New Hollywood superproduction in Hungary: stars already here – PHOTO GALLERY

Unquestionably, Hungary has become a hub for Hollywood. The country hosted productions such as Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures’ sci-fi tent-pole Dune, Sony’s The Nightingale, Amazon Studios’ Birds of Paradise, TNT’s The Alienist: Angel of Darkness, and the Netflix fantasy series called The Witcher. Currently, a new blockbuster is being made in the Korda Film Studio starring Academy Award winner Casey Affleck and Academy Award-nominee Laurence Fishburne.

The 2022 parliamentary election campaign has started in Hungary. Nobody else but the finance minister posted some photos with Affleck and Fishburne on his Facebook page. Mihály Varga visited the Korda Studios near Etyek, where he was guided behind the scenes to meet the two Hollywood stars. He also met the new movie’s producer, Richard Saperstein (Cell, Silent Night, Hancock) and writer-director Mikael Hafström (Outside the Wire, Escape Plan, The Rite, 1408).

Academy Award winner Casey Affleck (Manchester By The Sea) received a leading role in the Saperstein-Hafström duo’s newest movie: ‘Slingshot.’ He is accompanied by Laurence Fishburne, best known as Morpheus in The Matrix, and the Bowery King in John Wick. Based on hollywoodreporter.com, the new film will be “about an astronaut struggling to maintain his grip on reality aboard a mission to one of Saturn’s moons that may be fatally compromised.”

Here are some photos Mihály Varga posted:

R. Scott Adams (Donner Pass) and Nathan Parker (Moon) wrote the screenplay of this new Hollywood blockbuster, but there is no announced date yet when it will come to the cinemas. Other members of the key cast of the movie include British actress Emily Beecham (Cruella, The Pursuit of Love), Tomer Capone (Fauda, The Boys) and David Morrissey (The Walking Dead, The Colour Room).

The photography began in December and will be in and around the Korda Studios. Interestingly, one of the wealthiest Hungarian investment funds support the movie, Széchenyi Ltd. Based on their website, the company manages six funds, and through its current investment programmes, it has a capital base of nearly HUF 103 billion. It is also a 100 pc state-owned company, and the Ministry of Finance is the legal owner. And Mihály Varga leads the ministry, so the circle is closed.

• Read also: Film industry to leave Hungary because of its anti-LGBTQ law?

Apart from being a minister, Mihály Varga is a member of the parliament. However, he announced in 2020 that he would not run in Budapest in the 2022 general elections. Even so, he will probably be an MP again since, as a minister, he will be on the top of Fidesz’s party list. Therefore, making the headlines of Hungarian tabloids is still crucial, and Blikk already reported about his visit.

Source: blikk.hu, szta.hu, Facebook/VargaMihály, hollywoodreporter.com