn’t care enough to put in the funds for filmmaking. I was talking to some people at Fox and they have no interest in shooting a film here.” But, he adds, there is one element that Queensland seems to excel at – “Queensland films are great because they give new actors a chance when they don’t have much experience.” With Queensland’s independent film scene growing, hopefully one day the government will follow suit. In the meantime it’s up to films like Agent Elite to keep pushing the industry along and creating the buzz the South-East need.
Agent Elite has its red carpet premiere tomorrow night, 6:30pm at the Gold Coast Film Festival in the Pacific Fair Cinemas. For more information or to buy tickets visit www.gcfilmfestival.com
– Danielle Muir
