Stephanie Panozzo and Dylan Hare on the set of Armstrong.
It’s been about 16 years since Dylan Hare left Deniliquin for Sydney in pursuit of an acting career.
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After initially studying at the Actors Centre Australia, he started landing roles in short films and other small roles from as early as 2013.
Dylan’s career has been building and pivoting ever since, leading to meaty roles in top Australian productions such as Underbelly: Vanishing Act, Last King of the Cross and crime drama North Shore.
And now he is having success with films of his own.
The latest is Armstrong, which Dylan wrote, directed and starred in.
It debuted earlier this year, and this month it was picked up by Omeleto — a global short film YouTube platform with over four million subscribers.
Dylan made the film with his girlfriend and fellow actor Maleeka Gasbarri, who is affectionately known as Curly, who was a producer on the film.
It was completed through a production company they started themselves, named in tribute to Dylan’s best mate growing up in Deniliquin.
“Armstrong has just wrapped its festival run, where it screened at several top festivals around the world,” Dylan said.
“We made the film through our newly established production company, HAVAYARN.
Dylan Hare and Maleeka Gasbarri took Armstrong to the Sydney Film Festival.
“I chose the name after losing one of my best mates — Deni boy Clark Jones — to suicide.
“It’s a tribute to the importance of open conversations — the idea that instead of bottling things up, we should all ‘have a yarn’.
“After Clark passed (in 2016) I felt the need, and I was drawn to do something, but I wasn’t sure what.
“When we decided to start making films, it just fit.
“How that will manifest into tangible mental health messaging is still to be decided, but perhaps through some of the films we make.”
Armstrong went live on Omeleto last week.
Dylan plays Sam Armstrong — a spirited country bloke who sets off on an exciting journey to explore new horizons in Sydney.
Soon after arriving, he meets an amazing girl (played by Stephanie Panozzo), and they spark an instant connection that leads to a date in Bondi later that day.
But things don’t go to plan.
The movie follows him through the course of 24 hours as he goes through a series of unfortunate events, which ends with him being hospitalised and fighting for his life.
Dylan started writing the short film while working on the set of Last King of the Cross.
His idea captured the attention of some of the cast and crew, who asked him to hold off shooting until they could be free to be involved.
After those crew members and Maleeka worked on the latest Mad Max movie, they then moved to working on Armstrong in earnest.
Dylan said they had a few other friends and colleagues join them on the production too.
Dylan is still auditioning for acting roles, and he and Maleeka are currently working on a feature film, which may fit into his desire to share mental health messages.
Dylan Hare starts as Sam Armstrong in the move he also wrote and directed.
Dylan said while it was in “very early development”, he was exploring his concept.
“I know I want it to centre on a man who comes into some struggles, and how he works to overcome them,” he said.
Dylan will write and direct the film, but said his appearance as an actor would depend on how the story developed.
• Anyone requiring crisis support can contact Accessline on 1800 800 944, Lifeline Australia on 131 114, Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636 or Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800.
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