Online series Cancelled, filmed entirely in lockdown in Spain, launches on Facebook today with principal production investment from Screen Australia.
Produced by More Sauce in association with UN3, Cancelled tells the true story of acclaimed Australian director Luke Eve (, ), who had to cancel his wedding to Spanish actress, Maria Albiñana, at the last minute due to COVID-19 restrictions. Shortly after the couple arrived in Valencia, Spain for their wedding they were sent into strict lockdown in their apartment along with Eve’s mother. What results is a comedic and heartfelt 10-part series that explores the emotional turmoil of not only a cancelled wedding, but a cancelled life.
The series is filmed entirely within the apartment on a mobile phone with Eve, Albiñana and Eve’s mother Karen acting as both cast and crew.
Writer/director Luke Eve said, “The pandemic has affected everybody in the entire world in so many ways. But I thought that our situation was particularly unique as well as being both funny and tragic, so I saw the potential for it forming the basis of a series. I’m a director and Maria is a terrific actress so I thought that we were also particularly well placed to film something even if it was just on a mobile phone. It’s been an incredibly fast turnaround – we came up with the idea and within a few weeks we were shooting. I’m very excited to be able to share this surreal experience.”
Screen Australia’s Online Investment Manager Lee Naimo said, “This team is in such a unique position to share their experience and Cancelled not only captures life in strict lockdown, but also offers a relationship drama with humour and heart. It’s an impressive feat to pull this off while the situation is ongoing, and is testament to Luke Eve’s ability as a storyteller. I’m looking forward to seeing how this series will resonate with viewers worldwide.”
New episodes will be released weekly on Facebook. View the first episode
ABOUT LUKE EVE
Luke Eve is a graduate of the Australian Film Television and Radio School. Soon after, he established his own production company, More Sauce, and went on to direct a number of short films including multi-award winner , and , winner of Tropfest, 2005. In 2010 he began directing television such as Dave in The Life, and the landmark documentary series . In 2014 Luke created, produced and directed the online series, Low Life. It went on to win over 25 major festival awards and was sold to Amazon Prime and CanalPlay. In 2017 he completed directing and producing the follow up series, which was Executive Produced by Stephen Fry and stars Odessa Young with music by Sarah Blasko. The series has won over 30 major awards including Best Digital Original at C21 Content London and was also nominated for an AACTA Award. It took out the Web Series World Cup for 2017 for being the most awarded and successful web series of the year. The series has sold to BBC3, Channel 9, CanalPlay and Fullscreen. Luke just completed production on his first feature film, , starring Brenton Thwaites and Lily Sullivan. The film is scheduled for release in 2020 through AMP Worldwide.
