MEDIA RELEASE: IAN McSHANE JOINS LAST KING OF THE CROSS

FRIDAY 25 MARCH 2022 LOS ANGELES/SATURDAY 26 MARCH SYDNEY – Ian McShane will play the lead antagonist in HELIUM Pictures’ drama Last King of The Cross which is being produced for Paramount+ Australia and distributed globally by Cineflix Rights, it has been announced.

Renowned for his outstanding characterisations of anti-heroes and charming heavies, Mr McShane will bring to life the fictional character of Ezra Shipman – the reigning King of The Cross.  

Wily and much-celebrated, Ezra has a gift for all things business – be that the stock market or overseeing the illegal gambling, prostitution, and strip joints that Kings Cross has been famous for since the Vietnam War. 

For three generations Ezra has been the most powerful and most feared man in Sydney – but now he is confronting his looming mortality. For all his power and material success, and all he has had to do to maintain it, there is no one to continue his legacy.

Enter John Ibrahim (Lincoln Younes) – an adolescent facsimile of Ezra: young, brash, ambitious, and intelligent. Seeing the opportunity to extend his reign, Ezra takes the young John into his inner circle as his acolyte… but who is exploiting who?

With filming set to commence in Sydney in May, Last King of The Cross (10×60) is a HELIUM Pictures production for Paramount+ Australia with Cineflix Rights as the exclusive international distribution partner. Produced by Mark Fennessy and Karl Zwicky, the elevated serialised dramais by multi award-winning writer/director Kieran Darcy-Smith who will also direct.

Ian McShane will next be seen reprising his role as Winston opposite Keanu Reeves in the upcoming John Wick: Chapter 4. He was most recently seen as Mr. Wednesday in the hit Starz television series American Gods. He also served as Executive Producer on the series which is the TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s 2001 novel. McShane previously won a Golden Globe Award for his performance as Al Swearengen in the HBO western series Deadwood before reprising the iconic role in the subsequent film, Deadwood: The Movie.

His screen career is comprised of notable television and film roles, beginning with Ralph Thomas’ BAFTA-nominated 1962 feature The Wild and the Willing and includes Pirates of the Caribbean: on Stranger Tides, Snow White and the Huntsman, Hellboy, Sexy Beast, Ray Donovan, Game of Thrones, American Horror Story, Pillars of the Earth, Kings, and he produced and starred in the acclaimed series Lovejoy for the BBC.

Producer and HELIUM Founder Mark Fennessy said: “From Winston to Blackbeard, Al Swearengen to Mr Wednesday, Ian McShane’s on-screen characterisations are the epitome of compelling masterpieces, and we cannot wait for the world to meet Ezra Shipman.”

James Durie, Head of Scripted, Cineflix Rights said: “Ian McShane is admired by audiences around the world for his powerful, intense performances in some of the biggest dramas of the past two decades. Having him join Last King of The Cross as Ezra is testament to the power of the story Kieran and Mark have created and will really give the series huge appeal for our global buyers.”

Mr McShane is represented by ICM Partners, Independent Talent Group, Gallant Management, and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.

About LAST KING OF THE CROSS

Inspired by John Ibrahim’s best-selling autobiography, Last King of The Cross (10×60) is an operatic story of two brothers, Sam and John Ibrahim who organise the street but lose each other in their ascent to power. The elevated serialised drama tracks John Ibrahim’s rise from a poverty-stricken immigrant with no education, no money, and no prospects, to Australia’s most infamous nightclub mogul in Sydney’s Kings Cross – a mini-Atlantic City, barely half a mile long with every form of criminality on offer.

About HELIUM

Established by Mark Fennessy in 2021, HELIUM is a bold new creator and producer of premium scripted and factual content for all networks, platforms and mediums – with the company’s initial slate including the highly anticipated drama series based on John Ibrahim’s bestselling book Last King of the Cross for Paramount+, the feature film 6 Festivals also for Paramount+, and the crime thriller series Sex and Thugs and Rock n Roll – a joint venture with Richard Lowenstein and his company GHOST. Comprising Helium Pictures, the boutique Helium Studios, and the independent music label Helium Records – HELIUM specialises in the creation of innovative, authentic and compelling content, whilst redefining the boundaries between music and pictures

About Cineflix Rights 

Cineflix Rights is the UK’s largest, truly independent TV content distributor to broadcasters and streamers worldwide with a catalogue of premium standout scripted series and movies as well as must-watch returning factual programming from some of the world’s most creative producers. 

Our growing scripted slate includes new fantasy dramedy Reginald the Vampire starring Jacob Batalon for SYFY US; Irvine Welsh’s Crime, the acclaimed author’s riveting adaptation of his bestselling novel for BritBox; International Emmy® Best Drama Award-winning Israeli espionage series Tehran for Apple TV+; French thriller Rebecca, an Official Selection at Séries Mania 2021; Acorn TV’s cozy crime procedural Whitstable Pearl; award-winning Israeli police corruption series Manayek; global hit police procedural Coroner; and International Emmy®-winner Marcella.

Established in 2002, Cineflix Rights is based in London, and is part of the Cineflix Media group of companies. 

About Paramount+

Paramount+ is a global digital subscription video streaming service from Paramount that features a mountain of premium entertainment for audiences of all ages. Internationally, the streaming service features an expansive library of original series, hit shows and popular movies across every genre from world-renowned brands and production studios, including SHOWTIME®, BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures and the Smithsonian Channel™, in addition to a robust offering of premier local content. The service is currently live in the U.S., Canada, Latin America, the Nordics, and Australia, and will be live in 48 markets by the end of 2022.

For more information about Paramount+, please visit www.paramountplus.com and follow @ParamountPlus on social platforms.

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