[press release from Ned & Co Marketing and Publicity]
On February 16, 2009, cameras will start rolling on ANIMAL KINGDOM, one of the most compelling and ambitious feature films to be produced in Australia.
With an all-star ensemble cast including Guy Pearce (THE HURT LOCKER, TRAITOR, MEMENTO), Ben Mendelsohn (AUSTRALIA, THE NEW WORLD), Joel Edgerton (THE SQUARE, KINKY BOOTS, KING ARTHUR), Luke Ford (THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR, THE BLACK BALLOON), veteran star of stage and screen, Jacki Weaver (COSI, CADDIE, THE REMOVALISTS), Sullivan Stapleton (CARLA CAMETTI PD, UNDERBELLY), and sensational newcomers James Frecheville and Laura Wheelwright, ANIMAL KINGDOM is a taut thriller set amidst the explosive world of a family addicted to crime, as experienced through the eyes of a naïve 17 year-old youth who enters their lair. It’s the Wild West, where criminals and police wage their war on the city’s streets, while the innocent suffer the consequences.
Violent, haunting and utterly mesmerizing, ANIMAL KINGDOM is the debut feature of writer/director David Michôd whose previous short films have screened extensively internationally and in Australia, including the multi-award winning CROSSBOW which screened at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, Venice and Melbourne in 2007, and most recently NETHERLAND DWARF, which has just screened in the 2009 Berlin and Sundance Film Festivals. An AFI award-winning writer, Michôd also penned the screenplay for this project.
Liz Watts, of dynamic Sydney-based production company, Porchlight Films, whose previous credits include THE HOME SONG STORIES, LITTLE FISH, JEWBOY and WALKING ON WATER will produce, with additional key crew including cinematographer Adam Arkapaw (JERRYCAN, EDGE OF TOWN) production designer Jo Ford (LAST RIDE, CRACKER BAG) and costume designer Cappi Ireland (BALIBO, THE HOME SONG STORIES).
A Porchlight Films production, ANIMAL KINGDOM is presented by Screen Australia and Porchlight Films, in association with Film Victoria, the NSW Film and Television Office, Showtime Australia and Fulcrum Media Finance. Madman Entertainment in conjunction with Jetty Distribution will distribute throughout Australia and New Zealand and Maximum Films will handle international sales. Filming will take place entirely on location in Melbourne, Australia over seven weeks from 16 February until 3 April 2009. ANIMAL KINGDOM was developed through the NSW Film and Television Office’s Aurora program and post production will be completed in NSW.