Robert Connolly: Celebs Rumors

It’s not every day that a small Australian crime indie starring Eric Bana gets a sequel, but here we are. Today, IFC Film unveiled the gripping trailer for their thriller “Force of Nature: The Dry 2,” a sequel to the 2020 Aussie crime film “The Dry.” This heart-pounding sequel, based on Jane Harper’s best-selling novels, stars the aforementioned Bana, reprising his role as Australian Federal Agent Aaron Folk.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The scheduled Aug. 24 release of the Eric Bana-starring Australian thriller film “Force of Nature: The Dry 2” has been indefinitely postponed, due to the SAG-AFTRA actors’ strike. The strike is also forcing adjustments at the Melbourne International Film Festival, which starts in early August. “It is with some regret, but a large amount of conviction that we have decided to postpone the release of ‘Force of Nature: The Dry 2’,” said Bana, who both stars and produces through his Pick Up Truck Pictures.

EXCLUSIVE: Paris-based sales and production company Charades and London-based production and financing studio Anton are partnering on the worldwide sales of Oscar-winning Australian director Adam Elliot’s upcoming stop-motion drama Memoir Of A Snail.

Kid-befriends-animal films have been a staple of the industry for ages. While a bit more niche, we’ve even seen blockbuster kid-befriends-sea-animal films, as well, with “Free Willy” leading the way.

EXCLUSIVE: UK-French film company Alief has secured international sales rights to Australian filmmaker Alena Lodkina’s second feature Petrol, following its buzzy world premiere in Locarno’s Filmmakers Of The Present competition.

GALA PRESENTATIONS 2022*Previously announcedAlice, Darling Mary Nighy | Canada, USAWorld PremiereBlack Ice Hubert Davis | CanadaWorld PremiereButcher’s Crossing Gabe Polsky | USAWorld PremiereThe Greatest Beer Run Ever Peter Farrelly | USAWorld PremiereThe Hummingbird Francesca Archibugi | Italy, FranceWorld PremiereHunt Lee Jung-jae | South KoreaNorth American PremiereA Jazzman’s Blues Tyler Perry | USAWorld PremiereKacchey Limbu Shubham Yogi | IndiaWorld PremiereMoving On Paul Weitz | USAWorld PremiereParis Memories Alice Winocour | FranceNorth American PremierePrisoner’s Daughter Catherine Hardwicke | USAWorld PremiereRaymond & Ray Rodrigo García | USAWorld PremiereRoost Amy Redford | USAWorld PremiereSidney Reginald Hudlin | USAWorld PremiereThe Son Florian Zeller | United KingdomNorth American PremiereOpening Night Film*The Swimmers Sally El Hosaini | United KingdomWorld PremiereWhat’s Love Got To Do With It? Shekhar Kapur | United KingdomWorld Premiere*The Woman King Gina Prince-Bythewood | USAWorld PremiereSPECIAL PRESENTATIONS 2022*Previously announcedAllelujah Sir Richard Eyre | United KingdomWorld PremiereAll Quiet on the Western Front Edward Berger | USA, GermanyWorld PremiereThe Banshees Of Inisherin Martin McDonagh | United Kingdom, Ireland, USANorth American PremiereBlueback Robert Connolly | AustraliaWorld PremiereThe Blue Caftan Maryam Touzani | Morocco, France, Belgium, DenmarkNorth American PremiereBroker Hirokazu Kore-eda | South KoreaCanadian Premiere*Brother Clement Virgo | CanadaWorld Premiere*Bros Nicholas Stoller | USAWorld Premiere*Catherine Called Birdy Lena Dunham | United KingdomWorld PremiereCauseway Lila Neugebauer | USAWorld PremiereChevalier Stephen Williams | USAWorld PremiereCorsage Mari

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefDirector 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.

Manori Ravindran International EditorBleecker Street has bought the U.S. rights for writer-director Frances O’Connor’s directorial debut, “Emily,” which tells the story of author Emily Brontë’s real-life romance in the lead up to her seminal novel, “Wuthering Heights.”Bleecker Street is planning a 2023 theatrical release Stateside, while Warner Bros.

EXCLUSIVE: One of Asia-Pacific’s largest philanthropic organizations, the Minderoo Foundation, is launching a social impact film division with a $7.5M ($10M AUD) fund to support screen projects tackling the global challenges championed by the Perth-based org.

The dual-mystery structure of Robert Connolly’s thriller doesn’t quite work, but it’s the right role for what Bana does well. Continue reading ‘The Dry’: A Mixed Bag Of A Mystery With A Potent Eric Bana Performance [Review] at The Playlist.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefFederal funding body Screen Australia confirmed its backing for a trio of Australian film projects that will now move forward into production. Director Robert Connolly (“The Dry”) is behind two of them as producer.The funding decisions ensure that a steady stream of local films move into production, alongside the large volume of international films and TV series that are currently in Australia, taking advantage of generous incentives and good coronavirus control conditions.Set in 1970’s Western Australia, “Kid Snow” is a drama about a washed-up Irish boxer who is offered a rematch against a man he fought 10 years ago, on a night that changed his life forever.

During the pandemic, the thriller “The Dry” starring Eric Bana, made a big splash at the Australian box office. It’s one of the top 15 grossing Australian films of all time with over AU$17 million to date.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefOscar-nominated Richard Linklater, producer Basil Iwanyk and “Shadow In The Cloud” director Roseanne Liang headline the speakers line-up at the Australian International Screen Forum set to take place later this month (March 21-26, 201).The event’s industry program showcases innovative Australian and international content, and features conversations with leading film industry mentors and talent from Australia and the U.S.Proceedings kick off with an industry-only screening of Robert Connolly’s recent hit film “The Dry” ahead of its official North American release in May.

EXCLUSIVE:  IFC Films has picked up North American rights to Robert Connolly’s atmospheric mystery thriller The Dry, starring Eric Bana. A May 21 theatrical and on-demand release date is planned for the Made Up Stories feature. The pic is the actor’s first Australian film in over a decade.

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.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefDirector Robert Connolly (“Balibo”) and star Eric Bana (“Hanna,” “Hulk), 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.

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

Richard Kuipers The barren earth surrounding a drought-stricken Aussie town provides fertile ground for mystery, suspense and punchy emotional drama in “The Dry.” This enthralling adaptation of Jane Harper’s international bestseller stars a spot-on Eric Bana as a city detective whose investigation of an apparent murder-suicide in his hometown triggers renewed suspicion about his involvement in a mysterious death that’s haunted the community for two decades. Expertly directed and co-written by respected filmmaker Robert Connolly (“Balibo,” “Paper Planes”), “The Dry” has all the character intrigue, clever plot twists and red herrings to keep viewers guessing.

While the domestic box office was hammered over the holidays, over in Australia, it’s been quite alive.