The Rooster’ is the debut feature film written and directed by actor Mark Leonard Winter. He has worked with Hugo Weaving in over four films and approached him to play the role of the Hermit in the film, which was selected for the International Film Festival of India in Goa. “Mark and I have worked together over a number of years, on four other films, which is quite a long working relationship over a number of years. And also Geraldine Hakewill, the producer, and I have worked together. So when Mark talked to me about the fact that he wanted to write a script, I was very encouraging, I was like, I'll do it, because he's an actor, but he also is a theatre maker. He has got a very good creative brain. Having read the first script, I loved the idea of the film,” says Hugo.
The film is produced by Geraldine Hakewill and MahVeen Shahraki and was nominated for the AACTA Award for Best Indie Film. Hugo Weaving won Best Supporting Actor, Phoenix Raei was nominated for Best Lead Actor, and Ellen Stanistreet was nominated for Best Costume Design.
is a well-known actor who has worked on big budgeted Hollywood films like ‘The Matrix’, ‘The Lord of the Rings’, ‘Transformers’ and one film that will instantly connect Marvel Cinematic Universe fans is Johann Schmidt or Red Skull in ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’. He is the recipient of six Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards (AACTA) and has been recognised as an Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia. He has resided in Australia for the entirety of his career and proudly says that he never went to Hollywood but Hollywood came to him.
Hugo shot to fame with the role of Adam Whitely/Felicia Jollygoodfellow in the 1994 film, ‘The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’, an Australian road comedy film. It was announced early this year, that the film will be getting a sequel. Hugo is excited about it and is currently reading the scripts and is looking forward to working on the sequel.
However, he has also shown interest in working in India especially with Anand Gandhi. Hugo Weaving was the jury President at the Sydney Film Festival in 2013 and Anand Gandhi was a jury member. “I would very much love to work here. It would be a really wonderful experience. I'm genuinely interested in it. I met Anand Gandhi, some nine years ago, in Sydney. It’s lovely to be back here, to meet him again, yesterday, spend time with him, and also watch up on him tomorrow. There is a project that he has, that I have been talking about. I would genuinely be very interested to work with Anand,” concludes Hugo.