Lying flat on his back in a Jakarta hospital with his director of photography in the bed next to his, Bulli filmmaker Corey Pearson began to question his decision to make a film in Indonesia.
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Unable to find support in Australia, the 38-year-old had accepted funding from new Asian film company Central Entertainment Group to make his action-assassin film, Message Man.
"After the third day of filming I was in hospital," he said.
"We were on an island in 40-degree heat and I was seriously dehydrated, and got a stomach bug and was taken to hospital.
"Then my director of photography got wheeled in beside me."
However, Pearson quickly recovered and started a "roller-coaster" three-month film schedule he said could never have happened had he stayed in Australia.
"I was trying to raise money in Wollongong and NSW, but that wasn't happening so I connected up with finance companies in Asia," he said.
"It's great being able to open up trade links between Indonesia and Australia."
He said filming in Jakarta's vibrant streets and picturesque islands had also been a highlight.
"The best thing has been filming all these different scenes - I filmed the end scene just before I came home and there are just some great actors and great performances so that's been really cool," Pearson said.
Message Man follows the story of a retired assassin - played by Home And Away actor Paul O'Brien - who is dealing with the "sins of his past" and who falls in love for the first time in his life.
After he comes out of hiding because his boat breaks, his identity is revealed to his enemies and they kidnap his new family.
What follows is a gory, action-packed revenge plot, which the filmmaker outlined when he recently returned home to spend time with his wife and new baby in Bulli.
"When I go back, we've got all the big stuff coming up - so a big shoot-out in a nightclub with lots of machine guns and lots of explosions and a lot of people getting seriously hurt.
"And we've also got this chase scene in a little buggy, which will be really full on."
Once filming is over, Pearson's production company hopes to have the film ready by August this year .
"We've got a lot of distribution deals lined up in Asia and there's already a lot of interest," he said.
"I'm trying to get them to allow me to bring the post-production back to Australia, and hopefully Wollongong if I can."
