The Wimmera in the frame

A team has been scouting the Wimmera for locations to film the movie version of 'The dressmaker' by Rosalie Ham.

The novel's story is set in the 1950s in the town of Dungatar in the wheat fields of the Wimmera-Mallee. So now movie scouts are checking out towns in the district to feature.

Rosalie's plot follows the bittersweet story of a femme fatale who returns to her small hometown to right some wrongs from her past.

Oscar winner Kate Winslet will play the lead as exotic and glamorous Tilly Dunnage, a talented and beautiful misfit, who as a child accused of murder, fled the the small Victorian town of Dungatar. Now she returns from Europe to nurse and reconcile with her mad but ailing old mother. Her reappearance after 20 years is met with suspicion and malice from the eccentric locals until they discover her startling dressmaking skills. Among the most appreciative is the policeman, an enthusiastic seamstress himself. Gradually, she wins over the town with her fabulous creations. Then she falls in love and things start to go terribly wrong. It's a stylish drama with comic undertones about love, revenge and haute couture.

Other stars are Australians Liam Hemsworth (Hunger Games), Judy Davis (heaps of films, including 'My brilliant career') and Isla Fisher (the new "Great Gatsby') will feature in the film.

According to the film's producer Sue Maslin (who should recognise the Wimmera as she was also the producer for 'The road to Nhill'), filming is scheduled to begin in October this year, she and Rosalie have been looking at small towns around the region, specifically places which have grain silos and a railway..well there's an abundance of Wimmera sites with railway lines (operational and not), and even more silos (operational and not).

After finding the correct location the producers will be looking to cast extras, an opportunity for local budding film stars, around August.

More information at the film's website.