Richard Gray’s Australian rules football film Blinder is set for a wide theatrical release on March 7 with new distributor Backlot Studios.
The $5 million film, which stars Josh Helman (Animal Kingdom), Oliver Ackland (The Slap), and Rose McIver (The Lovely Bones), was originally set to be released on January 24 by Jump Street Films before a clash with another release spurred the change.
Gray, who wraps production on US film The Lookalike on January 18, said Blinder will now be distributed on 80-100 screens in Australia. “I can't wait to get back to Australia for the Blinder tour,” the director said via email.
Blinder executive producers and former AFL greats Glenn Archer and Sam Keckovich, and legendary actor Jack Thompson, are expected to help publicise the film.
Backlot Studios has been set up by former Paramount and and Roadshow executives Tony Ianiro and Mark D’Angelo. The company will also release Gray’s Mine Games around August.
Blinder centres on 18-year-old Tom (Oliver Ackland) from Torquay in Victoria who, having fled Australia on the back of a football scandal that ended his career, returns home to clear his name and reignite an old flame. Gray also co-wrote the screenplay with Scott Didier and Michele Gray.
The Lookalike, a US thriller/crime comedy, stars Justin Long and Luis Guzman and was filmed in New Orleans and the Bahamas.
Contact this reporter at bswift@www.if.com.au or on Twitter at @bcswift.