Netflix’s new rom-com Love Is In the Air dropped earlier this week, with singer and former soap star Delta Goodrem playing Dana, a private pilot whose tiny business is due to be shut down by a young executive (Joshua Sasse) trying to prove himself to his businessman father.
The film certainly seems to be gaining traction for Goodrem’s likable performance, as well as Sasse’s acting chops as William – a gentlemanly, ever so slightly awkward Hugh Grant-esque character – and Aboriginal comedian Steph Tisdell in only her second film role as Dana’s best friend Nikki, who thinks nothing of egging Dana on when it comes to William.
Of equal importance, though, is the gorgeous setting. Love Is In The Air may be a fairly standard will-they-won’t-they romantic movie, but it gets an extra kick from the paradisaical beaches and rangy island landscapes that fill the frame. So where exactly was it filmed?
A part of Down Under to die for
The answer is the Whitsunday Islands, an archipelago about 600 miles north of Brisbane on Australia’s east coast. Situated on the edge of the Great Barrier Reef, the islands have in recent times become a popular tourist destination for sailors and snorkelers alike. Although the main island has a population of around 1350 people, most of the other 70 or so islands in the group are uninhabited, making the seaplane Goodrem flies in the film a natural choice for island-hoppers. The movie was partly funded by the state organization for fostering the film industry, Screen Queensland.