Ned Kelly relative claims family members ‘absolutely horrified’ at new movie
The bizarre new Ned Kelly film has been panned by a descendant of the Aussie bushranger icon, claiming the graphic movie is “insulting” to relatives and “besmirches” the cop killer’s name.
VIC News
Don't miss out on the headlines from VIC News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A descendant of Ned Kelly has criticised a new movie about the bushranger for “tarnishing the brand” of her famous family and says it could put people off wanting to visit Victorian towns where the outlaw lived.
True History of the Kelly Gang, starring Russell Crowe, was launched on streaming service Stan on Australia Day. Based on Peter Carey’s Booker Prize-winning novel, the film opens with the disclaimer “nothing you are about to see is true”.
But according to Kelly’s great-grand-niece Joanne Griffiths, the way the fictional movie portrays the family was “nasty” and “insulting”.
She said she would not allow her elderly relatives to watch the film because of its graphic nature and its “distortions of our history”.
Some family members who had seen the film were “absolutely horrified”, Ms Griffiths said.
“It’s an appalling attempt to cash in and besmirch a family’s name,” she said.
In a column in today’s Herald Sun, Griffiths writes she was taken aback during a scene where her great-great-grandmother provides sexual favours to police.
Ms Griffiths, who splits her time between Wangaratta and Melbourne, has spent the past few years planning to open a Ned Kelly museum in Glenrowan, the town where Kelly donned his iconic armour in an 1880 siege.
— Read Joanne Griffiths’ full column here
She said she feared the movie would be “destructive” to the tourism generated by Kelly in parts of Victoria’s northeast.
“It’s bad for the branding. The Kelly story adds a lot of money to this country,” Ms Griffiths said.
“By doing (the movie) in this way it affects the branding, the way we’re looked upon and the story is looked upon. That’s no good to anybody, certainly not to the economy in our area.
“I don’t think (filmmakers) have considered the damage they’ve done to our name and to our region’s heritage and history.”
She said she was unhappy when Carey’s book came out in 2001, saying it was “disrespectful and should not have been written”.
RELATED
NED IN A DRESS IS SKIRTING AROUND KELLY’S BRUTALITY
REVIEW: ANOTHER SWING-AND-A-MISS BUSHRANGER BIOPIC
“Here we are, still having this nasty stuff happen. It’s really inappropriate,” she said.
She encouraged people to seek out factual accounts of the Kelly family.
“Everyone in Australia should know the true history. This movie does nothing except cause trouble. People do tend to mix up fact with fiction. That’s the problem,” she said.”
The Herald Sun approached Stan and the film’s director and producer for comment.