Oscars buzz starts early for Saroo Brierley’s blockbuster biopic Lion

OPENING with spectacular shots of the Bruny Island isthmus, the first glimpse of Hollywood blockbuster Lion is an emotion-packed journey. WATCH THE VIDEO

Dev Patel, pictured, has mastered an Australian accent to play Saroo Brierley in Lion. Picture: SUPPLIED

THE trailer has the movie world buzzing with Oscars awards hype. Opening with spectacular shots of the Bruny Island isthmus, the first glimpse of Hollywood blockbuster Lion is an emotion-packed journey.

An inherently Tasmanian story, Lion is based on Hobart man Saroo Brierley’s best selling memoir A Long Way Home.

From begging on the streets of India to growing up on Hobart’s Eastern Shore, Brierley embarks on one of the greatest needle-in-a-haystack searches of all time as he attempts to track down his birth family.

For Lion, Dev Patel heads a cast that includes Academy Award nominee Rooney Mara as his girlfriend, and Best Actress winner Nicole Kidman and David Wenham as his adoptive parents.

A number of big name Bollywood actors feature as Brierley’s Indian family.

Executive producer Harvey Weinstein this week said he expected the film to pick up a swag of Oscar nominations.

“I think Lion will set a new streak for us. Lion could get nominated for eight or nine Academy Awards. Nicole gets one for supporting actor because she’s amazing in Lion.”

Lion will be released in the US on November 25, a date that has previously been a lucky one for The Weinstein Company  with its movies Carol, The Imitation Game, and The King’s Speech all premiering on the same date.

Last year, Weinstein missed out on a Best Picture nomination for the first time since 2008.

Five years ago he teamed up with Emile Sherman, one of Lion’s Australian producers, for Oscars success The King’s Speech.

Weinstein has long been talking up Lion and its coveted Thanksgiving Day release date.

“The touching and beautiful family story of has tremendous performances by Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman and Rooney Mara and will work really well during the holiday season.”

A cast and crew of 75, including Tasmanians, spent eight days filming in Hobart and around in April last year.

Saroo’s adoptive father John Brierley and his brother Mantosh with cast member David Wenham, Saroo and his adoptive mother Sue Brierley at Primrose Sands Beach.

The trailer shows some great Tasmania’s scenery such as a moment between Patel and Rooney on top of Mt Wellington with views of Hobart.

At the age of five, Brierley became lost at an Indian train station after being separated from his older brother.

He fell asleep on a train and woke up scared and disoriented.

In the trailer, a friend asks him: “How long were you on the train?”. “Couple of days,” says Brierley.

“It will take a lifetime to search all the train stations in India,” he is told.

Patel spent eight months preparing for Lion, changing his look and perfecting his Australian accent.

“With accents, I end up going too far and I have to be reeled in. I started off with a Dev Patel-Steve Irwin mash-up,” Patel said.

Dev Patel and Saroo Brierley.

He has long hair and a beard in the trailer and portrays an intense and guilt-stricken man longing for clues about his childhood in India and the whereabouts of his relatives.

“I had another family — a mother, a brother. I can still see their faces. Do you have any idea what it’s like, how every day my real brother screams my name?” he asks his girlfriend (Rooney Mara).

Brierley spent thousands of hours scouring Google Earth using just the memories of home that haunted him, from the time up until he was lost.

“Every night I imagine that I’m walking those streets home and I know every single step of the way and I whisper in her (my mother’s) ear — I’m here.”

In the heartwrenching trailer, through tears Brierley’s adoptive mum Sue (Kidman) says “I always thought I could keep this family together”.

Saroo Brierley with his biological mother Kamla back home in India.

Lion will debut at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10.

It will screen at the London Film Festival on October 12, with Patel and Kidman expected to walk the red carpet.

Lion will air in Australia on January 19.

Plans are afoot for red carpet gala events in Sydney and Melbourne. Hobart will also host a premiere, which some of the cast are expected to attend.