SOLUTION
 

There is no secret that Ibrahim, sometimes referred to as “Teflon John,” lived a tumultuous lifestyle. However, when discussions took place between Helium and MISTER as to how to convey the premise of the series in the opening titles, it was important to the team at Helium that the titles avoided the assumption that drugs, sex and violence would be the only themes featured. Rather, the exploration of family legacy, the ascendance to power, and the consequences of sacrifice.

The titles open with a tree engulfed in flames; a symbolic head-nod to the Lebanese flag and the civil war from which John and his brother Sam Ibrahim have fled. From the glittering crossroads of King’s Cross, we transition to a Papaver rhoeas, most commonly known as the poppy, spilling its seeds into a pool of blood - symbolic of not only violence, but the genetic linkage between two "blood-brothers" ruling together. 

 

Whilst the poppy, from where opium derives, pays tribute to the underbelly world of narcotics, it also serves as reference to the common Australian term, “tall poppy syndrome,” characterised by the tendency to discredit those who have achieved wealth, success and prominence in life.

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BRIEF
 

The new crime drama, Last King of The Cross plunges into the tumultuous journey of real-life nightclub mogul John Ibrahim.

The series explores Ibrahim’s rise from a poverty-stricken immigrant from Lebanon to one of Australia’s most renowned forces in the criminal underworld of Sydney’s Kings Cross.

Concept | Direction | Production | Post | Final Delivery