By Laura Frykberg
A personal tragedy was the inspiration for the plot of a new movie currently being filmed in Wellington.
Destined to be a hit with conspiracy theorists, The Cure asks the question; what if there was a vaccine for cancer but drug companies chose not to release it?
Looking like the set of a horror film The Cure is not too far off, inspired by its director David Gould’s real life horror of losing his mother.
“She died of bowel cancer and I think from that moment on you always ask the question ‘what if?’ I think the best films are based on that question so, what if there was a cure out there but never was released?
“What if they'd held it for all this time but for a variety of reasons, whether they're financial reasons or other, they'd kept it hidden.”
That questioning led to the plot: American biochemist, played by Antonia Prebble, discovers the pharmaceutical company she works for has discovered the cure for cancer, but kept it hidden.
“When I explain the premise to a lot of people they immediately got it, they immediately understood that yeah, of course that could happen.
“Because we've seen with the global financial crisis and other circumstances where yes these companies will make a choice, is it my clients or my customers, or is it my stock of share revenue.”
Prebble's biggest challenge has been mastering medical tongue-twisters, made all the more difficult because she has to say them with an accent.
“Well one of my favourites was ‘the particular strain of the merculasopalioma virus that we've developed here causes accelerated tumour growth’,” says the actress who plays Beth, with an American accent. “That took awhile to say. Also ‘fluro-sulphuric acid’ but I had to say it really quickly because it was in a dramatic scene so ‘flurosulphuricacid!’”
Shot in Wellington, but set in San Diego, The Cure is aimed at American audiences. This is a first for Prebble.
“It's more distant, because you know what you do on a film set it such and insular environment and you're doing what you do and you have no idea how it's going to be received.
“It feels almost like a safety net that it's going to be launched far away because if it doesn't go well you won't really know and if it does go well then you will.”
But she is hoping for the latter, when The Cure is released next year.
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