That park bench, along with a number of other Daylesford locations, will be the focus of a soon-to-be-made thriller film about four people who become involved “in a game of human chess” at the hands of a sociopath.

Iniquitous is the brainchild of independent filmmaker Brenton Foale. The film also features former Powderfinger guitarist and songwriter Darren Middleton, who will play a busker outside Daylesford’s iconic Café Koukla.

“Darren and his music producer Simon Walbrook are both on my Facebook friends list and had been been following a lot with my film. Darren wrote to me at the end of last year and asked if we’d be interested in him doing the music score,” Foale said.

“The first meeting was to find out what tone we wanted, what sound we wanted. The second meeting was in the studio with Darren to find out what they’d been experimenting with. It blew me away.”

Foale said when he and his crew were location scouting, they “just fell in love” with Daylesford.

“Everyone is friendly, everyone is supportive. There’s beautiful scenery. It’s just a tremendous place,” he said.

But it was really Lake Daylesford that piqued his interest.

“One location blew me away as soon as I saw it – a park bench by Daylesford Lake. It’s just beautiful. The autumn leaves happened to be on the ground when we were doing location scouting and I thought this is perfect,” he said.

“The park bench is actually the centrepiece of the film. There’s a character by the name of Erin who has lost her husband six months prior.

“People have heard she gives great advice and can solve problems...but Erin is actually a sociopath and she plays everybody against each other. She manipulates them all into destroying their own lives.”

A fundraising trivia night will be held for Iniquitous on July 23 at Savoia Hotel in Hepburn Springs. Cost is $25. For bookings, phone 0467 619 890.