STACK #195 Jan 2021

FEATURE CINEMA

to bring the story to life. “We shot in a lot of remote locations that were going through drought and the kind of hardships that a lot of rural towns in Australia go through,” says Klocek. “But even though there’s a sense of dread and foreboding in the film, there’s also a sense of hope, and I think that’s also what the film is about – that even through all the hardships, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel which is more applicable now than ever, so it’s a good thing the film is coming out now.” For recent WAAPA graduate Sam Corlett, The Dry marks his first major screen role. “I was actually in Los Angeles – staying in a caravan

in a friend’s yard – when I heard about The Dry ’s auditions,” he tells STACK . “I immediately flew back to Australia, read the script on the plane, arrived and jumped right into the audition.” The very next day he learned he’d got the role and would begin shooting in Castlemaine, Victoria, in two weeks. “I was very stoked to be doing my first Aussie film.” Arriving on set, Corlett

HOMECOMING

quickly bonded with the trio of actors who would also be playing The Dry ’s flashback younger characters: Claude Scott Mitchell, Bebe Bettancourt and Klocek. Among the many aspects of The Dry that appealed to star Eric Bana – and enticed him to also sign on as a co-producer – was the sense of the past resurfacing in present time. “I think for anyone who has to jump back 20, 30 years, it is always jarring. This story sort of reminded me of the school reunion that no one wants to go to,”

STACK speaks with the cast of the scorching newAustralian crime-mystery, The Dry . Words Gill Pringle J oe Klocek couldn’t believe his luck, landing his first major film role portraying the younger version of Eric Bana in Aussie crime-mystery The Dry , based on Jane Harper’s best-selling book. “I was so honoured that people even of drought. agrees to stay and investigate the crime, he opens up an old wound from his

When Falk reluctantly

youth – the death of 17-year-old Ellie Deacon. Suspecting that these two crimes, separated by decades, are connected, he

thought I looked enough like Eric. I mean, every young man wants to be told they look like Eric Bana,” says Brisbane-based Klocek, who has appeared on TV’s popular Nowhere Boys and Neighbours . Directed by Robert Connolly ( Balibo ) and co-produced by prolific Australian producer Bruna Papandrea (best known for bringing Liane Moriarty’s popular novel Big Little Lies to TV screens around the globe), The Dry tells the story of Bana’s Federal Agent Aaron

struggles to prove not only Luke’s innocence but also his own. “ The Dry is a big deal for Australia and I wanted to get it absolutely right,” says Klocek,

says the actor of his first production on home soil since Romulus, My Father

in 2007. “In this case, Falk is forced to come back to Kiewarra because of the funeral of a close friend, which is far from ideal circumstances. So I think when we’re forced to come across a bunch of characters – friends or foes – that we haven’t encountered for a long time, it can be quite confronting for a lot of people, and I think that is a theme a lot of people will relate to.” Bebe Bettencourt, who plays Ellie Deacon, adds, “I hope people’s takeaway is the sense of homecoming. It is a film about home and how no matter how far away you go, you will always carry home with you.”

Falk returning to his drought- stricken home town after an absence of more than 20 years. This is not a happy homecoming, as Falk attends the funeral of his childhood friend who allegedly murdered his wife

recalling how he went to Bana for advice. “He told me not to worry about mimicking him but to go with my instincts and view the younger and older versions of Aaron Falk as two separate characters. He really gave me free reign.” At the heart of Harper’s novel is the fictional town of Kiewarra, the filmmakers quickly zeroing in on Victoria’s Wimmera and Mallee regions

Even though there's a sense of dread and foreboding in the film, there's also a sense of hope... even through all the hardships, there's a light at the end...

and child before taking his own life – a victim of the madness that has

ravaged this community after more than a decade

The Dry is in cinemas on January 1.

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