Moviegoers love 'The Dry'
Wednesday, May 26, 2021
The film adaptation of Jane Harper's award-winning novel The Dry has become the 15th top grossing Australian film of all time at the local box office, having passed the $20.5m mark.
The movie has also been released in North America through IFC Films (theatrical and on-demand) and the UK through Sky Cinema and NOW, with further international releases to come.
Starring Australian screen legend Eric Bana and directed by Robert Connolly (Balibo, Paper Planes, Deep State), The Dry movie was filmed across more than 15 towns in rural Victoria, Australia, in 2019.
Bruna Papandrea (Big Little Lies, Gone Girl, The Nightingale), Jodi Matterson (Down Under, 2:22) and Steve Hutensky (2:22, The Nightingale) produced The Dry for Made Up Stories. Bana and Connolly were executive producers on the project.
Jane said the finished film was superb.
"It's such a great adaptation in that it celebrates the spirit and characters of The Dry and remains faithful to the story, while still being a fantastic movie in its own right," Jane said.
"I loved it and I know readers will too.
"My huge thanks go to producers Made Up Stories and director and screenwriter Robert Connolly who has been such a driving force behind this beautiful adaptation.
"The entire cast is outstanding. Genevieve O’Reilly is perfect as Gretchen and I simply couldn’t have asked for a better Aaron Falk than Eric Bana. He has brought the role to life on screen in an incredible way, and has really captured the heart and soul of a character that means a lot to me."
Bana said he had already read and felt a deep connection with the book before he was approached to play the lead.
"Jane had plotted this amazing journey that we then got to turn into the best possible version for cinema," he said.
Connolly said The Dry was "a powerful contemporary story with big mythic themes driven by a thrilling crime story."
The news comes as Jane's fourth novel, The Survivors, is enthusiastically received by readers in Australia, the United States and United Kingdom.
More than 1 million copies of The Dry have been sold worldwide. The book has been awarded numerous major prizes internationally, including the CWA Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel, the British Book Awards Crime and Thriller Book of the Year, the Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year and the Australian Indie Awards Book of the Year.
The film adaption of The Dry received major production investment from Screen Australia in association with Film Victoria. It has been distributed by Roadshow Films in Australia and New Zealand.
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