Any project that enlists Australian and Hollywood talent is bound to be captivating, and TV WEEK has its eye on the action thriller, Bear Country.
Filming commenced in February 2025, with the production crew and cast taking to Queensland, Australia.
Flying home to portray the main protagonist, Manco Kapak in Bear Country is Oscar Award-winner Russell Crowe. This is Russell’s first time back in Queensland since working on Land of Bad in late 2022.
Bear Country is based on Thomas Perry’s 2010 novel, Strip, before being transformed for the screen by writers Daniel Forte and Derrick Borte – who will also direct the film.
Bear Country follows the aging but formidable club owner, Manco whose aspirations of selling his club to live quietly with his girlfriend suddenly becomes a distant dream when his establishment is robbed by a masked gunman.
“Enraged, he sends his half-dozen security men out to find a suspect who is spending lots of cash and is new enough to Los Angeles not to know he was robbing a gangster,” the book description reads. “Their search leads them to Joe Carver, an innocent but hardly defenseless newcomer who evades capture and sets out to make Kapak wish he’d chosen someone else. Meanwhile, the real culprit, Jefferson Davis Falkins, and his new girlfriend Carrie seem to believe they’ve found a whole new profession: robbing Manco Kapak.”
The Cartel bosses are breathing down Manco’s neck, and a young newcomer in town is eager to purchase the club.
Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) will portray the unassuming teacher who becomes roped into a dirty cop’s scheme, Jeff; Daniel Zovatto (Woman of the Hour) as the Cartel’s top man, Rodriguez; and Luke Evans (Beauty and The Beast) as undercover federal agent, Joe Carver.
Also joining the cast are Nina Dobrev (The Vampire Diaries), and Teresa Palmer (A Discovery of Witches). Their roles in Bear Country currently remain unknown.
Producers include Jeffery Greenstein (The Hitman’s Bodyguard), Deborah Glover, and Marker Bower and Bruno Mustic of Life and Soul Pictures.
The production is expected to have an estimated $11.9 million impact on Queensland, employing almost 100 local workers. As a result, Bear Country has been welcomed by the City of Gold Coast and the Australian Government.
“Queensland’s international reputation as a production powerhouse continues to grow,” Arts Minister John-Paul Langbroek told Variety.
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