Pirates film to boost Douglas profile

Wednesday October 1 2014, 2:45pm

Filming of the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie in Port Douglas could bring massive benefits to the local economy.

Port Douglas’s peak tourism body has said the filming of the next Pirates of the Caribbean film in the area would be a massive boon to the local economy and give Douglas invaluable international exposure.

Rumours have been circulating that the next iteration of the mega-blockbuster franchise will be filmed in Far North Queensland for months but industry insiders have now all but confirmed that Douglas will be one of the filming sites, along with casting calls going out in the Gold Coast.

Far North Queensland’s emerald-green tropical rainforest and sapphire-blue waters have made it a premier filming location in the past, providing the backdrop for Hollywood entries like Fool’s Gold, the Thin Red Line and the HBO miniseries The Pacific.

Tourism Port Douglas and Daintree executive officer Tara Bennett said Port Douglas’s tourism-oriented economy would reap massive rewards from the region appearing on the silver screen.

“It would certainly be an enormous coup for the region and buy more exposure than we could ever hope to afford,” Ms Bennett said.

“People all over the world would see what we have on offer and they would want to come her and see it for themselves.

“On top of that the production itself would be a very big injection into the local economy - we’ve certainly got our fingers crossed that it all goes ahead.”

Hollywood films about exotic locales definitely do encourage viewers to book their next holiday there - international visitor levels to the Great Barrier Reef skyrocketed after the premiere of Finding Nemo and Tourism Australia built an entire marketing campaign around Baz Luhrmann's epic Australia.

While casting is only confirmed for the Gold Coast right now, the opportunity still remains for locals to put their name forward as extras during filming, as happened during production of Fool's Gold.

Do you think you have what it takes to appear onscreen alongside Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush?