Queensland, Australia - Locals are being given the chance to land a job on the set of
Dora The Explorer as pre-production on the next big US film to shoot on the Gold Coast ramps up.
Producers of the live-action feature film based on the Nickelodeon character have launched a search for local crew to work on the Paramount Pictures project. Secured after Queensland Premier and Trade Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk’s trade mission to the US in February,
Dora the Explorer will be filmed on location and at Sound Stage 9 at Village Roadshow Studios.
The shoot is expected to generate 500 production jobs, with cameras due to begin rolling on Monday, August 6. Sources have told
Omega Underground that the movie is expected to wrap in November 2018.
Photofest; Suzanne Teresa
US actor Isabela Moner, last seen on the big screen in
Transformers: The Last Knight with Mark Wahlberg and Anthony Hopkins, will star as a teenage version of the beloved children’s character in the first live-action feature about Dora, which will see the character moving to the city to live with her cousin.
Moner, 16, has appeared in Nickelodeon’s
100 Things to Do Before High School comedy series,
Legends of the Hidden Temple TV movie, and voiced the character Kate in Nickelodeon's 2014
Dora the Explorer animated spinoff
Dora and Friends: Into the City!.
Suitably qualified and available Queensland crew can apply for positions on the international production by emailing CVs to: dorafilmproduction@gmail.com.
The applications are open to bona fide Queenslanders only – that is, those who are Queensland residents and can prove they have lived in Queensland for at least six months.
The film will be released in the US on Friday, August 2, 2019, followed shortly by a international roll-out.
In the works since 2015, the live-action
Dora the Explorer movie is being developed through Paramount Players division, Paramount Pictures' production division that is charged with developing and producing features in conjunction with Viacom-owned brands, including Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central and BET.
James Bobin will direct from a screenplay by Nick Stoller, the writer-director behind films including
The Muppets,
Zoolander 2 and
Neighbors, and Danielle Sanchez-Witzel. The movie hails from Paramount's new Paramount Players division. Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes label and his partners Andrew Form and Brad Fuller are producing the flick, although Michael Bay is not thought to be directly involved with the movie.
Dora the Explorer was a series that proved to be a massive hit for Nickelodeon, running from 2000 to 2014 with 172 episodes aired. It centered on an a seven-year-old American Latina who, along with her monkey, Boots, faced riddles and characters like a thieving fox named Swiper as she went on quests. She was notable for speaking in both English and Spanish at a time when that was not common on children's programming in the United States. The show spawned two spin-off series,
Go, Diego, Go!, which follows Dpra's 8-year-old cousin Diego as he rescued animals around the world, and
Dora and Friends: Into the City!, which follows the iconic character Dora living in a city, attending school and at the center of a new group of friends that works together to give back to the community--having both real-life and magical adventures along the way. The success of
Dora spawned a number of toys and dolls, video games, DVDs, and a slew of merchandising, which industry estimates peg at more than $11 billion since 2000, as well as stage adaptations. It’s a generational evergreen.
The original series, which ran for more than 170 episodes between 2000 and 2014, spawned a number of toys, books, video games, and direct-to-DVD movies – so a live-action version is ripe for the taking.
Dora earned praise for its focus on diversity when it aired, and won a Peabody Award in 2003 for its outstanding efforts in making learning a pleasurable experience for pre-school viewers.
Platinum Dunes has a first-look deal with Paramount. Stoller’s writing credits include
Get Him to the Greek,
Neighbors, the Muppet movie reboots, animated films
Storks and
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, and Kevin Hart’s
Night School.
Dora the Explorer, the Nick series, was co-created by Eric Weiner, Chris Gifford, and Valerie Walsh.
Good luck to everyone who applies to work on the
Dora the Explorer movie! :)
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Original source: The Courier-Mail via PressReader.com; H/T: Gold Coast Bulletin; Additional source: kino-teatr.ru.
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