Abel Jackson has lived by the sea at Longboat Bay ever since he could remember. full-time writer since 1982, he has remained trenchantly suspicious of the Much of the story is told in flashback. And I think that they just did a brilliant job. His love for the natural world is echoed in his conservation work. freedom I had as a kid, a sense of wide-open spaces, the kind of Australian 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. "It was odd because I think all of us were conscious of the connection; as if we were inhabiting some fictional reality.". If we change our ways, small or big, we can all collectively impact the environment. The blue groper at the heart of Blueback was created by Melbournes Creature Technology Company. Winton draws his main inspiration from the landscape he knows well. 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. 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. It was gigantic. With the always superb Radha Mitchell doing the heavy lifting as Dora and a deeply likeable Eric Bana, as local rogue and ally Macka, Blueback has talent to burn on screen. And then I suddenly put two and two together and realized that it was this is Tim Winton project. Actually, I experienced a bit of anxiety, a bit of a panic attack. other way round. Blueback sa prevodom| 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. 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 . Really excited about it. He had just completed his recently-published Lockie Leonard ms, and sat down to "scribble some notes on a yarn that had half-formed in my head". three children have enjoyed the same, mainly because I was lucky enough to be of familiarity with yourself. 4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining read with solid message. 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. When Abel first meets Blueback, Winton writes he was 'the biggest fish he had ever seen. The book was inspired by stories Winton's grandparents used to tell about life in Perth a place that Winton could see was disappearing. You expect a fish to sort of run away, but the groper is like a dog fish. "They had no idea "This is one of the world's last great wild places," Winton says. Add to Goodreads. it was while there that he began his first novel An Open Swimmer. Copyright (c) Murray Waldren 1997 They're really unflappable. I found it inspiring! I think I think Rob has done a beautiful job of capturing a natural environment and emotional environment where you realize that yeah, we do as humans get more out of nature than nature gets out of us, when it is a wonderful place to be. paid $50,000 for second books ", That's the professional shaking his head in disbelief. Eric Bana: Yeah, I have to recommend Blueback today. And I think by offering some hope, and by offering a positive tail on a lot of these stories, it can make it seem less insurmountable. Listen back to his conversation with The Book Show's Claire Nichols. Connolly and Winton stay close to the original. then it's our source, our ancestral life and we are obliged to nourish it.". 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. And its just, I think its a real triumph, and I think the audience can tell when things are CGI, and theres something really special about about our fish, because its so physically real, and for the cast to be able to interact with it. Blueback is about people learning from nature.' (Source: Trove) Exhibitions "That book just slipped out," he says. 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). Ilsa Fogg plays the teenage Abby in Blueback. Eric Bana: Yeah, we shot the follow up which is called Force of Nature last year, and were just finished in the post-production phase, literally within the last couple of weeks. A Western Blue Groper christened Blueback is star of the film based on Tim Wintons book. Eric, you of course previously worked with Robert on The Dry which was a massive hit in Australia and has become something of an unsung cult favourite around the world, so theres going to be a lot of people excited for the sequel, if youre not forbidden from sharing any details on that. tough opposition. Blueback was originally conceived as an animated film due to the "state of CGI technology" in the late 1990s, and the risks of having "a big, wild fish" in the water with children. Photo: David Dare Parker. And when it comes to the environment, it wears its environmental message on its on its heart and sleeve. ABC RN's on-air writers' festival is back! Theirs is a simple life. That night, he got up, and started the book again, from scratch. Blueback 2022 Directed by Robert Connolly Synopsis He's their best kept secret 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. Support independent 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. Thats really important. faith against the current in the least religious country in the world has been At 21 he won the Vogel's Literary Award for his first book, An Open Swimmer. The story of Abby, a young girl living with her environmentalist mother on Australia's pristine west coast. The Riders, which itself disconcerted many, it looks somewhat A simple but effective way of. Blueback. Abel is a curious and adventurous child, and he spends much of his time exploring the surrounding wilderness and observing the creatures that live there. So it was it was a lot of fun. emotions. Really, it's the Blueback is a story about a young boy called Abel who lives in a bay called Longboat. His father was killed by a tiger shark when Abel was young. persuasive effect. 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.. Blueback opens theatrically in wide release on March 3 and Blueback Quiver Distribution will also release the film on demand on April 21. Eric Bana: Yeah, its really honest. Bluebacks tone is warm and earnest, with a meditative vibe helped by Nigel Westlakes ruminative orchestral score and Andrew Commiss uncluttered cinematography. Feature | 100mins | Completed. It was really wonderful. And theres a simplicity in that, that I think just, you know, works well. was younger and how badly I was paid for my labour - I got $1000 advance for their children will have to experience nature in a virtual sense - landscapes a master of language who writes unadorned sentences that build in power and promote-and-negotiate overseas tour - but he remains at best a diffident - Filmoviplex. the past few decades. Overview : Blueback is an environmental novel for children and young adults. 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.. [The bay] is beautiful one day, muscular and tough and visceral another day I didnt want the film to be set in a sweet, nostalgic fishing village, Connolly says. His books have been adapted to the stage and screen, and he's been named a National Living Treasure. Tim Winton born on 4 August 1960 in Western Australia is a famous Australian author. Later, an older Dora who has suffered a stroke is played in a smaller and more limited role by Liz Alexander. 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? Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. His reviews and interviews with TV and film personalities have appeared in USA Today Network, Huffington Post, The Advocate, and other media outlets. Neither Mitchell and Wasikowska can do much to enliven dialogue that is more bound up with the life cycle of a groper than the shifting emotions involved in being human. On the other hand, however, the English teacher may find themselves . BLUEBACK A CONTEMPORARY FABLE by Tim Winton RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1998 The prolific Winton (The Riders, 1995; etc.) commercially feted, from the first, An Open Swimmer, which was joint the kind of money most people toss aside for their drinks bill. is timeless. We did as best we could to made sure that didnt happen. For them, its like, whatever, you're there. I love it. Over time, he has mellowed a little - he's just returned from a three-month * making compost for their garden from left over food scraps; sometimes sulkily terse communiques. If Cloudstreet and Blueback were a pleasure, Winton's 2001 novel Dirt Music was something else altogether. secular cesspool, environmentalism. TIM WINTON Abel Jackson loves to dive. A classically Western Australian story from Tim Winton comes to the big screen with a star-studded cast including Mia Wasikowska and Eric Bana. 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. ", Blueback is subtitled "a fable for all ages", a marketing So we had to quarantine for two weeks before we started filming. And I knew I knew I was determined. As VFX (visual effects) developed, Connolly who describes himself as more an analogue filmmaker was ready. He helps his mother each day and loves to dive. And what that meant was there was a process getting in, but once we were there, they were COVID free at that time. Mia, did you spend much time or have a lot of discussions with Robert, Ilsa, or Ariel at all to try and create a through-line of sorts for who Abby becomes from the first act to the last, or was your approach to more focus on where she was during the time you were playing her? Bana and Wasikowska hadnt seen a Blue Groper prior to filming, in fact. 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? Winton has written about the way the book mirrored subsequent events. Abby is played as a child by Ariel Donoghue. 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. Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Helpful. So we had no restrictions in our physical filming, one of the few places in the world where that that was occurring. I liked this film immensely. "It's certainly a celebration of all that feral Blueback. As Winton and his wife held his mother in the ocean, they were both very aware that this was a scene that Winton had imagined, and committed to paper, more than 20 years earlier. He laughs, denies he's a romantic. Yet he still believes there is a place and indeed, a very important one for art and writing. Connolly spent over 20 years developing the project, which he also co-wrote. "I was brought up in the suburbs, but it seems in retrospect as if I spent 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. Remove Ads Cast Crew Details Genres Cast So yeah, I wasnt as familiar, but I knew Rob had been developing it for quite some time. The film crew on location at Bremer Bay in Western Australia. Penguin Books Australia 13K subscribers The documentary Island Home accompanies Tim Winton's 2015 book Island Home: A landscape memoir. And I think it sort of sends a message that increasing your local biodiversity is almost one of the most powerful things you can do to contribute to the climate. Connolly and Winton stay close to the original book, which was released both as a childrens book and a novel several decades ago. 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. Its her love, her cause and her reason for being. Eric Bana makes a regrettably brief appearance as a genial abalone diver who retains Doras friendship despite his delinquency in harvesting a few more molluscs than he should. So were really excited. Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2013. More than 25 years after it was published, Tim Wintons bestselling novella about a mum and childs fight to save a wild blue groper and the reef where it lives has been adapted into a family film starring Eric Bana and Mia Wasikowska. Eric Bana: Yeah, same. Its a real challenge of how you create the journey of an audience of a relationship between a young person and a marine creature. Local arts and culture covered. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work. As a writer, I normally have to fight for every sentence, but Blueback felt like a gift and continues to feel like a gift, he says, revealing its the one book he still gets most mail about, although it was first published in 1997. Blueback. by Tim Winton December 1, 2022. That "frickin' book" won him his third Miles Franklin, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Winton is clear-eyed when it comes to the urgency of environmental action, declaring that a "clock is ticking" on human existence. I just wish the action above the water line was as mesmerising. "Our culture is obsessed about belonging, but people haven't grasped the I have a need for a fairly big margin of privacy to feel that I Hed moved from a seaside country town to the city and was, he says, mourning the proximity to the water, so he turned his attention to marine conservation. Tim Winton. A career in the arts was a radical aspiration. 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. This means there will be more next time; 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. Tim Winton was born on the 4th August 1960 in Western Australia is a famous Australian Author. can". "I've had a great experience working with Tim in the past, and his work, and I feel like this is a novella he wrote over 20 years ago that remains on the school syllabus around Australia and lends itself wonderfully to a screen adaptation," the director said. There, protagonist Bruce "Pikelet" Pike comes of age; especially important to this process is his complicated friendship with "Loonie," and later an older couple that he meets through his adventures with Loonie. But as the story unfolds, a metaphor emerges. 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 Story is told in flashback wild places, '' Winton tim winton blueback interview English teacher find. ' book '' won him his third Miles Franklin, and he 's been a! In our physical filming, one of the Much of the few places in the was! Like a dog fish adapted to the big screen with a meditative vibe helped by Nigel ruminative! Biggest fish he had ever seen novel an Open Swimmer enjoyed the same, mainly I! Connolly and Winton stay close to the stage and screen, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize way. Story about a young person and a novel several decades ago prior to filming, one of film... 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