Foxtel is backing the screen adaptation of Paul Kelly’s Christmas classic How to Make Gravy as a recipe for Binge’s entry into feature films, with the project to shoot on the Gold Coast and star Hugo Weaving and Daniel Henshall.
To be directed by Nick Waterman, who adapted the story for screen alongside Meg Washington, the film will revisit the story told in the 1996 song of an inmate named Joe writing a letter to his brother Dan on December 21 as his family prepares to celebrate their first Christmas without him.
Appearing alongside Weaving and Henshall are Brenton Thwaites, Damon Herriman, Kate Mulvany and French actress Agathe Rouselle, who is making her English-language debut. There is also set to be cameo performances from Australian musicians, including Adam Briggs and Dallas Woods.
The announcement comes 18 months after it was revealed that Warner Bros. International Television Production Australia (WBITPA), in partnership with Waterman and Washington’s Speech & Drama Pictures, had acquired the exclusive international rights to develop the song into a Christmas film.
Hamish Lewis and Schuyler Weiss will produce with the writing and directing pair, with Michael Brooks executive producing for WBITPA, along with Susannah George, Binge executive director Alison Hurbert-Burns, and Foxtel Group managing director Amanda Laing. The film, which is financed with support from Screen Queensland, will be distributed internationally by Fifth Season.
In a statement, Waterman and Washington said it was a testament to Kelly’s songwriting that the world and characters within How To Make Gravy are so vivid, adding they were “proud to have the honour of bringing it to life”.
“It’s a uniquely Australian story, made for film lovers and music fans alike,” they said.
“We can’t wait to share our adaptation of How To Make Gravy with the world.”
Hurbert-Burns hoped the film would become a “beloved addition to Gravy Day for many years to come”.
“It’s a great privilege to bring Paul Kelly’s iconic song to the screen,” she said.
“I’ve listened to the song for decades, often on my own Christmas road trip, conjuring up the characters, wondering if Stella made her flight and if the brothers made it down from Queensland. Come 2024, at last we’ll know.”
It was the only new scripted announcement to come out of Foxtel Group’s upfronts on Thursday, which included confirmation of Blossom Films and Made Up Stories’ Liane Moriarty adaptation The Last Anniversary for Binge.
Moriarty’s story follows a woman who unexpectedly inherits the house of an aunt of an ex-boyfriend on Scribbly Gum Island, home of the famously unsolved Munro Baby mystery.
The project, which was revealed by Blossom Films co-founder Nicole Kidman at last week’s SXSW conference, will commence November 13 with John Polson directing.
Of the other Australian scripted originals to debut for the Foxtel Group next year, there is eight-part mystery thriller High Country, Binge’s inaugural co-production Mix Tape, as well as second seasons of Foxtel courtroom drama The Twelve and internationally-acclaimed Binge dramedy Colin From Accounts.
Some of the service’s upcoming international titles also carry an Australian flavour, including Peacock’s Queensland-shot drama Apples Never Fall, starring Sam Neill and Annette Bening, and Feud Capote vs The Swans, starring Naomi Watts, Demi Moore and Molly Ringwald.
Foxtel will also welcome the latest chapter of True Detective, True Detective: Night Country, starring Jodie Foster; Bookie, starring Charlie Sheen as veteran Los Angeles who is forced to deal with legalisation of sports gambling in California; The Sympathizer, based on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel of the same name; The Regime, which tells the story of one year within the walls of the palace of a modern European regime as it begins to unravel; a series adaptation of TED, based on the live-action/CGI film from Seth MacFarlane; and season two of police procedural Vigil.
In the unscripted space, docu-soap reality original series, Ronde Media’s Billion Dollar Playground – announced last week – will take viewers into the exclusive world of uber-wealthy guests who pay a premium for high-end vacation homes, as world-class staff service their round-the-clock demands.
Returning for Foxtel are Selling Houses Australia, which enters its 16th season with hosts Andrew Winter, Wendy Moore, and Dennis Scott, Gogglebox Australia and Celebrity Gogglebox Australia. There will also be more episodes of the Great Australian Bake Off, featuring late comedian Cal Wilson in her final role as host. Thursday’s upfront included a tribute to Wilson, who died after succumbing to a rare and aggressive form of cancer earlier this month.