Home and Away's Steve cast in Hollywood epic

Home and Away star Steve Peacocke has been cast in a major Hollywood film, but fans can rest assured he won't be quitting Summer Bay.

The Australian actor - who has played Darryl 'Brax' Braxton in the soap since 2011 - will star alongside Dwayne Johnson, John Hurt, Ian McShane, Joseph Fiennes and Rufus Sewell in action film Hercules: The Thracian Wars, directed by Brett Ratner.

Steve will take time out from filming Home and Away to shoot the movie in Budapest, Hungary, playing the role of Stephanos. But he will return as Brax in Home and Away in September.

The soap star said: "This is an incredible opportunity for me to experience film on a massive scale, work with a world-class director, actors and two of the biggest studios in the world. I'm grateful Seven is allowing me time out to get a taste of that world."

Hercules: The Thracian Wars is due for release in July 2014.

Steve joins a long line of Aussie soap stars making it big in Hollywood, including Thor's Chris Hemsworth, who used to be in Home and Away, while ex Neighbours star Margot Robbie will appear later this year in Martin Scorsese's The Wolf Of Wall Street with Leonardo DiCaprio.

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.