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Claire van der Boom, Todd Lasance find trouble in paradise in ‘Kidnapped’

Claire van der Boom and Todd Lasance with director Vic Sarin.

Claire van der Boom and Todd Lasance are playing a US-based couple whose young daughter is abducted while they are on holiday at an Australian resort in Kidnapped, an unofficial Australian-Canadian co-production.

Produced by the Steve Jaggi Company and directed by Canadian Vic Sarin, the thriller is mid-way through a four-week shoot at Port Douglas.

The screenplay by Shanrah Wakefield follows Savannah Morgan (van der Boom) and her US husband Brad (Lasance), who go to the resort with their four-year-old daughter Aria (Molly Wright).

When Aria goes missing from the resort’s Kidz Club, a heart-pounding race to find her daughter leads Savannah to a shocking discovery about her family.

“I feel very lucky to be shooting here in Far North Queensland; It’s an idyllic, tropical setting that brings a contrast to the story of my character searching for her kidnapped daughter,” says van der Boom, whose recent credits include Palm Beach, Hawaii Five-O and Pulse.

Lasance (Bite Club, The Vampire Diaries, The Flash) will next be seen in Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse, a Paramount Pictures production which stars Michael B. Jordan as John Clark, a Navy SEAL, who sets out to avenge his wife’s murder only to find himself inside of a larger conspiracy.

Casting director Ben Parkinson found Wright during auditions in Brisbane. The cast includes Melina Vidler (Reef Break, 800 Words) as the antagonist and Lynn Gilmartin, who appears in the Jaggi-produced This Little Love of Mine.

Steve Jaggi and Spencer McLaren are producing with Kim C. Roberts and Tina Pehme of Vancouver-based Sepia Films, which Sarin co-founded. Their Honalee Entertainment is handling worldwide distribution. Kelly Son Hing and Kylie Pascoe are co-producing.

Sarin has more than 80 screen credits in Canada and the US, including Partition, a love story set during the partition of India, starring Neve Campbell and Irrfan Khan; A Shine of Rainbows, a family drama set in Ireland, starring Aidan Quinn and Connie Nielsen, and documentary Keepers of the Magic, a celebration of the power of cinema and the great cinematographers who inspired him throughout his career.

“The Port Douglas community has been very good to us and the shoot is tracking really well,” Sarin said. “The story is centred around a missing child, which is any parent’s biggest fear, and something we think will resonate with audiences.”

Cast and crew are adhering to strict COVID Safe filming practices and following guidelines set by the Queensland government, with a nurse on set and daily temperature checks. “We are shooting off-the-grid with a small cast and crew,” Jaggi tells IF. “Vic is a very organic filmmaker.”

Sophie Tilson, who is the Jaggi Company’s head of development, had worked with Wakefield and brought the screenplay to Jaggi.

Jaggi first met Roberts and Pehme when he directed And the Beat Goes On, a documentary they produced in London in 2008.

They kept in touch and after Roberts attended Screen Forever with a Canadian delegation several years ago decided to look for a project to do together.

As an unofficial co-production, Kidnapped will qualify as local content in Canada and Australia. Honalee Entertainment negotiated a pre-sale to a US streamer. Jaggi will launch the film at Event Cinemas in 2021.