Australian director Bruce Beresford has signed on to direct feature film The White Mouse, about the country’s most decorated World War II servicewoman, Nancy Wake.
Produced by Peter Glover and Sue Milliken (Farscape, Sirens), the film – which hasn't raised finance – will tell the story of Wake, who died early Monday morning (Australian time) in London, aged 98. The announcement was made by a publicist on behalf of Milliken.
Known as “The White Mouse”, Wake – who was born in New Zealand and raised in Sydney – became active in the French resistance movement, along with her husband Henri Fiocca, and is known for saving the lives of thousands of Allied soldiers.
Casting is also currently underway and if the project gets up, production is expected in the second half of 2012. The film received development funding from Screen Australia mid-last year.
Beresford, who is often attached to several projects, is also set to direct romance flick Banjo & Matilda – a dramatisation of the true story of Banjo Paterson and Waltzing Matilda, which also received development funding from Screen Australia.
In April, Beresford, who was nominated for an Oscar for his Breaker Morant screenplay in 1981, confirmed to IF he had signed a development deal for US thriller Killer Instinct.