News

Brad Pitt has been cast in the adaptation of ‘Conclave’ helmer Edward Berger’s ‘The Riders.’

Tim Winton’s novel follows a man who moved to Ireland with his family and finds himself searching far and wide after his wife goes missing.

Edward Berger will direct from a screenplay by David Kajganich. Producers include Ridley Scott’s Scott Free, Berger’s Nine Hours, Pitt’s Plan B and Kajganich.

Also in news – Sydney Sweeney set for Jon M. Chu’s ‘Split Fiction’

A24 will finance and distribute the film. Production is expected to begin in early 2026 and shoot in multiple European locations.

Pitt’s upcoming movies include ‘F1,’ a racing drama from ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ director Joseph Kosinski. He’s also working on ‘The Continuing Adventures of Cliff Booth,’ a spinoff of Quentin Tarantino’s 2019 film ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.’ David Fincher is directing the movie for Netflix...

Edward Berger will helm the Ridley Scott-produced screen version of the 1994 novel by Tim Winton, which has been in development in various incarnations for 25 years

Edward Berger, whose papal thriller Conclave won best film at the Baftas and was nominated for eight Oscars, has signed on to direct Brad Pitt in a big-screen version of Tim Winton’s novel The Riders.

The film will be financed by US studio A24, produced by Ridley Scott and written by David Kajganich, a frequent collaborator of Luca Guadagnino.

Riding high on the successes of war drama All Quiet On The Western Front and papal conspiracy thriller Conclave, filmmaker Edward Berger has had his name linked to all sorts of eyebrow raising projects — from Ocean's 14 to a new Bourne movie. But while both of those particular whispers seem to have proven premature, it does look like Berger is set to work with Ocean's alumni Brad Pitt after all, on a very different kind of joint to Steven Soderbergh's heist flicks. According to Deadline, Berger will direct Pitt in an A24 adaptation of The Riders, Australian author Tim Winton's Booker Prize nominated 1994 bestseller.

Winton's book — which follows Australian father Fred Scully as he tries to uncover the reason why wife Jennifer has suddenly abandoned him and their seven-year-old daughter Billie, rendered mute by having been left to fly from Australia to Ireland on her own...

A24 is backing The Riders, which has Brad Pitt starring and Edward Berger directing. A bit more information on the movie here.

We’ve been waiting for what seems like an age to find out what Edward Berger’s follow up to Conclave will be, but now the director is now being attached to projects with alarming haste.

He’s been continously linked to reviving superspies on both sides of the Atlantic in the form of both James Bond and Jason Bourne, but Berger was eventually announced as the director of Barrier, a time travel thriller starring Austin Butler. Beyond that though, it sounds as though the filmmaker will be teaming up with Brad Pitt to take on a globe-spanning thriller for A24.

The project is set to be an adaptation of author Tim Winton’s novel The Riders, and follows – per Wikipedia’s plot description:

‘Fred Scully, whose family...

Brad Pitt will star in a movie adaptation of the novel The Riders. Pitt is teaming up with Conclave director Edward Berger on the project.

Author Tim Winton's 1994 novel, which landed on the shortlist for the prestigious Booker Prize, follows a father, Fred, and his 7-year-old daughter Billie's desperate search for his wife. The novel begins with the family moving from Ireland and Australia, but Fred's wife Jennifer never arrives. Fred and Billie resolve to travel across Europe to discover how Jennifer suddenly disappeared without a trace.

Brad Pitt Leads the Cast of The Riders

According to Variety, Berger will film The Riders on location in multiple European countries starting in 2026. A24 have come on board to finance and distribute the literary adaptations, following their Oscar success with the period drama The Brutalist earlier this year. Ridley Scott will produce The Riders from a script by writer David Kajganich...

Gold Derby's top news stories for April 28, 2025.

Brad Pitt to star in A24 drama from Edward Berger

Brad Pitt has signed on to star in The Riders, an A24-produced drama from Conclave director Edward Berger. The film is based on a 1995 novel by Tim Winton about a father and daughter who travel around Europe looking for their missing wife and mother. David Kajganich (The Terror) is writing the screenplay, and Ridley Scott is a producer through his Scott Free banner. The film is scheduled to shoot in multiple locations throughout Europe early next year.

Joseph Kosinski to direct Dan Gilroy-scripted Miami Vice reboot

Joseph Kosinski, director of Top Gun: Maverick and the upcoming F1, has signed on to direct a new adaptation of iconic crime thriller Miami Vice. The script is by Dan Gilroy. Kosinski is expected shoot the project after his next film, a UFO project for Apple.

Brad Pitt is getting ready for a new movie role!

The 61-year-old actor is set to star in the upcoming adaptation of The Riders by Conclave director Edward Berger, per Variety.

A24 will finance and distribute the film.

Keep reading to find out more…

Production is expected to begin in early 2026 and will be filming in multiple locations across Europe.

Tim Winton’s novel The Riders follows a man who moved to Ireland with his family and finds himself searching far and wide after his wife goes missing.

David Kajganich will adapt the screenplay. Additional casting details and a release date have not yet been made public.

Brad Pitt and Damson Idris‘ upcoming F1 movie got an extended first look at 2025 CinemaCon in Las Vegas recently. Get the details!

See Brad Pitt‘s 10 best movies, ranked.

F1 star Brad Pitt has landed his next project, and he's teaming up with another Academy Award-winning filmmaker. Hailing from Edward Berger, A24 is producing an adaptation of a classic 1994 novel that was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, with Pitt in the starring role.

According to Deadline, Pitt is set to star in The Riders, directed by Berger and based on a screenplay from David Kajganich, who adapts the original book by Tim Winton. A24 is producing the project, which the trade reports quickly became a hot package in Hollywood after the global movie star joined forces with Berger. Pitt will be playing Fred Scully, the main character of The Riders, on an emotional and haunting journey with his daughter to find out why his wife left them. Check out the official plot description of the novel below.

"After traveling through Europe for two years, Scully and his wife Jennifer wind up in Ireland,...

Edward Berger is set to follow up his recent Best Picture-nominated Conclave with a new project starring Brad Pitt. Deadline reports that A24 will be financing and distributing the upcoming film The Riders with Pitt in the lead role. David Kajganich will adapt Tim Winton’s novel into the screenplay and Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions is also on board to produce the film. Scott will produce with Michael Pruss, as well as Kajganich and Berger for Nine Hours Productions, and Pitt, Jeremy Kleiner and Dede Gardner produce for Plan B Entertainment.

Per Deadline, the film “follows Fred Scully (Pitt), who, after traveling through Europe for two years, winds up in Ireland with his wife and daughter. And on a mystical whim of his wife Jennifer, they buy an old farmhouse that stands in the shadow of a castle. While Scully spends weeks alone renovating the old house, Jennifer...

“Conclave” director Edward Berger has a new high-profile feature in the works and will have Oscar-winner Brad Pitt (“Once Upon A Time In Hollywood”) attached to star, as the two are teaming up for an adaptation of the Tim Winton novel “The Riders.”

Deadline has revealed the hot-as-a-pistol packaged deal has landed at A24 with screenwriter David Kajganich tackling the script.

Continue reading ‘The Riders’: Brad Pitt & ‘Conclave’ Director Edward Berger Team For Marriage Drama At A24 at The Playlist.

A24 has boarded Edward Berger’s upcoming mystery The Riders from Scott Free and nine hours to star Brad Pitt.

Production is scheduled to commence early next year and shoot in multiple countries across Europe

Scott Free, Berger’s nine hours, Pitt’s Plan B, and David Kajganich will produce Kajganich’s adaptation of Tim Winton’s novel of the same name. Kajganich’s screenplay credits include A Bigger Splash, The Terror, Suspiria,and Bones And All.

The book follows an Australian expatriate who, after travelling the world with his wife and daughter for two years, is preparing to settle...

Brad Pitt is now an A24 star. The actor/producer will lead Oscar-winning “Conclave” director Edward Berger’s latest film “The Riders,” based on Tim Winton’s 1994 novel. “Bones and All” scribe David Kajganich, who’s also writing the Zendaya-led Ronnie Spector biopic “Be My Baby” for A24, will adapt the book. Deadline first reported the project.

“The Riders” follows Fred Scully (Pitt), who, after traveling Europe with his wife, Jennifer, and seven-year-old daughter, Billie, purchases a farmhouse in rural Ireland. Jennifer and Billie then return to Australia to finalize their affairs, only for Billie to return to Ireland alone after traveling across the globe, with Jennifer now missing. Fred is left to make sense of his wife’s disappearance in a story that takes a mystical turn.

A24 landed the film after a competitive situation, as IndieWire can share. Kajganich brought the novel to Ridley Scott’s Scott Free...

Brad Pitt and Conclave director Edward Berger will team on A24 feature The Riders.

The Riders is based on Tim Winton’s novel of the same name, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1995 and follows a man who travels around Europe with his daughter looking for their wife and mother who has gone missing. David Kajganich is adapting for the screen.

Ridley Scott is producing via his Scott Free banner with Michael Pruss. Kajganich will also produce alongside Berger’s nine hours banner and Pitt, Jeremy Kleiner and Dede Gardner for Plan B Entertainment. Production will start in early 2026, shooting in multiple locations across Europe.

Berger, Kajganich and Scott Free previously worked with on AMC series The Terror.

Pitt was last seen starring opposite George Clooney in the action comedy Wolfs and will next be seen in Formula One movie F1, both out via Apple.

Berger, one of Hollywood’s most sought-after directors,...

A24 is ready for “The Riders.”

The company is set to finance and distribute “The Riders,” directed by Edward Berger and starring Brad Pitt. It is based on the 1996 Tim Winton novel of the same name, which has been adapted by David Kajganich. Scott Free’s Ridley Scott and Michael Pruss will produce the film alongside Kajganich and Berger’s Nine Hours, and Pitt, Jeremy Kleiner and Dede Gardner for Plan B Entertainment.

Production is expected to begin in 2026 and will shoot in multiple location across Europe.

While A24 did not provide a logline for the movie, the official book synopsis reads: “After traveling through Europe for two years, Scully and his wife Jennifer wind up in Ireland, and on a mystical whim of Jennifer’s, buy an old farmhouse which stands in the shadow of a castle. While Scully spends weeks alone renovating the old house, Jennifer returns to Australia to liquidate their assets.

What might be the next project from Conclave director Edward Berger just took a huge step forward. Deadline is reporting that Berger is teaming up with Brad Pitt for The Riders, a new film from A24 that’s based on the popular novel by Tim Winton. David Kajganich has been tapped to write the screenplay. The novel follows Fred Scully (Pitt), a man who lands in Ireland with his wife and daughter on a mystical whim to buy an old farmhouse. His wife, Jennifer, and their daughter, Billie, return to Australia, but only Billie comes back to Ireland with no explanation. It’s here that Scully’s life begins to fall apart as he grapples with the sudden and unexpected loss of his wife. Additional casting for the film is ongoing.

Brad Pitt is on something of a hot streak lately. His next film, F1, is due in theaters on...

Brad Pitt is set to star in the upcoming adaptation of “The Riders” with “Conclave” filmmaker Edward Berger on board to direct.

A24 will finance and distribute the film. Production is expected to begin in early 2026 and shoot in multiple locations across Europe. That’s the setting of Tim Winton’s novel “The Riders,” which follows a man who moved to Ireland with his family and finds himself searching far and wide after his wife goes missing.

David Kajganich is adapting the screenplay. Producers include Ridley Scott’s Scott Free, Berger’s Nine Hours, Pitt’s Plan B and Kajganich, according to Deadline, which first reported the news of this project.

Pitt will appear next in “F1,” a racing drama from “Top Gun: Maverick” director Joseph Kosinski. He’s also working on “The Continuing Adventures of Cliff Booth,” a spinoff of Quentin Tarantino’s 2019 film “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Brad Pitt is set to star in The Riders, directed by Edward Berger, with A24 handling financing and worldwide theatrical distribution. The project, adapted from Tim Winton’s novel by screenwriter David Kajganich, brings together multiple Academy Award-winning talent.

The story follows Fred Scully (Pitt), who, after two years of traveling through Europe, settles with his wife and daughter in Ireland. Acting on an impulse from his wife Jennifer, they purchase a farmhouse situated beneath a nearby castle. While Scully focuses on renovating the property, Jennifer returns to Australia to address financial matters. When Scully meets the arriving plane at Shannon Airport, only his seven-year-old daughter, Billie, steps off—alone and silent. Jennifer has left no explanation.

Ridley Scott and Michael Pruss will produce for Scott Free, alongside Kajganich and Berger for Nine Hours. Pitt, Jeremy Kleiner, and Dede Gardner are producing for Plan B Entertainment. The project drew significant...

Exclusive: Following his work on Best Picture Oscar nominee Conclave, director Edward Berger looks to have zeroed in on his potential next project and is teaming with one of the town’s biggest stars. Sources tell Deadline that, following a competitive situation, A24 has landed the hot package The Riders with Academy Award winner Brad Pitt on board to star and Berger set to direct. David Kajganich will adapt Tim Winton’s novel.

The novel follows Fred Scully (Pitt), who, after traveling through Europe for two years, winds up in Ireland with his wife and daughter. And on a mystical whim of his wife Jennifer, they buy an old farmhouse that stands in the shadow of a castle. While Scully spends weeks alone renovating the old house, Jennifer returns to Australia to liquidate their assets. When Scully arrives at Shannon Airport to pick up Jennifer and their 7-year-old daughter, Billie,...

Exclusive: The Mentalist actor Simon Baker, Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories and Australian agent-producer Lee-Anne Higgins are taking to adapt Emily Perkins’ novel ‘Lioness.’

The trio have optioned the hot book, which comes from bestselling Aotearoa New Zealand author Perkins and won the recent Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction at the 2024 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

Baker, who took his first full TV series starring role since The Mentalist in Netflix’s Boy Swallows Universe earlier this year, will direct all episodes. Papandrea, Steve Hutensky and Katie Amos will produce for Made Up Stories, along with Higgins, Baker and Perkins.

Lioness follows Therese Thorne, a woman who has married a wealthy older man and built a successful career, but now finds a fraud investigation threatening her sense of loyalty as well as her reputation. She faces a midlife reckoning about love and complicity, while being drawn to her neighbour,...

Blueback is a movie based on Tim Winton's 1997 book, exploring corporate greed and environmental causes. Elements of truth in the story reflect events that happened in the author's life after the book was written. The emotionally resonant message of both the movie and book remains the same, despite their superficial differences.

Telling an inspirational tale of environmental activism and friendship, Blueback shares similarities with many nature movies based on true stories. The reality behind the film's inspiration, however, is slightly more complicated. Set in Australia across three different time periods, the movie revolves around a female protagonist's relationship with a wild blue groper. Her bond with the animal sparks a passion for conservationism. While the settings and themes are grounded in reality, the story itself feels more fanciful.

Released in 2022, Blueback was positively received by critics for its "ecologically conscious" message (via Rotten Tomatoes) and well-realized family drama. The...

Robert Connolly’s 2022 directorial venture Blueback is a special kind of film where the marine life is shown with such emotion and care that they become a rich character in the film, overshadowing all the ones played by humans. Based on a novel of the same name by Tim Winton, Blueback is the story of Abby, who returns to her roots in Australia, where she spent her childhood with her mother Dora. Dora was an activist fighting against the growing fishing industry and trying to save the species that were indigenous to the reef near which they lived. Abby comes back to care for Dora, who had a stroke, and reminisces about the time when she had befriended a blue groper.

Spoilers Ahead

Plot Synopsis: What Happens In The Film?

Abby’s father had once gone out into Roebuck Bay and never returned. It was a shark attack, everyone assumed.

From writer/director Robert Connolly and based on the book by Tim Winton, the family drama Blueback tells the story of Abby, a young woman who grew up in a coastal Australian town with an understanding and appreciation of the beauty of the world’s oceans and what’s contained within. Beyond just wanting to ensure its survival, Abby went on to become a marine biologist, in order to protect the ocean and its creatures from the dangers that threaten it, especially the wild blue groper that she met and befriended as a child.

In between developing Falk detective films with frequent collaborator Eric Bana, Australian director Robert Connolly crafted Blueback. Based on the 1997 Tim Winton novella of the same name, Blueback explores a bittersweet and complex mother-and-daughter dynamic over the course of several decades. The film's title derives from their nickname for a western blue groper, a creature that represents their shared passion for the ocean and lifelong goal of protecting it from humans.

Blueback soaks in the gorgeous landscapes of the Australian coastline and makes full use of underwater views certain to inspire any viewer to conserve the ocean. Beyond that, it also boasts a strong cast that includes Radha Mitchell as the fierce Dora (with Liz Alexander playing her older self) and Mia Wasikowska as the adult version of her daughter Abby. The timeline of Blueback can be traced through Abby, whose childhood (portrayed by Ariel Donoghue) and adolescence (Ilsa Fogg...

They’re back. Rlje Films presents the Stephen King reboot Children of the Corn by Kurt Wimmer on 500+ screens. It’s a redo of the classic 1984 slasher-horror film about kids possessed by a demonic spirit in a dying cornfield, with bloody, rampaging results.

King’s iconic short story features a 12-year-old Nebraska girl who recruits the kids in her small town for a killing spree of all the adults, and anyone else who opposes her. A bright high schooler who won’t go along with the plan is the town’s only hope of survival. There are some new twists, in Wimmer’s version, the corn is genetically modified. Starring Elena Kampouris, Kate Moyer, Callan Mulvey and Bruce Spence.

The story is great, spawning numerous spinoffs beginning with Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice in 1992 followed by Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest in 1995. Most went direct to video.

"The only way to make sure he's safe, is to keep him secret." Quiver Distribution has revealed an official US trailer for the Australian eco drama Blueback, now set to open in theaters (nationwide!!) in March in the US. The film originally premiered at TIFF 2022 last fall, and already opened in Australia earlier in the year. Most recently it just played at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival last monh. An inspiring story for the whole family, Tim Winton's best-selling novel comes to life on the big screen. The latest film from The Dry director Robert Connolly, starring Mia Wasikowska. The story follows Abby, a young girl who initially befriends a magnificent wild blue groper while diving. When she's older, Abby realizes that the fish is under threat, and she takes inspiration from her activist Mum, Dora, taking on the poachers to save her friend. The film also stars Radha Mitchell,...

Following on the heels of international hit “The Dry,” veteran Australian director Robert Connelly has tackled another local literary adaptation in “Blueback,” based on his celebrated compatriot Tim Winton’s 1997 novella. That slender tome (subtitled “A Contemporary Fable”) was aimed primarily at younger readers. The film adopts a somewhat more grownup, realistic, less parabolic tenor, though its ecology-minded narrative remains a bit sketchy for feature treatment — resulting in a pleasant, very handsome-looking movie rather short on dramatic impact.

Nonetheless, it’s got more than enough significant plusses to offer, from an appealing cast led by Mia Wasikowska and Radha Mitchell to much spectacularly inviting underwater photography. Having already played a few other fests in advance of its Sundance showcase (and opened commercially in a few territories), it is slated for U.S. theatrical release by Quiver Distribution on Feb. 24, with VOD following April 21.

Abby Jackson (Wasikowska) is a marine biologist working on a seafaring lab,...

Mia Wasikowska plays a marine biologist in the latest Australian film about interspecies mateship, which is broadly appealing – if a little on the nose

Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email

Audiences open to an ecological ocean drama that’s gentler, more grounded and certainly more ‘Strayan than James Cameron’s squillion-dollar screensaver can find an appealing – if slight – companion piece in the latest Tim Winton adaptation, brought to the screen by writer-director Robert Connolly.

Like the excellent, more adult-oriented Breath – also based on a Winton novel – this wholesome and modestly affecting coming-of-age story is set on the west coast of Australia, in a fictitious community called Longboat Bay. It’s a family-friendly, broadly appealing film that expands the canon of coastal Aussie pictures involving interspecies mateship – the original and remade Storm Boy, featuring Mr Percival the pelican, and Oddball, featuring a very photogenic Maremma sheepdog that saves a colony of penguins in Victoria.

Click here to read the full article.

After exploring the devastations of drought in his 2020 acclaimed thriller The Dry, Australian director Robert Connolly takes a deep dive into the majestic world beneath the ocean’s surface in Blueback, his forthcoming environmentalist family film starring Mia Wasikowska and Eric Bana.

Blueback is loosely based on Booker Prize nominee Tim Winton’s critically acclaimed novella of the same name. Connolly spent over 20 years developing the project, which he also co-wrote. He describes it as “a family-friendly celebration of the natural world.”

Taking place in multiple time periods across a young woman’s life, the film tells the story of a girl who befriends a wild blue groper while scuba diving. When she discovers the fish and its kind are under threat, she takes inspiration from her environmental activist mother to face down poachers to protect the creature. The episode marks the beginning...

Australia’s answer to the 2022 Oscar Best Picture winner Coda is here. I’m only half-joking. Blueback is a bit better than the movie that most recently won Best Picture at the Academy Awards, but it employs a similar sort of lightweight treatment of banner issues. Blueback has two major characteristics in its favor: the aquatic cinematography by Andrew Commis and Rick Rifici and that it’s satisfied with being a message movie for kids. It would be perfect to show in a middle school or elementary school classroom during substitute teacher day, like Free Willy, a choice selection when I was a kid. It’s completely inoffensive but also lacking emotional heft, a result of sloppy story structure and flashback-heavy plotting that may have worked well in the source novel by Tim Winton (who also wrote the screenplay), but drains the tension in this adaptation.

Abby and Dora (Radha Mitchell...

“Take a good close look at what we’re fighting for,” says Mia Wasikowska’s oceanographer in “Blueback,” as she scans the Australian bay where she grew up. She’s talking to a colleague, even as writer-director Robert Connolly (“Paper Planes”) is really saying the same thing to us.

Connolly has turned Tim Winton’s 1997 novella into his own environmental cri de coeur — premiering at the Toronto Film Festival — and while the specifics can get a bit clunky, his passion drives our interest all the way to the end.

The end is where we begin, actually, with Wasikowska’s Abby getting a call while she’s working. Her aging mother, Dora (Liz Alexander), has had a stroke, and Abby has to rush back to remote Longboat Bay (Western Australia’s Bremer Bay stands in for the fictional coast) to care for her.

Also Read:

‘Judy & Punch’ Film Review: Provocative...

"The only way to make sure that he's safe - is to keep him a secret." And to save the reef!! Roadshow Films in Australia has revealed the first official Australian trailer for the film Blueback, a nature drama opening Down Under this summer. The film is premiering at the 2022 Toronto Film Festival this month, hence the new trailer out for its upcoming premiere. An inspiring story for the whole family, Tim Winton's best-selling novel comes to life on the big screen. The latest film from The Dry director Robert Connolly, starring Mia Wasikowska as Abby. The story follows Abby, a young girl who initially befriends a magnificent wild blue groper while diving. When she's older, Abby realizes that the fish is under threat, she takes inspiration from her activist Mum, Dora, and takes on poachers to save her friend. The film also stars Radha Mitchell, Ilsa Fogg (as the younger Abby), Liz Alexander,...

Abacus Media Rights Parent Amcomri Entertaiment Buys Flame Media Program Assets For 2.4M

Amcomri Entertainment has paid C3M (2.4M) for the assets of UK-Australian factual TV distributor Flame Media’s assets. The library comprises around 2,200 hours and more than 500 titles. Flame will be integrated into Amcomri’s TV sales arm Abacus Media Rights, with its staff reporting to Abacus Managing Director Jonathan Ford. The deal comes 15 months after Flam founder John Caldon passed away. Flame’s key titles include Outback Truckers and Outback Opal Hunters from Prospero Productions, The Moors Murders from Map TV, and Life in Colour with David Attenborough from Humble Bee Films and SeaLight Pictures. Upcoming titles including New Zealand from a Train from Making Movies and Ningaloo with novelist Tim Winton from Artemis Productions. “We have the utmost admiration for the high-quality business and senior management team that Mr. Caldon assembled over the previous 12 years,...

Director Robert Connolly and star Eric Bana are reuniting for a detective film based on the novel “Force of Nature,” set in the Australian wilderness.

Connolly and Bana were previously teamed on Australian smash hit movie “The Dry,” which like “Force of Nature” was adapted from a novel by Jane Harper. They also worked together on “Blueback,” a family-friendly, ecologically activist celebration of the natural world, adapted from a Tim Winton novella.

“Force of Nature” sees five women take part in a corporate hiking retreat, with only four coming out on the other side. Federal agents Aaron Falk (Jeremy Lindsay-Taylor) and Carmen Cooper (Jacqueline McKenzie) head deep into the Victorian mountain ranges to investigate, in hopes of finding their whistle-blowing informant still alive.

Production is now underway and will take place entirely within Victoria state, primarily in the Dandenong Ranges, Yarra Valley and the Otways.

The film is a Made Up Stories...

Exclusive: Simon Baker, star of CBS’ The Mentalist, has partnered with MGM International Television Productions.

The actor and director, who made his directorial debut in 2017 with Breath, an adaptation of Tim Winton’s novel, has struck a multi-year, first-look deal with the production company behind series including Epix’s From and Peacock’s Last Light.

The deal will see Baker, who also starred in The Devil Wears Prada, develop scripted projects with MGM with an international focus, with an eye for him to director and/or star.

Other on-screen roles include LA Confidential, Margin Call and CBS’ The Guardian. He recently starred in and exec produced High Ground, directed by Stephen Johnson, and starred in Blaze from Del Kathryn Barton.

On the scripted side, MGM is also behind international series such as Amazon’s El Fin del Amor and Shelter, Epix’s Billy the Kid, HBO Max’s Mariachis and France Television’s The Reunion.

Exclusive: Sean Keenan (The Power of the Dog), Shannon Berry (The Wilds) and Tyroe Muhafidin (Amazon’s Lord of the Rings)—a trio of up-and-coming actors out of Australia—have signed with Brave Artists Management’s Karli Doumanis for representation.

Keenan is an Aacta Award nominee who recently appeared in Jane Campion’s acclaimed Netflix pic The Power of the Dog and Justin Kurzel’s award winner Nitram. The actor will next be seen in the ABC series Barons, along with a show based on the 2002 Bali bombings, which is currently in production. He has also featured on the film side in such titles as Nim’s Island, The True History of the Kelly Gang, Strangerland, Australia Day, Hard Target 2, Is This the Real World and Drift. Keenan made his screen debut at the age of fourteen as the title character in the Australian children’s series Lockie Leonard, based on Tim Winton’s novels,...

Claudia Karvan embarks on a literary adventure to explore the stories that have shaped the nation’s identity in Books That Made Us – a three-part documentary from Blackfella Films premiering on November 23 at 8.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.

In the series, Karvan meets Richard Flanagan, Alexis Wright, Helen Garner, Tim Winton, David Malouf, Kate Grenville, Christos Tsiolkas, Thomas Keneally, Liane Moriarty, Trent Dalton, Kim Scott, and Melissa Lucashenko. She discovers the stories behind the stories, the workings of the writers’ imaginations and their motivation to write novels that have been shaped by Australia and, in turn, shaped the country.

Series producer and writer is Jacob Hickey, with producer Darren Dale. The ABC executive producer is Kalita Corrigan.

Developed and produced in association with the ABC, production funding from Screen Australia and produced with the assistance of Film Victoria.

The post ‘Books That Made Us’ (Trailer) appeared first on If Magazine.

Emily Brontë is the latest author to pique the interest of Arenamedia, with production starting on Frances O’Connor’s directorial debut, Emily, in the UK.

Having recently adapted the work of Jane Harper for The Dry, with plans to do the same for Tim Winton’s Blueback, Robert Connolly’s company will turn its attention to the life of the Wuthering Heights author.

O’Connor, most recently seen on screen in Sky UK/Foxtel’s The End, also penned the script for the film, which tells Brontë’s origin story.

Emma Mackey (Sex Education) leads a cast that includes Fionn Whitehead (Dunkirk), Oliver Jackson-Cohen (The Invisible Man), Alexandra Dowling (The Musketeers), Amelia Gething (The Spanish Princess), as well as Gemma Jones (Rocketman), and Adrian Dunbar (Line of Duty).

Robert Connolly and Robert Patterson will produce for Arenamedia, alongside David Barron (Harry Potter franchise) and Piers Tempest (Military Wives).

Backers include Ingenious Media,...

Richard Kadrey, author of the fantasy book series “Sandman Slim,” has written an original screenplay called “Dark West” that will be adapted into a movie by “Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead” writer-director Kiah Roache-Turner.

Chris Goldberg’s Winterlight Pictures has optioned “Dark West” and set Roache-Turner to write the next draft of the script. Roache-Turner is eyeing to direct the film in his native Australia. Kadrey is also working on turning “Dark West” into a graphic novel.

“Dark West” is a vampire revenge thriller set on the highways of Texas that follows two car thieves who accidentally T-bone a pair of vampires in the middle of the night. The story is in the vein of the classic ’80s horror films “The Hitcher” and Kathryn Bigelow’s “Near Dark.”

The idea for “Dark West” came about after Kadrey’s “Sandman Slim” book series was optioned by Goldberg in his role as...

‘Dirty John’ actor Eric Bana and ‘Alice in Wonderland’ star Mia Wasikowska have joined the production ‘Blueback’ as principal photography begins in Australia.

Adapted for the screen by writer-director Robert Connolly from Booker Prize nominee Tim Winton’s critically acclaimed novella of the same name. The film centres on Abby, a child who befriends a magnificent wild blue groper while diving. When Abby realises that the fish is under threat, she takes inspiration from her activist Mum, Dora, and takes on poachers to save her friend. There starts her life-long journey to save the world’s coral reefs.

Also in news – Elisabeth Moss joins Oscar Isaac and Jake Gyllanhaal on the making of ‘The Godfather’ feature

Wasikowska will take on the role of Abby while Bana will play Macka. Also on the cast are Radha Mitchell as Dora. Ariel Donoghue and Ilsa Fogg will make their feature film debuts playing...

Australian actor Eric Bana (Hulk, Funny People) has signed on to star in the ecologically themed family film Blueback from filmmaker Robert Connolly. The duo recently worked together on crime drama The Dry, which is the biggest film of 2021 so far at the Australian box office.

Blueback is described as a family-friendly celebration of the natural world. Connolly has been developing the project, which he also wrote, for over 20 years. The film is loosely based on Booker Prize nominee Tim Winton’s critically acclaimed novella of the same name.

The film tells the story of a girl who befriends a wild blue groper ...

Australian actor Eric Bana (Hulk, Funny People) has signed on to star in the ecologically themed family film Blueback from filmmaker Robert Connolly. The duo recently worked together on crime drama The Dry, which is the biggest film of 2021 so far at the Australian box office.

Blueback is described as a family-friendly celebration of the natural world. Connolly has been developing the project, which he also wrote, for over 20 years. The film is loosely based on Booker Prize nominee Tim Winton’s critically acclaimed novella of the same name.

The film tells the story of a girl who befriends a wild blue groper ...

Director Robert Connolly (“Balibo”) and star Eric Bana, both currently riding high at the Australian box office with “The Dry,” will reunite on “Blueback,” a film billed as a family-friendly, ecologically activist celebration of the natural world.

Connolly has been developing the project for more than two decades. At one stage it was envisaged that actor-director Rowan Woods (“The Boys”) would direct the adaptation.

The film is now moving into production with filming set in two of the remotest places on the continent: Bremer Bay and Ningaloo Reef, in West Australia. Roadshow Films will release the picture in Australia and New Zealand, and the U.K.’s HanWay Films will handle rights sales in all other territories.

The film is adapted by Connolly from Booker Prize nominee Tim Winton’s critically acclaimed novella of the same name. The story focuses on a girl who befriends a wild blue groper while diving.

Eric Bana and Robert Connolly are set to reunite on a new feature adaptation, this time taking on Tim Winton’s Blueback.

Fresh from the success of The Dry, which is approaching $20 million at the box office, Connolly has begun filming for his latest project in Western Australia, assembling a similarly strong cast.

Mia Wasikowska will play main character Abby alongside newcomers Ariel Donoghue and Ilsa Fogg, who will portray the younger Abby.

They are joined by Radha Mitchell, Liz Alexander, Clarence Ryan, Pedrea Jackson, Erik Thomson and Bana.

Set on the coast of Wa, the story centres on Abby, a child who befriends a magnificent wild groper while diving.

When Abby realises that the fish is under threat, she must take on poachers to save her friend.

Writer-director Connolly produces under his Arenamedia banner, together with Liz Kearney and James Grandison.

Blueback has received investment from Screen Australia, in association with Screenwest,...

Filming has begun in Australia with Mia Wasikowska, Radha Mitchell and Eric Bana.

HanWay Films has acquired world sales rights to Robert Connolly’s upcoming family ecological drama Blueback, starring Mia Wasikowska, Radha Mitchell and Eric Bana.

The London-based sales company will begin discussing the project with buyers during the virtual European Film Market (EFM), set to run March 1-5.

Filming has begun in Australia on Blueback, which Connolly has adapted from Tim Winton’s novella of the same name. Shooting will take place in two of the most remote parts of Australia: Bremer Bay and Ningaloo Reef.

The production...

Mia Wasikowska, Radha Mitchell and Eric Bana are starring in Australian family drama Blueback alongside newcomers Ariel Donoghue and Ilsa Fogg.

Pic focuses on Abby (played by both Donoghue and Fogg at different ages), a child who befriends a magnificent wild blue groper while diving. When Abby realizes that the fish is under threat, she takes inspiration from her activist Mum, Dora, and takes on poachers to save her friend. There starts her life-long journey to save the world’s coral reefs.

Robert Connolly is directing, reuniting with Bana after The Dry. Robert Connolly has adapted the screenplay from Booker Prize nominee Tim Winton’s novella of the same name. Filming will take place in two of the most remote parts of Australia: Bremer Bay and Ningaloo Reef.

Supporting cast includes Liz Alexander as older Dora, Kenyan-Australian newcomer Albert Mwangi as Gitundu and Clarence Ryan as Briggs.

Roadshow Films will...

Screen Australia has announced more than $2.5 million in production funding for 12 documentaries; five through the commissioned program, six through the Producer program and one via the Indigenous department.

The agency also re-confirmed today that the existing documentary guidelines, including Pep, will remain in place until the end of 2020-21.

Despite consulting widely with the sector as to how to revamp the programs back in 2019, Screen Australia made the decision back in April to delay changes given the disruption of Covid-19 on the sector. A timeline for rolling out the new guidelines is expected in due course.

Among the projects announced today include a number exploring the recent devastating bushfire season, including ABC series Rebuilding Mallacoota, online doco Black Summer, and feature The Front from director Eddie Martin, which will weave user-generated first hand footage with news coverage.

The project funded via the Indigenous department is the recently announced Nitv feature documentary Incarceration Nation.

‘Dirt Music.’

The launches last weekend of Gregor Jordan’s Dirt Music and Alister Grierson’s Bloody Hell underline the challenges facing independent films in a theatrical market that is severely weakened by the Victorian shutdown, limits on seating capacity and the absence of Hollywood tentpoles.

Universal mounted a substantial marketing campaign for Jordan’s romantic drama based on the Tim Winton novel, while Grierson’s dark comedic thriller opened on 50 screens across the Event Cinemas, Birch Carroll & Coyle and Greater Union circuits.

Starring Kelly Macdonald, Garrett Hedlund and David Wenham, Dirt Music grossed $188,000 on 201 screens and $300,000 including previews, more than a year after its world premiere in Toronto.

Exhibitors were disappointed. “I would definitely have expected more from a high profile Aussie film based on a best seller,” Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace Gm Alex Temesvari tells If.

Majestic Cinemas’ CEO Kieren Dell says: “Dirt Music has been struggling; I...

The film-makers have shot for profundity and lyricism to match the Australian classic, but ended up with something flavourless – and occasionally cloying

Garrett Hedlund takes his shirt off a lot in the romantic movie Dirt Music – his creamy-skinned, chiselled-featured body seemingly belonging to a gene pool combining Errol Flynn with a Hemsworth brother. The American actor, who boasts an impressively convincing Australian accent, screams “beach hunk” in no uncertain terms. Some of the film’s problems arise when the script – adapted by director Gregor Jordan from Tim Winton’s Miles Franklin award-winning novel of the same name – requires his character to scream other things too, such as “mysterious person with a traumatic past” and “broken, emotionally reticent man”.

The narrative initially appears to be unfolding from the perspective of former nurse Georgie, who is the girlfriend of a wealthy fisherman (David Wenham) – although their relationship is going through a bad patch.

Yassmin Abdel-Magied (Photo credit: Daniel Boud).

Goalpost Pictures has optioned two children’s novels by Yassmin Abdel-Magied, a Sudanese-Australian writer, broadcaster and social advocate.

Published by Penguin Random House Australia last year, You Must Be Layla follows 13 year-old Layla as she leaves her Islamic school in Brisbane after getting a scholarship at a private school where she is the first and only child to wear a Muslim headscarf.

In the first week she gets suspended for fighting back against a prejudiced bully so she decides the only way to prove herself is to win a big regional robotics competition with her very ambitious invention.

Due for release next year, the sequel Listen, Layla follows the protagonist as she looks forward to spending the holidays with her friends and designing a Grand Designs Tourismo invention.

Her plans are interrupted when her grandmother in Sudan falls ill and the family rush to be with her.

So much of Dirt Music, directed by Gregor Jordan, feels like it happens on the fringes of a more interesting narrative. Set in Western Australia, the film centers on the star-crossed romance of Georgie (Kelly Macdonald) and Lu (Garret Hedlund).

Based on the novel by Tim Winton and adapted for the screen by Jack Thorne, Georgie and Lu meet through a chance encounter out in the sea. She’s out for an early swim, he’s pulling in a disallowed haul of fish. Soon after, the two can’t keep their hands off each other. The problem is that Lu is a poacher and Georgie is married to Jim Buckridge (David Wenham), who runs the fishing business in the port town of White Point.

Conflict arises as word of Georgie and Lu makes way around the neighborhood, and the fractured pasts of our lead characters begin to reveal themselves. Lu...