BALLAN has hosted aliens from a dystopian future, but only for one day.
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A US mini-series used the town’s main street to bring to life Arthur C. Clarke’s story Childhood’s End on Friday, moving to Ballan after three months of filming in a studio in Melbourne.
The six-part series, in which rural Ballan will stand in for part of the US Midwest, will come out later this year and stars Australians Julian McMahon and Daisy Betts.
Betts was the only principal actor there on Friday morning however, with Ballan missing out on a visit from McMahon or Charles Dance, who plays Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones.
Pete Savidge, who lives on the Old Melbourne Road, said the effort that went into even a short scene was extraordinary.
“I reckon that girl (an extra) has run across the street 25 times for that shot,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
At least one home owner was compensated for the crew using their house, and so were several businesses that were affected by the interruption.
There was some grumbling about the road closure, but most of the residents were happy to have something different going on.
About 100 people were part of the filming action.
Extras made up the bulk of the visitors, and were kept busy all day running across the road from some imaginary aliens (which will possibly be superimposed later with computer-generated imagery).
Moorabool Shire mayor Paul Tatchell said it would get the area noticed.
“It brings a bit of glamour to the place and is a great way to promote the shire,” he said.
“I think it’s great and I commend the Ballan community for the way they’ve got behind it.”
The council had been in talks with the series’ location director since October to get the crew up from Melbourne.
Daisy Betts said the series would likely air on Foxtel channel SyFy later in the year.
alex.hamer@fairfaxmedia.com.au