We had The Nugget, starring Eric Bana, filmed in Mudgee in 2002, and more recently the hit Channel 9 drama Doctor Doctor series has turned the streets of Mudgee into the small country town of Whyhope.

Now Andy McPhee, star of Wolf Creek and Animal Kingdom, is set to star in the latest movie to use the area as the perfect back-drop.

The feature film, titled ‘The Pitch’ will be filming for a short stint in the Bogee and Rylstone area from early August, and according to film coordinator Sallyanne Ryan there will be multiple opportunities for local businesses to get involved with the filming.

The production for The Pitch begins from August 1, with Daniel Green and Jesse Richardson set to helm the Australian production.

The story, written by Daniel Green, follows a ‘slippery Sydney producer’ who discovers he needs to attach a movie star to his impending film pitch, so he coerces his estranged father into a cross country trip to track down an elusive actor.

Alongside Andy McPhee, who will play Dallas Gooding, is Jacqui Duncan as Siobhan, and Michael Thomson as the Courage Cartel Captain. Daniel Green is listed as the star to play producer Damien Gooding.

In the most competitive industry in the world, Damien Gooding, a slippery indie film producer with a knack for omitting the truth, needs a hit like he needs air; or his lavish lifestyle on borrowed cash and time will vanish along with his model girlfriend, Sara. He does reserve a sliver of his precious time for his elderly neighbour, Celia, who offers her handsome grandson to be in Damien’s movies.

The seemingly orphaned Damien has a winning project in script Desert Thief Down, an action masterpiece written by an unknown, Drew. He’s also coerced known director Ella Lock to helm the project. Everything is in place. But just eight days out from the studio pitch that will make his career and save his life, industry friend and mentor Bobby Berman delivers the news the Damien needs to attach an A-List star to the project prior to his pitch. Except no one in the industry will go near him.

The outlook is grim.

However, Damien soon learns that method-actor-artiste Alexzander, a free- spirited bohemian Momoa/Day-Lewis-esque star on the rise, is speaking at a father-and-son only retreat near Griffith, NSW. 

So Damien heads to the family farm in the Capertee Valley to see his estranged widowed father, Dallas. Damien arrives to discover the once volatile and hard-living Dallas now warm and gregarious, complete with live-for-the-moment impulses. With no time to lose, Damien coerces him on a father-and-son road trip under the guise of making amends. Dallas is immediately inspired by his lifelong desire to see Uluru, and so Damien strings him along by alluding to a potential visit.