Since he got such a kick out of playing a hard nut soldier in Avatar and enjoyed working/living in Australia for short-lived sci-fi series Terra Nova, it somehow makes perfect sense that Stephen Lang would combine the two in Aussie indie movie The 34th Battalion, which he’s now joined. And he’s not alone, as Vinnie Jones is also signing up.
Luke Sparke, who co-wrote the script with executive producer dad Ian, is directing the $20 million film, which will detail the adventures of the heroic Australian Army unit battling the Germans during World War I. The story will focus on four men from New South Wales who joined the army in 1916 after the terrible Gallipoli campaign.
Jones is aboard to play the British-born lieutenant colonel who led the battalion, while Lang will not have to crank out an accent either: he’s a US officer who is part of the squad.
Luke Hemsworth (yes, the older brother of more well known siblings Chris and Liam) is featured alongside Emile de Ravin, Charles Mesure, Les Hill, Claire van der Boom (good name for a war film), Tony Bonner, Andrew Lees and Vince Colosimo.
The cameras should be whirring later this year in Wauchope, New South Wales.