Did you know that an upcoming heist drama series starring Coogee resident and Hollywood star Miranda Otto was filmed in several familiar places in Sydney’s Eastern suburbs?
“The Unusual Suspects,” which will begin its run on SBS in June 2021, has gone on location at various landmarks in Sydney’s east for about six weeks during the spring and summer season in 2020.
The cast and crew of the female-led heist, which also stars Coogee actress Lena Cruz (who is of Filipino descent) had scenes taken from Vaucluse’s Nielsen Park and Shark Beach, Paddington’s The London Hotel, and several homes in Maroubra, Vaucluse, Bellevue Hill, and Gordon’s Bay.
Joining Otto and Cruz in “The Unusual Suspects” are her real-life partner Peter O’Brien, Heather Mitchell, and a talented cast of Filipino actors like Aina Dumlao, Michelle Vergara Moore, James Lugton, and Renee Lim.
The film centres on a group of Filipino women who work as domestic servants of the rich and influential. Conflict begins when a $16 million necklace goes missing from the home of self-made Filipino Australian businesswoman Roxanne Waters (Vergara Moore) during an elaborate heist. As the police investigate, the sparkling lives of the rich begin to crack and those involved in the heist start turning against each other.
The cast said that filming in some of the “most extraordinary places” in the Eastern suburbs has been an incredible privilege as they got a peek of the lives of Sydney’s upscale crowd.
Otto said that she wanted to do the four-part series because it had a sense of fun and the Australian production was a peek into a lifestyle and culture that most people probably didn’t know existed in Sydney’s east.
For a time, the actress has been based overseas because of her work in Hollywood but she comes home to Coogee frequently because it’s her sanctuary. Despite where her work has taken her, the actress still regards Sydney as her home.
Watch the teaser to “The Unusual Suspects” below and spot the Eastern suburb locations:
