David Wenham is in the frame to play the adopted father of Saroo Brierley, an Indian-born Australian who found his birth mother 25 years after they were separated, in Garth Davis’ feature Lion.
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’s Dev Patel is playing Saroo with Nicole Kidman as his adopted mother in the film produced by See-Saw Films’ Emile Sherman and Iain Canning and Aquarius Films’ Angie Fielder.
Davis and crew spent six weeks filming in India earlier this year and will start a three-week shoot in Melbourne and Tasmania at the end of this month.
There is no official announcement yet of Wenham’s casting or of who will play Saroo’s Australian girlfriend, a role which a high-profile actress is understood to be circling.
Wenham will next be seen as Captain Arthur Phillip in the convict drama Banished, which premieres on BBC First in June. His recent credits include Paper Planes and The Code and he voices Jacko in Deane Taylor and Alexs Stadermann's CGI animated The Blinky Bill Movie, which Studiocanal will launch in cinemas in September.
Luke Davies, the screenwriter on Anton Corbijn's upcoming Life produced by See-Saw Films, adapted Brierley’s memoir A Long Way Home. The executive producers are Sunstar Entertainment's Andrew Fraser and Shahen Mekertichian.
The Weinstein Co., which paid a reported $US12 million for worldwide rights excluding Australasia, plans to open Lion in late November in the US in the Oscars corridor.
Transmission has dated the film for January 7.