Writer/director Justin Kurzel and co-writer Shaun Grant broke through in a big way with Australian crime tale Snowtown. And for a new collaboration, they’re digging into more of the country’s criminal history for **True History Of The Kelly Gang.
Grant is working on an adaptation of Peter Carey’s eponymous novel, which chronicles Ned Kelly’s adventures through the man’s own eyes. Their history was a complicated one – in the eyes of the law, they were bandits and murderers, but to many ordinary Australians, they were heroes, the bushrangers who defied English authority to life their own lives.
Kelly’s story has been brought to the screen several times before, including a 1906 version, Tony Richardson’s take in 1970 with Mick Jagger playing the main man and 2003’s Ned Kelly, which saw Heath Ledger taking on the role for director Gregor Jordan.
It’s early days for this one, so we don’t yet know when it’ll be shooting. It has been in development for a while already, with Joe Penhall writing one version of the script. Kurzel is busy with other projects at the moment, including Assassin’s Creed, which reunites him with Macbeth’s Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard for the game adaptation that will be out here on December 16 next year.