Blueback releases in select theaters, as well as on digital and on-demand, this coming Friday March 3. But theres a twist in the lead role. yearning for yesteryear perhaps? The book is also strongly reflective of the inner man: it's all here - moved by how moved they were by it.." Moved too by the money they offered, Eric Bana: Yeah, I have to recommend Blueback today. Verified Purchase. Listen back to his conversation with The Book Show's Claire Nichols. Despite this idyllic image they lead a hard, basic life. three children have enjoyed the same, mainly because I was lucky enough to be She meets ol mate Blueback as a youngster (played as a child by Ariel Donoghue and as a teenager by Ilsa Fogg) and, as an adult (Mia Wasikowska), becomes a marine biologist caring deeply about the state of the reef. . Local arts and culture covered. Blueback like the great big fish it is named for is a story that needs a few decades to make its purpose known. READ MORE: * The movies I'm most looking forward to in the first-half of 2023 * I Wanna Dance with Somebody: Phenomenal performances lift Kiwi screenwriter's disappointing Whitney Houston biopic * Top Gun: Maverick, Whina and Moonage Daydream among the films I truly loved this year * The Lost King: Sally Hawkins shines in a breezy, enjoyable and very watchable tale. The story of Abby, a young girl living with her environmentalist mother on Australia's pristine west coast. Macka is a small but pivotal role, and one that ends up having a massive influence on Abby throughout the story, but what was it like as performers and audience members to see that dynamic unfold onscreen given that you dont you dont directly cross paths? a master of language who writes unadorned sentences that build in power and He would have discovered an unpretentious He's unabashed. It's a quite a stressful environmental world at the moment, and I think anything that reconnects us to the natural environment is really important, said Wasikowska about the perfect moment in time when this film is being released. Three years later he won his first Miles Franklin Literary Award for Shallows (he's won the Miles four times to date, and shares the record for the most wins with the late Thea Astley). His reviews and interviews with TV and film personalities have appeared in USA Today Network, Huffington Post, The Advocate, and other media outlets. "You find yourself living out things that you've already written; you find yourself inhabiting scenes that you've already imagined and published.". South-East Asian section of the Commonwealth Writers Prize. We meet the pair when Abby is an eight-year-old, obsessed with diving, then again when she is a teen - ditto,. Rob made a beautiful choice to make the fish real and mechanical, as opposed to just CGI. The boy befriends the fish, a blue grouper while diving for abalone, his family's trade. He was particularly surprised by the American interest. Is that something you guys can relate to having witnessed first-hand the environmental impact on Australia and the world thats been ongoing throughout your lives? I think that they teach it in a lot of school curriculums at the moment, actually. People can watch the film and go on an incredible journey to places we went and filmed in. "Everyone on television was from the east. I loved its environmental messaging about saving the ocean, and that it took us to a world that is extraordinary Bremer Bay this little bay at the bottom of [Western] Australia, Connolly, who directed and wrote the screenplay, tells The New Daily. Wasikowska plays environmentalist Abby as an adult Abby returns home upon hearing of her mother, Doras, stroke. The family film will be produced by Arenamedia and directed by Robert Connolly as the follow up to his award-winning box office hit . He's written bestselling novels for adults and children, short stories, plays, essays and memoirs. But just to meet them and get a sense of who they were. "I'm in the business of useless beauty," he says. Winton draws his main inspiration from the landscape he knows well. Report abuse. And good he was. Blueback is an achingly beautiful story about family, belonging, and living a life in tune with the environment, from Tim Winton, one of Australia's best-loved authors.Abel Jackson's boyhood belongs to a vanishing world. Formidable employer power, Jacky and his boyfriend were 'flatmates' for years until his mother found out about the truth, 'Momentous occasion': Spears taken by Captain Cook in 1770 to be returned home, This youth worker can't talk about youth crime without mentioning the kids sleeping in nearby public toilet blocks, Prince Harry and Meghan told to vacate UK home, 'The biggest mistake of our lives': US fertility clinic sued for using embryo with deadly cancer gene, Pedestrian killed after being struck by car on major Darwin road, 'I pretty much cried all day': Devil in one of the last 'disease-free' populations found with facial tumour. In terms of how it pushed me personally, I got to do a crash course in scuba diving, which I'd never done before. I wanted it to be somewhere that had a scale; what an amazing place for a mother to bring up a daughter and teach her about the environment and to introduce her to Blueback, this amazing fish.. secular cesspool, environmentalism. McGirr, Michael (1999)Tim Winton: The Writer and His Work, Macmillan Education. Mia Wasikowska: I did manage to crossover with the girls in Western Australia by maybe only two days when I was at the end of my filming period. Mon 21 - Sun 27 Nov at Lotterywest Films, from $17 - $20. something to the future, to define limits on what we'll exploit and how we'll So what did Bana whose international career goes back to 1997s The Castle bring to the project, when cast and crew found themselves filming off Ningaloo Reefs warm waters with whale sharks and oceanic manta rays? This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. You expect a fish to sort of run away, but the groper is like a dog fish. His father was killed by a tiger shark when Abel was young. Using straightforward prose and stark, uncomplicated characters it carries a clear environmental and conservationist message. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday. His love for the natural world is echoed in his conservation work. Moving between and integrating these timelines becomes a core structural challenge. When acclaimed Western Australian author Tim Winton first wrote the novella Blueback, it was at a time in his life when the fragility of the worlds oceans hit him hard. Later, an older Dora who has suffered a stroke is played in a smaller and more limited role by Liz Alexander. Here are a few thoughts for you to think about: Turning lights off in rooms we aren't using, Drying clothes on the line not in the dryer, "Up and down they went hanging on the each breath taking a couple of abalone from each clump leaving the rest to breed and grow". each of my first three books, and that was for years and years of my life, for On an idyllic stretch of coast whose waters teem with fish, he lives a simple, tough existence. Blueback is a love letter to Western Australias Ningaloo Reef and the sea creatures that make their home there. family's - and his own - privacy with zeal. We get so much joy and connection, and from the ocean and from our environment. Whether it's the majesty of the ocean in Breath, or sparse salt lakes of The Shepherd's Hut, Tim Winton is recognised as one of the most lyrical observers of the Western Australian landscape. And I was like, Okay, and then the fish kind of got bigger and bigger! On an idyllic stretch of coast whose waters teem with fish, he lives a simple, tough existence. [As Jacques] Cousteau said: If you can make people fall in love with something, theyll care for it., I hope the film can inspire an activism about the health of our oceans.. 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. "I reckon it took me ten years to not feel bad about doing well.". am who I am, and not an abstraction or a marketing tool. Blueback puts a very eloquent case for the care of this marine paradise. 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). Helpful. lead a Pynchon or a Salinger existence and become completely anonymous. TIM WINTON'S BLUEBACK AND STAGE 4 STUDENTS Luke Bartolo F inding the right novel for a Year 7 class can be quite a tricky task. When she realizes that the fish is under threat, she takes inspiration from her activist mum, Dora (played by Mitchell), and vigilantly takes on poachers to save her friend. All of it sparks her life-long journey to save the world's coral reefs. As an adaptation comes to the silver screen, he reflects on how the book's protagonist has haunted him all the way to Ningaloo Reef. Years later, when Abel is older, he returns to the bay and plays with Blueback again, but when his mother passes away he returns to his studies about the ocean. Which has tended to obscure the real paid $50,000 for second books ", That's the professional shaking his head in disbelief. So it was it was a bit of a mission to get there. "It's certainly a celebration of all that feral 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. And I was like, Whats with the polystyrene fish? And, and somebody in my office said, Ah, thats Robs next project.. Photo: David Dare Parker. A wise exploration of the difference between the acquisition of information and the quest for knowledge, Tim Winton's gem-like ecological fable will warm the hearts of his fans. Adapted from Tim Wintons book of the same name (Winton also shares screenwriting credit here), no doubt ocean life and the environment are depressingly pertinent topics these days. Abby is played as a child by Ariel Donoghue.Credit:David Dare Parker. Eric, did you meet the star of the show Blueback at all during your time on set, or was he being a diva and refusing to interact with people who werent direct scene partners? Forty years into his publishing career, Winton says these weird moments of his writing coming to life are becoming more common. * preventing people from overfishing in the area that they own. Connolly and his editors do a sublime job of getting these three eras to talk to each other. Connolly describes him as a wonderful man to work with. 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). Blueback is a 2022 Australian drama film directed by Robert Connolly, from a screenplay written by Connolly and Tim Winton, based on Winton's 1997 novel of the same name.The film centres on a young girl who befriends a wild blue groper while diving, and becomes a passionate activist for protecting the ecosystem of Australia's coral reefs from destruction. This film should certainly help in that ongoing fight. Blueback is loosely based on Booker Prize nominee Tim Winton's critically acclaimed novella of the same name. Looking back, Winton says some books have been much easier to write than others. oily self-interest in Government, in terms of reconciliation, and the But both the filmmaker and author also wanted to keep the film optimistic to provoke thought and inspire change. "We were told by the culture that all the real Australia was elsewhere, it occurred on the east coast," Winton says. If there's something ahead that I would recommend Blueback. When Abel first meets Blueback, Winton writes he was 'the biggest fish he had ever seen. But, when Abel leaves his mother to go to a boarding school his mother has an encounter withbusinessmen who are trying to get her to sell the bay. Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Mia Wasikowska and Eric Bana love that Blueback delivers a passionate message about friendship and the beauty of the worlds oceans. But we were very lucky, because Western Australia where we filmed was completely separated from the rest of the country. Blueback by Tim Winton - Free download as PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or read online for free. in later but at the time it was very, very hard. (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. Winton at this address are forwarded to him by his publisher. This story was first published on The New Daily. The story follows Abel Jackson as he and his mother earn a living by finding and selling abalone. https://www.penguin.com.au/products/9. ourselves. Its clear that the impact on the environment is something you both feel strongly about, and even though its a uniquely Australian tale in terms of setting and story that speaks to the feelings a lot of people in the country have and have had for some time, the themes and messages are universal, so what do you hope audiences take away from the film by the time the credits come up? I wasnt as taken in by Wasikowska, who is soft and sullen, reading her lines in a vacant sort of way as if shes mentally some place else. 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. And Dora is no more convincing. My Here are a couple to think about: Blueback is a story about a young boy called Abel who lives in a bay called Longboat. . There's even a fish species named after him you can find the 30-centimetre 'Hannia wintoni' (or Winton's Grunter) swimming in the freshwaters of the Kimberley. Wasikowska was blown away by the extraordinary locale, noting Bremer Bays coastal eye candy. 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. And I think that they just did a brilliant job. emotions. have an age, a heartbeat, you're just in this squeezed-down narrow focus which Winton is clear-eyed when it comes to the urgency of environmental action, declaring that a "clock is ticking" on human existence. Australian author Tim Winton has published dozens of novels, short story collections, plays, children's books, and non-fiction works in a career that spans four decades. Blueback is an achingly beautiful story about family, belonging and living a life in tune with the environment, from Tim Winton, one of Australia's best-loved authors.. Abel Jackson lives with his mother, Dora, at Longboat Bay, an isolated stretch of coast whose waters teem with fish. (including five prize-winning children's novels) have been critically and It tells the story of a young boy named Abel Jackson, who grows up in a small coastal town in Western Australia. 37, the Fremantle-based author has always been an enigmatic figure in Ozlit. I mean, its one of the great things about when you really come in and do a supporting role is you dont get to see the rest of the film. 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. Abel Jackson's forebears were whalers, his father a pearl- diver whose life was ended by a shark. Tim Winton was born on the 4th August 1960 in Western Australia is a famous Australian Author. This article was first published in The Weekend It can live up to 70 years. The news brings her back to Longboat Bay, the tiny cove off Ningaloo where shes been brought up, and the memories take over. You know, this is an actual life-size mechanical, human-operated thing. winner of the 1981 The Australian/Vogel Award. https://libguides.spx.nsw.edu.au/EnglishYear5. Theirs is a simple life. But it's just a whole other way of seeing the ocean, and it made it less scary, I guess, in some strange way, to really be immersed in it.. I love the fact that our characters are part of the environment that we're portraying. Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email. And Remove Ads Cast Crew Details Genres Cast Blueback is told straight from the heart by everyone on either side of the camera, which is an approach you dont really see often enough anymore, and one you both clearly gravitated towards. There is no discernible "Connolly style" in any of his films, just extreme competence, humility and a love of storytelling. We meet the pair when Abby is an eight-year-old, obsessed with diving, then again when she is a teen ditto, just deeper and then with Abby in her 30s or so, working as a marine biologist, when she learns Dora has fallen in ill. He felt indebted to the teachers and mentors who'd helped him to succeed, who didn't get the same accolades themselves. moral arms. Blueback premieres in cinemas on January 1, 2023. Add to Goodreads. Blueback by Tim Winton Year 7 Background Abel Jackson lives for and from the sea. We shot in the middle of the pandemic when it felt like any sort of travel was not really allowed, explained Wasikowska. 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 We see that with the character of Abby and the amazing relationship she has with her mother and how she's bought up, continued Bana. She said shed never spent time in Western Australia before and the experience, overall, was wonderful, if not incredibly rare. If you live your life with your gaze vigorously averted, He forms a connection with a fish - Blueback - while diving. avoiding or recovering from" and (b) "something I do for myself and because I faith against the current in the least religious country in the world has been The puppet they made for this was just amazing.. Once Bremer Bay was decided on as a film location, the magic started to unfold. Tim Winton has published twenty-nine books for adults and children, and his work has been translated into twenty-eight languages. "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. "far more than for other fatter books". ", Blueback is subtitled "a fable for all ages", a marketing Yet, at Get InReview in your inbox free each Saturday. Rossiter, Richard and Jacobs, Lyn (editors) (1993) Reading Tim Winton, Thank you Tim Winton. '," Winton says. We had to sort of quarantine because Sydney, or Western Australia, was locked off from the rest of Australia. So, to be in this beautiful natural environment felt soothing. And more. Cameras have started rolling on Robert Connolly's new film Blueback, starring Mia Wasikowska, Radha Mitchell, Eric Bana and Clarence Ryan.. 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. 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. Few writers have been as welcomed or as sought after. And The Riders, a finalist for the 1995 Booker Prize, won the I mean, I feel like this book was written 30 years ago, I might be wrong with that, but I think it was written 30 years ago. Radha Mitchell plays Dora, an environmental activist. It should be required reading in creative writing classes: Winton is 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. 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. Blueback is an achingly beautiful story about family, belonging, and living a life in tune with the environment, from Tim Winton, one of Australia's best-loved authors.Abel Jackson's boyhood belongs to a vanishing world. 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 . Thats really important. 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