STACK #235 May 2024

MOVIE FEATURE

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• Force of Nature: The Dry 2 is out May 8

that’s an easier pitch than The Dry ,” he laughs. ”I loved Eric’s fascination. It wasn’t about his own character. He’s such an honest and humble sort of actor to work with, but he was like, ’Who can we cast in these five roles?’ and ’Have we ever seen this in Australian cinema before?’. He was fascinated by the idea of these five women in the bush.” It is, indeed, an impressive ensemble cast, which includes Anna Torv ( Mindhunter ), Deborra-Lee Furness ( Shame ), Robin McLeavy ( The Loved Ones ), Sisi Stringer ( Mortal Kombat ), and Lucy Ansell ( Utopia ). Richard Roxburgh ( Rake ) and Tony Briggs ( The Sapphires ) also star, as well as Jeremy Lindsay Taylor (Kane) reprising his role as Erik Falk. You would think that an ensemble of this magnitude would be difficult to bring together, but Connolly had one very big advantage when it came to casting. ”I’m really lucky. My

Eric Bana and Tony Briggs

The Dry was the surprise hit of 2020, after achieving one of the highest-grossing Australian film opening weekends of all time. Words Glenn Cochrane AFTER THE DRY

wife, Jane Norris, is one of Australia’s leading casting directors. She’s cast all of my films since The Bank in 2001. And she

N ow, Eric Bana and director Robert Connolly are back to do it all over again in their highly anticipated follow-up, Force of Nature , based on the second book of author Jane Harper’s Aaron Falk trilogy. When Connolly set out to adapt Harper’s debut novel The Dry , he didn’t anticipate the success the film would achieve, particularly on an international scale. So, he never envisioned a trilogy at the outset. ”We had no idea that we’d do a second,” he admits. ”When The Dry was released

football, and share ideas about whether we want to make something. And we started tossing around the book [ Force of Nature ] - this was about four or five months after The Dry ,” he explains. ”Eric said, ’This is a really

has a whole philosophical aesthetic with casting that I love, which is, she says, you can anchor the film with a big movie star like Eric, but that people also like Australian actors who are iconic or we haven’t

Director Robert Connolly with Eric Bana

good idea for a film. Five women go on a corporate retreat in the

DYK?

bush and only four come out. And the woman who hasn’t come out is a secret witness for Falk.’ And in some ways,

seen for a while, like Deborra-Lee Furness, and John Polson in The Dry . Jacqueline McKenzie as well, I guess. Another icon. But she says that people also love to discover new talent. ”Remember that joy watching Muriel’s Wedding ?

There is a third book in Jane Harper’s Aaron Falk trilogy, titled Exiles . It revolves around the disappearance of a woman in South Australia’s wine region.

I was in two weeks of quarantine in WA preparing to shoot [2022

Toni Collette and Rachel Griffiths were both unknown,” he says enthusiastically, ”and went on to be two of the biggest actors in the world! So there’s Sisi Stringer and Lucy Ansell in this film. They’re amazing! They’re going to have big careers. ”So, I think what happens with the ensemble is that you’re building something that has different elements. There’s no Americans in this. There’s no one there because we needed an import to help fund it. None of that!”

drama] Blueback . I got out of quarantine and did a four-and-a half-hour drive to Bremer Bay, where we did Blueback . There were no cinemas anywhere that I could get to, and so for the whole release of The Dry I was remote and had no access to it. People kept calling, going, ’Oh, I love the film,’” he recalls with amusement. ”Eric and I have been mates for 20 years, and we have an office together where we just hang out and talk about

Sisi Stringer, Anna Torv, Lucy Ansell, Deborra-Lee Furness and Robin McLeavy

22 MAY 2024

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