While diving, Abby forms a bond with a. He was particularly surprised by the American interest. Mia Wasikowska and Eric Bana love that Blueback delivers a passionate message about friendship and the beauty of the worlds oceans. in later but at the time it was very, very hard. "I reckon it took me ten years to not feel bad about doing well.". Blueback is the sixth of his books to be turned into a feature. The directors other family film, 2015s Paper Planes, reflects a similar commercial mindset as Blueback, providing a broadly appealing if a little indistinct experience that doesnt speak down to younger audiences but certainly hands them unambiguous moral lessons. On an idyllic stretch of coast whose waters teem with fish, he lives a simple, tough existence. Since his first novel, An Open Swimmer, won the Australian Vogel Award in 1981, he has won the Miles Franklin Award four times (for Shallows, Cloudstreet, Dirt Music and Breath) and twice been shortlisted for the Booker Prize (for The Riders and Dirt Music). Mia Wasikowsa: I think you have to respect the fact that for young people, theres so much anxiety with the world that theyre inheriting, and to offer some positivity and hope is sort of I mean, thats the only otherwise you kind of go, Oh, whats the point? And I feel like thats really important for young people. I dont think Dora and her daughter ever have a conversation that doesnt centre on the reef. mobile and not have to get into a working rut. Even when the day came to submit the final manuscript, Winton wasn't convinced he'd nailed it. Cloudstreet the Miles Franklin-winning novel about two families sharing a house in Perth between the 40s and 60s was also a "pleasure" to write. (Blueback, . it is about things close to my heart.". A simple but effective way of. Based on the best-selling novel by Tim Winton, BLUEBACK is a timely tale about the ocean, a beautiful marine creature, and a young girl's power to change the world. where so much revolved around the sea - in a way, it was a gift and I owe it paid $50,000 for second books ", That's the professional shaking his head in disbelief. (Supplied: Screenwest) Story puts environment before economics Blueback will be a family-focused film that follows the story of Abby, a child who befriends a wild groper while diving in the ocean. While diving, Abby forms a bond with a. And we can see that Erik Thomson is up to mischief even before he turns up in a white suit. "I am more As VFX (visual effects) developed, Connolly who describes himself as more an analogue filmmaker was ready. journalism, Blueback: There's magic in this film, especially in the relationship between a little girl and the big, wild fish she befriends. We meet the pair when Abby is an eight-year-old, obsessed with diving, then again when she is a teen - ditto,. The big readers are the kids. The puppet they made for this was just amazing.. Related: Best Mia Wasikowska Movies, Ranked. ", The focus of Blueback is unequivocal - a call to environmental and The story of Abby, a young girl living with her environmentalist mother on Australia's pristine west coast. Did you already know that as well? We also wanted the audience to see the actors jump off boats and swim 20 metres down. And we all got together, and we didnt really sort of to intentionally talk much about Abby because you dont want to set limitations on their sort of sense of freedom. sometimes sulkily terse communiques. give only this print interview. At eight, shes already mastered the art of free diving. Robert Connolly had been developing the film pretty much since the novella was published, but were you guys overly familiar with the source material prior to getting involved in the project? It's a beautiful piece of old school craft. Every day while fishing, Abel and his mother would go out and play and feed Blueback. If I had my way, I'd People can watch the film and go on an incredible journey to places we went and filmed in. Blueback by Tim Winton - Free download as PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or read online for free. From the hard-to-find Metal Skin, through Somersault, The Black Balloon and the quietly incredible 2016 Is This The Real World, the Aussies routinely knock absolute gems out of the park. She said shed never spent time in Western Australia before and the experience, overall, was wonderful, if not incredibly rare. I liked this film immensely. that people are seen as writing either for children or adults - and that He has been to various countries but now resides back in Western Australia. "I had enormous pleasure writing strongly-held views, he has restricted his public utterances to reluctant, Its her love, her cause and her reason for being. their children will have to experience nature in a virtual sense - landscapes Blueback puts a very eloquent case for the care of this marine paradise. One day he meets Blueback, the biggest and most beautiful fish he's . of familiarity with yourself. This beautiful story about a child, their activist mum, a wild blue groper, and the fight to save a reef from commercial fishing operators and developers has now been adapted by filmmaker Robert Connolly (director of Balibo, Three Dollars and The Dry, and producer of Romulus, My Father and The Boys) into a coming-of-age family film for the big screen. from the sea and the land for so long, it's time for us to give something "If you're in this caper long enough, you realise that it's inevitable that you're going to repeat yourself, but not in a conventional way," Winton says. Rossiter, Richard and Jacobs, Lyn (editors) (1993) Reading Tim Winton, For them, its like, whatever, you're there. I love it. Only the fishs eyes were CGI. So we had no restrictions in our physical filming, one of the few places in the world where that that was occurring. The fish are so colourful and shiny that you can notice the sparks coming out of the water. So why should I be anxious about categorisation?". When I look back and see how hard I worked when I I t's the end of the road for Tim Winton. Nevertheless, Blueback may disconcert some. His second novel, Really excited about it. I would recommend Blueback. A classically Western Australian story from Tim Winton comes to the big screen with a star-studded cast including Mia Wasikowska and Eric Bana. Longboat Bay is like a paradise because of the crystal clear water, the way that the sun is always up and the different and the unique types of fish that are there. Moving between and integrating these timelines becomes a core structural challenge. I never saw one before, but its incredible how old they can live, shared Bana. skin." Penguin Books Australia 13K subscribers The documentary Island Home accompanies Tim Winton's 2015 book Island Home: A landscape memoir. It asks us, without ever lecturing, how it is we have designed a world so completely insane, that the concept of "money" is somehow worth more to us than the actual water, air and land that keeps us all alive. Blueback was originally conceived as an animated film due to the "state of CGI technology" in the late 1990s, and the risks about "a big, wild fish" in the water with children. It was another one of those strange life-imitating-art moments: in Blueback, published in 1997, Abel and his mum successfully protect their patch of coast from developers. avoiding or recovering from" and (b) "something I do for myself and because I Adapted from Tim Winton's best-selling 1997 novella of the same name, co-writer and director Robert Connolly tells the environmentally-conscious and emotionally-driven story of the unlikely. can". This is his last interview, after two months in Australia promoting his 29th book, The Shepherd's Hut, and flying around the country for a sold-out . Get InReview in your inbox free each Saturday. On the other hand, however, the English teacher may find themselves . Erik Thomson is selfless as the villainous developer and the marvellous Eddie Baroo turns up as school bus driver Merv, investing "tell your mum I said hello" with more pathos and backstory than you'll believe six simple syllables could carry. Crusty fisherman Macka (played by Bana) is part of Abbys memories as the film floats back and forth through time. There is no discernible "Connolly style" in any of his films, just extreme competence, humility and a love of storytelling. Abel Jackson lives with his mother, Dora, at Longboat Bay, an isolated stretch of coast whose waters teem with fish. emotions. Tim Winton has published twenty-nine books for adults and children, and his work has been translated into twenty-eight languages. winner of the 1981 The Australian/Vogel Award. "Everyone on television was from the east. Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. and species have been eroded this century at an unimaginable rate. Blueback opens theatrically in wide release on March 3 and Blueback Quiver Distribution will also release the film on demand on April 21. "My wife left for work at eight o'clock in the morning, and I was wrapping it up to send it to my publisher," Winton says. The Riders, which itself disconcerted many, it looks somewhat Were thrilled with how the films looking, and looking forward to sharing that with Australian audiences and the rest of the world. "We come from water," the mother whispers to her son. Winton says he learned a valuable lesson from this "dark, dark time". he'd better have another look at it. Mia Wasikowska: I mean, I hope its inspiring. It could be the right film at the right time, theres definitely a gap in the market seeing as its the first major underwater movie to release since Avatar: The Way of Water. Wasikowska plays environmentalist Abby as an adult Abby returns home upon hearing of her mother, Doras, stroke. Its a film about young people having great agency for change, [and] the inspiration they get from their parents, so even though I changed the gender I feel its a film for all young people., Melbourne-based actor Eric Bana on a mission. He. On the one hand, it's a time when students should be challenged by texts more complex than anything they've experienced at primary school. "I was brought up in the suburbs, but it seems in retrospect as if I spent Overall, you get a sense of how real it all felt when you watch the film and particularly for the cast who had to interact with the fish. am who I am, and not an abstraction or a marketing tool. . other way round. In one scene, adult Abby, during a moment of melancholic reflection, casts her gaze towards sand dunes, before Connolly cuts to teenage Abby walking across them. The Dry was one of the great experiences of my career and he was stunning in that film. Thats really important. As VFX (visual effects) developed, Connolly - who describes himself as more an "analogue" filmmaker - was ready. childhood. Even as Abby is played by three different actors (Mia Wasikowska, Ilsa Fogg and Ariel Donoghue), the storytelling remains easy to follow and most importantly we understand there is purpose in constructing the film this way. Like the groper, which will spend its life in one place if it can, Dora is devoting her life to the welfare of her own home. historic contract we have between ourselves and the future. His mum had been a swim teacher as a younger woman, but was now too frail to swim on her own. The acting is mostly great, the underwater cinematography is superb and the selection of songs on the soundtrack suggest that Robert Connolly's record collection would be an agreeable place to spend a couple of hours. Growing up in a working-class family in suburban Perth, Winton understood that he lived on "the wrong side of the wrong country in the wrong hemisphere". 162 Pages. The teenage Abby (Ilsa Fogg) is the perfect child, intellectually gifted, uncannily calm in a crisis and free of all the stroppiness that punctuates the adolescent years of more credible beings. was younger and how badly I was paid for my labour - I got $1000 advance for family's - and his own - privacy with zeal. Using straightforward prose and stark, uncomplicated characters it carries a clear environmental and conservationist message. "You find yourself living out things that you've already written; you find yourself inhabiting scenes that you've already imagined and published.". We shot in the middle of the pandemic when it felt like any sort of travel was not really allowed, explained Wasikowska. They're really unflappable. Set across three distinct time periods that sees Ilsa Fogg and Ariel Donoghue also play Abby at different points, Bana lends support as the roguish abalone diver Macka, who ends up having a huge impact on the inspiring conservationist. Ahead of the release, We Got This Covered had the chance to talk to Bana and Wasikowska about the project, the difficulties of shooting on location during the pandemic, their own thoughts on the perils of climate change and much more, which you can check out below. Actually, I experienced a bit of anxiety, a bit of a panic attack. But as the story unfolds, a metaphor emerges. Connollys production has notes of the Oscar-winning 2020 documentary My Octopus Teacher, with a protagonist (in the novel a boy named Abel, now a girl named Abby) developing a friendship with the titular character: a wild blue groper who profoundly influences her worldview. She asks him isn't he sick of never having money . But then I've always hated the idea Blueback. So I think I think it is a good way forward. Rob made a beautiful choice to make the fish real and mechanical, as opposed to just CGI. I just wish the action above the water line was as mesmerising. cataclysm to learn the value of sacrifice. If three hours of the new Avatar is more than you can stand, you might find this fable of family and the ocean far more to your taste. has stooped to the mawkish in this tale about world ecology that as message is indisputable but that as fiction is inane. Photo: Roadshow, This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google, InDaily uses cookies. In the book, for example, Abby is a 10-year-old boy, Abel. "And I'm happy with that. Art is everywhere, as the ABC celebrates the first ever Arts Week, from Saturday August 6. Despite this idyllic image they lead a hard, basic life. So yeah, I hope people feel educated and inspired, and they want the natural world to be a bigger part of their life., Id love audiences to feel what I felt when I read the script, which was that sense of being really inspired and appreciating the connection we have to the environment, added Wasikowska. I don't know whether books like Blueback make a difference, Eric Bana: I sort of knew Robert was developing it, because we have an office together. Thats incredible. It has been adapted, with Winton's input, by veteran Aussie safe-pair-of-hands Robert Connolly (The Dry, Balibo) who has the true storytellers art of bringing exactly what each film needs to the table and then trusting a perfectly assembled cast and crew to get on with it. you may be able to proceed without disturbance but I can't. Tim Winton reflects on how Albany shaped his life 27,470 views Jun 15, 2012 100 Dislike Share Save ABC News (Australia) 1.62M subscribers Writer Tim Winton visits Albany for the premiere of. behave; the other is in terms of community - what are we prepared to give up They said, Youve got two daughters, Dad! Thank you to Penguin Books Australia. Tim Winton's novel Breath (2008) is a modern bildungsroman set in the sleepy beach town of Sawyer, Western Australia in the 1970s. Tim Winton (based on the book 'Blueback' by) Stars Mia Wasikowska Albert Mwangi Ariel Donoghue See production, box office & company info Coming soon Releases March 3, 2023 Add to Watchlist Added by 2.1K users 6 User reviews 24 Critic reviews 57 Metascore Videos 4 Trailer 1:03 Watch Teaser Trailer Trailer 2:00 Watch Official Trailer Featurette 3:36 Blueback intertwines three decades in the lives of mother and daughter Abby and Dora. 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