Director Proyas concedes: Knowing qualified for producer offset after all
Director Alex Proyas has admitted for the first time that his film Knowing, starring Nicolas Cage, received public funding – despite publicly slating Screen Australia last year for initially declining to recognise it as eligible for the Producer Offset tax break. The film, which was shot in Victoria in 2008, was released last year. At the time Proyas slammed the decision by Screen Australia not to grant it a provisional certificate telling Encore last March: “We genuinely thought that we would qualify for the 40 percent producer offset, because it’s essentially an all-Australian production. Still to this day, I’m really upset that we were not able to qualify for that rebate, and I don’t understand why.”
However, the Australian director today conceded for the first time that the sci-fi/ religious/ action project later received the necessary recognition and was issued a final certificate by Screen Australia.
In a statement he said: “As producer, co-writer and director of the film, I am extremely pleased at this decision, as the film was made by Australians and shot and post-produced in Australia. The production brought a great deal of work to the local industry and I hope that with this film now qualifying, more projects of its type can be made locally. I feel the Australian film industry will benefit enormously from this decision.”
Although the film – which had a budget in the region of US$50m – was a critical disappointment it brought in more than US$180 globally at the box office. The producer offset could have been worth up to $20m.
The rethink came to light after Screen Australia last week included Knowing in its box office report for Australian films in 2009.
