A controversial reboot of Romper Stomper, a star-heavy anthology of the drug-fuelled dreamscapes of Philip K. Dick, and a busload of tourists at the mercy of an outback psycho – local streamers' summer viewing will be intense if Stan's slate is anything to go by.
The local streaming service unveiled a selection of their key upcoming offerings at a launch in Sydney on Monday, led by news of the return of Romper Stomper, 25 years after the film catapulted Russell Crowe to stardom.
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"It seems the concerns at the edge of society 25 years ago have come to the middle now," producer John Edwards told the room.
"Back then it was the Vietnamese and Chinese seen as the enemy, now it's perceived Muslims are the enemy," he said, adding the show will take in multiple viewpoints, including those of minorities and the anti-fascist left.
The series is still in its infancy (it starts shooting on Friday), with young star Toby Wallace, sporting a fresh buzz cut, saying he'd only just discovered that David Wenham was also set to appear, playing a blowhard current affairs journalist.
After announcing a PC-baiting series focusing on racist extremists, you might understand the awkward silence that met Wolf Creek star John Jarratt who - face-timing in full costume from the show's South Australian set - joked he'd just filmed a scene where he "told some Aboriginals to go back where they came from", firing his rifle at them for good measure.
Director Greg McLean said the second season would pick up his earliest concept for Mick Taylor, Jarratt's unhinged rural psycho. His
latest victims? A busload of sandal-flopping tourists.A darkly ironic first-look – with Mick excitedly counting off his blissfully unaware victims, as they board a tourist bus somewhere in the rural nowhere – broke some tension.
![Toby Wallace plays Kane in Stan's upcoming Romper Stomper reboot.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170803023543im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/m/d/i/q/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxmt3f.png/1501633471667.jpg)
"It's a bit of a smorgasbord for Mick this time," joked Jarratt . "He's very bored in the outback and tourists are more exciting than kangaroos."
Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams, Stan's first international co-production with Hollywood studio Sony Pictures, seems a kind of Twilight Zone based on the short stories of the late science-fiction writer.
![Electric Dreams is an anthology of the short works of Philip K Dick.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170803023543im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/m/t/9/8/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxmt3f.png/1501633471667.png)
The ten-episode anthology stars the likes of Steve Buscemi, Greg Kinnear, Anna Paquin, and Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston, who shares an episode with Australian Essie Davis.
Stan also unveiled its first foray into feature films with The Second. The Screen Queensland-funded film, about an author struggling with her second novel and her publisher, reunites Lantana stars Rachael Blake and Vince Colosimo.
![Matt Okine in The Other Guy.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170803023543im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/h/q/k/z/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxmt3f.png/1501633471667.jpg)
The Second is described by screenwriter Stephen Lance as "a smart, sexy thriller... about female friendship". A trailer painted a Thelma & Louise-type escapade, with a glimpse of Colosimo, glasses shattered and blood spilling, running down some lonesome highway. Blake and Susie Porter, as her mysterious best friend, chase behind in a pick-up truck, rifle aimed in his direction.
"Thank you for inviting me to play a publisher, something I never thought I'd ever play," joked Colosimo, a little dig at local casting stereotypes.
![The Will & Grace cast, reunited.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170803023543im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/r/p/6/n/u/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxmt3f.png/1501633471667.jpg)
The film will have a two-week run in theatres, before debuting on Stan in summer. Lighter fare should tide over viewers sooner.
Local comedian Matt Okine was on-hand to introduce his sitcom The Other Guy, a Master of None-esque look at modern dating inspired by his own eventful break-up.
The show, shot among the malls and bowlos of Sydney's inner west, is refreshingly casual in its look at 30-something hook-ups, boozing and male vanity (Okine opens the first episode bare-butted on a urine-soaked mattress). It glides on the jokey dynamic between Okine and co-star Harriet Dyer.
"Ever since watching Seinfeld, it's always been a dream to have my own show," a wired Okine, fresh off a 35-hour flight from Montreal where they lost his luggage, told the room.
The streaming company also hinted at a new licensing deal with NBC Universal, set to bring in the new sitcom SMILF, a snappy take on 20s single motherhood from creator Frankie Shaw and starring Rosie O'Donnell, and the anticipated reboot of Will & Grace, set to premiere on September 29.
Fairfax Media is a joint owner of Stan.