Fate Films, helmed by producers Jan Chapman and Nicole O’Donohue, is delighted to announce principal photography commences on The Daughter in Sydney on September 12.
Supported by Screen Australia and Screen NSW, the shoot will take place in Sydney and rural NSW.
Written and directed by critically acclaimed theatre director Simon Stone, The Daughter is a contemporary portrait of family love, dysfunction, deception and denial, inspired by Stone’s award-winning re-imagining of Henrik Ibsen’s The Wild Duck.
Stone has assembled a superb ensemble cast for his feature film debut, including Academy Award® winner Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech, Pirates of the Caribbean), Ewen Leslie (Dead Europe, Jewboy), Paul Schneider (Bright Star, Lars and the Real Girl), Miranda Otto (The Homesman, Reaching for The Moon), Anna Torv (Fringe, Deadline Gallipoli), with rising star Odessa Young and Sam Neill (The Piano, Jurassic Park).
Set in the last days of a dying logging town, Christian (Schneider) returns to his family home for his father Henry’s (Rush) wedding. Reconnecting with his childhood friend Oliver (Leslie) and Oliver’s family, wife Charlotte (Otto) and daughter Hedvig (Young) he unearths a long buried secret. As he tries to right the wrongs of the past, his actions threaten to shatter the lives of those he left behind years before. Will they survive the truth?
The film will be produced by Fate Films with Jan Chapman (Academy Award® winner The Piano, AFI Best Film winner Lantana and Palme d’Or nominated Bright Star) and Nicole O’Donohue (ACCTA Award nominated The Last Impresario and AACTA Award-winning feature film Griff the Invisible). When Chapman and O'Donohue saw Stone’s production of The Wild Duck at Sydney’s Belvoir Street Theatre they were drawn to the powerful story which instantly felt cinematic.
“We are delighted to be partnering with Simon whose work we have admired for some time, as well as an exceptional cast and crew to bring this truly emotional and resonant story to the screen.”
Roadshow Films, who has backed the project from its development, will distribute in Australia and New Zealand. Mongrel Film has acquired international sales. Roadshow Films Managing Director Joel Pearlman said, “Simon has achieved renown for his stage direction and we are thrilled to be supporting his entree into feature film directing, supported as he is by the strongest possible production team and phenomenal ensemble cast.”