Australian outlaw Ned Kelly has one of those stories that filmmakers just can't stay away from – the likes of Heath Ledger and Mick Jagger have played him in the past. The latest to take on the role is 1917's George McKay, starring for director Justin Kurzel, who blends a period setting with a punk rock attitude for True History Of The Kelly Gang__. See the trailer...
Kurzel has rounded up a solid supporting cast that includes Russell Crowe, Thomasin McKenzie, Essie Davies, Nicholas Hoult and Charlie Hunnam. As for the story, let's go to the official synopsis: "Set against the badlands of colonial Australia where the English rule with a bloody fist and the Irish endure, Ned Kelly discovers he comes from a line of Irish rebels called the Sons of Sieve, an uncompromising army of cross dressing bandits immortalized for terrorizing their oppressors back in Ireland. Nurtured by the notorious bushranger Harry Power (Crowe) and fueled by the unfair arrest of his mother, Ned Kelly recruits a wild bunch of warriors to plot one of the most audacious attacks of anarchy and rebellion the country has ever seen.
"Loved by the people, feared by his enemies and carved in history Ned Kelly is more than a Robin Hood, he is a f***ing legend." Bit of a dig at Crowe there, isn't it? After all, he's done the Hood thing in the past.
True History Of The Kelly Gang, which Shaun Grant adapted from Peter Carey's novel, will be out in the UK on 28 February.