The Illawarra region, known for its recent popularity as a movie location, appears to be missing from a global map celebrating the distinctive style of film director Wes Anderson. The map, created by American content creators Wally and Amanda Koval, features submissions from around the world but has a notable gap over the Illawarra and most of the South Coast.
The website, Accidentally Wes Anderson, highlights a striking historical control room at the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor but then shows nothing until Narooma's Kinema cinema, 320 kilometres south. The Kovals encourage residents to submit their own images and locations to fill the gap.
Photographers from the Illawarra Mercury attempted to find potential Wes Anderson spots in the region. They searched for pastel shades and symmetrical lines, focusing on Wollongong's dual lighthouses and mid-1900s beach buildings, as well as the heavy industry around Port Kembla.
Photographer Adam McLean noted the challenge of finding the bright colours and pastels typical of Anderson's films, observing that the region's architecture tends to feature more whites and yellows. Despite this, he found that symmetrical lines are abundant once you start looking for them.
