Australian audiences are sometimes too quick to malign our local talent and productions. A pair who’ve very successfully overcome that cultural cringe? Director Robert Connolley and actor Eric Bana. The pair’s recent collaboration on The Dry, a film adaptation of Jane Harper’s best-selling novel, has now raked in nearly $20 million dollars at the Australian box office. It’s set to join the ranks of the most successful Australian films of all time, and the pair are already teaming up on their next project: a film based on author Tim Winton’s Blueback.
Per a release, Connolly’s Blueback has just commenced filming in Western Australia. The film is set to be a large-scale, ambitious cinematic project that in classic Winton fashion focuses on the unique natural beauty of the Australian landscape.
“It’s fantastic to be working with Tim Winton again on an iconic Australian story, with such a talented cast of actors, and filming in an extraordinary part of the world,” Connolly said. “The story of Blueback is a beautiful tale of life, love, belonging and with the fragility of our oceans and sea life as an underlying thread, it couldn’t be more timely.”
Below, a brief primer on the film and what we can expect in this forthcoming Australian epic.
What is the plot of Tim Winton’s Blueback?
The novel is something of an environmental activist epic. Filming in some of the most remote regions of Australia, Ningaloo Reef and the Great Southern region, the book centres largely on Abby. As a child, Abby encounters a huge wild groper fish, and upon learning the fish is in danger begins a journey to protect it from poachers. Abby follows in the footsteps of her activist mother, Dora, and the film follows her life-long journey of advocacy for the world’s coral reefs.
Who is in the cast of Blueback?
As well former collaborator Bana, the cast of Connolly’s Blueback feature a bunch of big Australian names. Mia Wasikowska (The Devil All the Time, Alice In Wonderland) will be playing Abby. Newcomers Ariel Donoghue and Ilsa Fogg are also playing Abby as a child at different ages.
The cast is rounded out by another Australian, Radha Mitchell whose credits include Pitch Black, Silent Hill and Man on Fire.
When will Blueback be released?
Given filming has only just commenced, we’re likely going to be waiting a little while for this one. Watch this space.
