Hugo Weaving (“The Matrix,” “Lord of the Rings”) heads the diverse cast of “Love Me,” a romantic drama series that is now in production in Melbourne, Australia.
The show explores modern love as experienced by different family members at different stages of life. It is adapted from the Swedish series “Älska Mig,” created by Josephine Bornebusch.
To be presented as a six-part series with 43-minute episodes, the show is directed by celebrated Australian director Emma Freeman (“Stateless,” “The Newsreader”) with lead writer Alison Bell, and writers Leon Ford, Adele Vuko and Blake Ayshford.
“Love Me” is a Warner Bros. International Television Production Australia production in association with Aquarius Films for the Foxtel Group’s streaming service Binge. Major production investment came from Screen Australia in association with Film Victoria.
Binge is an SVOD service launched in May last year by Foxtel, the News Corp. Australia and Telstra-owned pay-TV service in Australia. It offers on-demand and live entertainment across the lifestyle, reality and movie genres. Subscriptions, which come in three tiers, are not included as part of the Foxtel package. As of March this year it was reported to have 561,000 paying subscribers and 679,000 including trial memberships.
“Love Me” is produced by Angie Fielder and Polly Staniford of Aquarius and executive produced by Michael Brooks and Hamish Lewis for Warner Bros. Executive producers for Foxtel are Brian Walsh, Alison Hurbert-Burns and Lana Greenhalgh.
Joining Weaving in the cast is including Bojana Novakovic (“I, Tonya,” “Birds of Prey”), Bob Morley (“The 100”), Heather Mitchell (“Muriel’s Wedding,” “The Great Gatsby”), Sarah Peirse (“The Hobbit,” “Stateless”), Celia Pacquola (“Rosehaven,” “The Beautiful Lie”), William Lodder (“Wakefield”), Shalom Brune-Franklin (“Line of Duty”) and Mitzi Ruhlmann (“The Code”).
“ ‘Love Me’ marks the first drama series to enter production for Warner Bros. International Television Production Australia and excitingly, (is) our first project with Binge,” said Michael Brooks, MD of Warner Bros. International Television Australia. “It’s bold storytelling that we feel will cut through with audiences, being equal parts uplifting, funny and real.”
“Our exceptional creative team, acclaimed cast and wonderfully compelling scripts will combine to create a charming, poignant and life-affirming exploration of love across different generations for a worldwide audience,” said Staniford and Fielder.
Aquarius’ TV credits include: mini-series “The Unusual Suspects” for SBS; “Born to Spy for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation; “The Other Guy” (two seasons) for Stan and Hulu; and YA sci-fi series “The Unlisted” for Netflix and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.