Exclusive: Producers of the remake of iconic Australian movie Storm Boy look set to return to the Coorong
PRODUCERS of a modern remake of the iconic Storm Boy are in talks to shoot the new film in the original landscape of South Australia’s Coorong.
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PRODUCERS of a modern remake of the iconic Storm Boy are in talks to shoot the new film in the original landscape of South Australia’s Coorong.
No deals have been done but Michael Boughen from Ambience Entertainment has visited the Coorong to scope locations and confirmed negotiations are underway to bring the film here.
“One thing I can tell you for sure, we are going to make the film, we are reimagining the story and we are moving forward rapidly to get that done,” Mr Boughen told The Advertiser.
Shot four decades ago, with young actor Greg Rowe and David Gulpilil playing Fingerbone Bill, the original film was embraced by moviegoers young and old and was one of the linchpins of the 1970s’ new wave of films commissioned by the South Australian Film Corporation. While Rowe retired from acting and now lives in Canada, it helped launch the career of Gulpilil – and engendered lifelong public affection for the real Mr Percival who lived out his days at Adelaide Zoo, where he died in 2009.
Based on a short novel by South Australian author Colin Thiele, the film was based on the touching relationship between a young boy and one of three pelican chicks he nurses back to health when their mother is shot. The new film will move the story into a contemporary setting with the boy, now an old man, telling the story of Mr Percival to his troubled granddaughter.
While the SAFC refused to comment, Mr Boughen confirmed he was in discussions about re-using the Coorong, the setting chosen by Thiele.
“We are hopeful it can be filmed in the Coorong, absolutely,” he said. “We are looking at those discussions being fruitful.”
As well as the location, details of finance and casting are also still to be finalised. Despite the uncertainty, the film is being sold overseas through sales agent Kathy Morgan International, and talks are underway to secure Australian distribution. While overseas audiences will be unfamiliar with the Thiele novel, the emotional bond that forms between a child and a pelican is expected to strike a universal chord.
The new film will have big shoes to fill. The original – shown in remastered form at the 2015 Adelaide Film Festival – was an immediate hit and won best film at the 1977 Australian Film Institute Awards. It is one of a spate of classics being remade for new audiences, including television adaptations of Picnic At Hanging Rock (1975), which was partly shot at Martindale Hall, and Wake in Fright (1971) set in a thinly disguised fictional version of Broken Hill.