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While much is made of the desire to be surprised by cinema, less is said about the secret charms of a well-packaged slice of the familiar. Robert Connolly's potboiler murder mystery - adapted in partnership with Harry Kripps from the novel by Jane Harper - is just that, a tale that unfolds with elegance across two time periods and which is given additional polish by strong performances and an eye for the natural landscapes of Australia.

Eric Bana brings a lonely complexity to the character of Aaron Falk, a big city cop who finds himself returning to the remote farming community where he grew up after his old friend Luke (Martin Dingle Wall) apparently kills his wife Karen (Rosana Lockhart), eldest child and himself in a perplexing murder-suicide, although Luke's mother Barb (Julia Blake) and father Gerry (Bruce Spence) don't buy it. The river has run dry but old wounds as.

The Dry Review — The Dry (2020) Film Review, a movie directed by Robert Connolly, and starring Eric Bana, Genevieve O’Reilly, Keir O’Donnell, John Polson, Matt Nable, Eddie Baroo, Martin Dingle-Wall, Bruce Spence, Julia Blake, William Zappa, James Frecheville, Jeremy Lindsay Taylor, Joe Klocek, BeBe Bettencourt, Claude Scott-Mitchell, Sam Corlett, and Miranda Tapsell. [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: The Dry(2020): Eric Bana Succeeds in a Lead Role Though the Plot Sometimes Falters...

The barren earth surrounding a drought-stricken Aussie town provides fertile ground for mystery, suspense and punchy emotional drama in “The Dry.” This enthralling adaptation of Jane Harper’s international bestseller stars a spot-on Eric Bana as a city detective whose investigation of an apparent murder-suicide in his hometown triggers renewed suspicion about his involvement in a mysterious death that’s haunted the community for two decades. Expertly directed and co-written by respected filmmaker Robert Connolly, “The Dry” has all the character intrigue, clever plot twists and red herrings to keep viewers guessing. It should become a sizeable summer hit when released in local cinemas on Jan. 1. Broad international streaming exposure is assured.

Headlining his first Aussie feature since 2007’s “Romulus, My Father,” Bana is perfectly cast as Federal Agent Aaron Falk. A dedicated detective based in Melbourne, Aaron hasn’t set foot in hometown Kiewarra since departing abruptly following the...

Robert Connolly’s The Dry stars Eric Bana as Agent Aaron Falk, who returns to his home town after an absence of over 20 years to attend the funeral of his childhood friend, Luke, who allegedly killed his wife and child before taking his own life – a victim of the madness that has ravaged this community after more than a decade of drought.

When Falk reluctantly agrees to stay and investigate the crime, he opens up an old wound – the death of 17-year-old Ellie Deacon. Falk begins to suspect these two crimes, separated by decades, are connected.

The film is based on the Jane Harper novel of the same name, adapted by Connolly and Harry Cripps.

The Dry, produced by Bruna Papandrea, Steve Hutensky and Jodi Matterson for Made Up Stories together with Connolly and Bana, also stars Genevieve O’Reilly, Keir O’Donnell, John Polson, Julia Blake, Bruce Spence, Matt Nable, William Zappa,...

1985: Santa Barbara's Brick & Amy were married.

1995: Loving spinoff The City premiered on ABC.

1998: Guiding Light's Danny met Michelle.

2003: One Life to Live's Blair married Walker."The best prophet of the future is the past."

― Lord Byron

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1942: On Clara, Lu and Em, Emma "Em" Krueger (Helen King) threw a party.

1964: On Another World, Mitchell Dru (Geoffrey Lumb) asked John Randolph to take on Pat Matthew's case. Michael M. Ryan and Gaye Huston made their first appearances as John and Lee Randolph.

1967: On Dark Shadows, Julia Hoffman (Grayson Hall) panicked when Woodard's ghost appeared.

1979: On As the World Turns,...

Terry Norris and Julia Blake.

Julia Blake and Terry Norris last night received the 2018 Equity Lifetime Achievement Award at a ceremony at the Arts Centre Melbourne.

The award presented by Foxtel recognises the couple’s careers spanning more than five decades and their support of Equity campaigns, particularly the battle for Australian stories on screens and stages.

Previous recipients include Peter Carroll, the late Bob Hornery, Maggie Dence, Ron Haddrick, Jill Perryman, Kevan Johnston, Toni Lamond, Grant Page, Anne Phelan and Noeline Brown.

Equity president Chloe Dallimore described the husband and wife duo as an incredibly popular choice among Equity voters, stating: “Julia and Terry are deeply respected luminaries in our industry. What shines through most is their unswerving commitment to support others, especially our younger performers.

“Their tireless lobbying and campaigning efforts means that many of the working conditions we enjoy today are thanks to their hard work. We...

Eleanor Witcombe in 2017.

Screenwriter and playwright Eleanor Witcombe, whose most enduring works were the adaptations of My Brilliant Career and The Getting of Wisdom, has died in Sydney. She was 95.

My Brilliant Career producer Margaret Fink, who hired Witcombe to adapt Miles Franklin’s 1901 novel, a coming-of-age story about a headstrong young woman played by Judy Davis, tells If: “Her contribution to the film is incalculable.”

She began her professional career as a playwright in 1948 when the Mosman Children’s Theatre Club commissioned her to write three plays for children: Pirates at the Barn, The Bushranger and Smugglers Beware.

In 1952 she left for two years’ work and study in London. On her return she wrote one-hour adaptations of plays, books, and stories for ABC radio, the Lux Radio Theatre and the Macquarie Radio Theatre.

She also wrote the books for stage musicals A Ride on a Broomstick and Mistress Money for the Philllip Street Theatre.

Keep up with the wild and wooly world of indie film acquisitions with our weekly Rundown of everything that’s been picked up around the globe. Check out last week’s Rundown here.

– Bleecker Street has announced it has acquired U.S. and select territory rights to “The Man Who Invented Christmas,” to be directed by Bharat Nalluri. The film will start shooting next month and is targeting a holiday 2017 release date.

The cast includes Dan Stevens as Charles Dickens, Christopher Plummer as Scrooge and Jonathan Pryce as Dickens’ father. The Solution is handling rights for the rest of the world. The script is written by Susan Coyne and is based on the book “The Man Who Invented Christmas” by Les Standiford, published by Crown. The film recounts how Charles Dickens created the classic holiday fable, “A Christmas Carol.”

– Exclusive: Gravitas Ventures has announced it has acquired exclusive distribution rights...

The double Oscar winner – in contention again this season for his lead role in Sully – will collect the honour at the 28th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival awards gala on January 2.

Past recipients of the Icon Award include Michael Douglas, Robert Duvall and Meryl Streep. Hanks received the Festival’s Chairman’s Award in 2014.

The star plays the commercial airline pilot Chelsey Sullenberger, whose heroic act saved the lives of everyone on board a stricken Us Airways flight when he landed on the Hudson River off Manhattan in January 2009.

Warner Bros releases the film, which has grossed $123m in North America and $185m worldwide.

monterey media has acquired North American rights from Visit Films to Matthew Saville’s dramedy A Month Of Sundays starring Anthony Lapaglia, Julia Blake, Justine Clarke and John Clarke. The film premiered in Toronto and Monterey plans a January release.Paris-based VOD distributor Under The Milky Way has acquired Red Zeppelin Productions...

With the massive success of Carrie (1976), telekinesis was quickly added to horror filmmakers’ arsenal as a new weapon to terrify audiences. The immense power of the film left some reticent to tackle the subject for fear of falling short; however Brian DePalma stepped up to the plate with The Fury (1978), and that same year fledgling Australian filmmaker Richard Franklin made Patrick, a suspenseful, darkly humorous tale of a nurse and the psychokinetically disposed comatose patient that loves her.

Released on its native soil October 1st, 1978, Patrick was bought up for distribution by over 30 countries after a successful screening at the Cannes Film Festival, easily earning back its $400,000 Aud budget (half of which was chipped in by the Australian Film Commission). More good news followed as Patrick was well received by critics, and rightly so – it’s a tense little beaut with an emphasis on character and scattered shocks throughout.

The...

Recorded live in Melbourne, Guardian Australia’s film critic Luke Buckmaster discusses Australian film A Month of Sundays with writer and director Matthew Saville, stage and screen actor Julia Blake, and Steve Biddulph, one of the world’s best-known authors on parenting. Together, they examine the themes of the film: society’s expectations of men, the changing role of fathers, and where women fit into all this

Continue reading...

Captain America: Civil War.

Disney's Captain America: Civil War debuted on 283 screens last week, grossing a whopping $13.8 million to leave studio stablemate The Jungle Book in the dust..

In its third week, The Jungle Book dropped sixty percent to take $2.3 million over the weekend, bringing its total earnings to $24.3 million so far.

Eddie the Eagle dropped fifty-one percent in week two, ringing up $1.2 million on 276 screens over the weekend. The Hugh Jackman-starrer has now brought in $5.5 million.

Other than Civil War, the highest-grossing debut was Mother's Day, starring Julia Roberts, Jennifer Aniston and Kate Hudson, which rang up $1.5 million on 253 screens..

That film may have poached some ticket-buyers from Melissa McCarthy's The Boss, which dropped sixty-five percent in its third week, bringing its total to $5.6 million off 241 screens.

Meanwhile Disney's Zootopia dropped seventy-one percent in its seventh week for weekend earnings of $492,527, and has now made $27.3 million.

eOne's...

Nick Batzias at the World IP Day forum.

More than 100 film and television students have joined Madman head of production Nick Batzias and copyright law experts to explore issues surrounding the future of screen IP in the digital age.

The event was held to mark World IP Day, a Un initiative established in 2000, to celebrate the role of intellectual property in creativity and innovation..

Aftrs chief executive, Neil Peplow, A Month of Sundays.producer Batzias and copyright law specialist Caroline Verge shared insights on the value of creative content, making Australian films and TV and managing change in the digital age.

While the Australian Screen Association.s newly appointed executive chairman, Paul Muller, joined with executive director of creative content Australia, Lori Flekser, to host the World IP Day event at Hoyts Cinemas at the Eq precinct.

Peplow said the emphasis was the ownership of IP..

.I think it.s...

Justine Clarke, Anthony Lapaglia and Matthew Saville on-set.

Palace Cinemas will host actor Anthony Lapaglia and director Matthew Saville for preview screenings of their new film, A Month of Sundays, at Palace Norton Street in Sydney (April 19) and Palace Cinema Como (April 21) in Melbourne.

Screenings will be followed by a Q&A with the pair.

Lapaglia plays Frank Mollard, a divorced Adelaide real-estate agent with a teenage son who strikes up a friendship with an elderly stranger, played by Julia Blake.

This is Saville's third film after Noise and Felony. The filmmaker also has a long resume on TV, including Graham Kennedy TV movie The King, The Secret Life of Us, We Can Be Heroes and Please Like Me..

Tickets for the preview screenings can be purchased here.

Young at Heart,.Australia.s only film festival programmed for film lovers aged 60 and up,.will roll out in April to Palace Cinemas across Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and, for the first time in 2016, Brisbane..

For its eleventh incarnation, the Young at Heart program will include ten new feature films, new Australian short films starring seniors, filmmaker Q&As and a digital print of 1951's A Streetcar Named Desire.

.This year.s program takes a particular look at the modern family, celebrating the unconventional, complex and ever-changing relationships that bind us together., Festival Director Mathieu Ravier said..

The program features Louder than Bombs, starring Isabelle Huppert, Jesse Eisenberg and Gabriel Byrne; Fathers and Daughters with Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried and Jane Fonda; Mia Madre, from Italian director Nanni Moretti and starring Margherita Buy and John Turturro; Grandma, starring Lily Tomlin; and Madman's A Month of Sundays, starring Anthony Lapaglia, Justine Clarke,...

Australian actor Radha Mitchell will walk the red carpet at the Melbourne premiere of Sue Brooks. new film Looking For Grace at the Astor Theatre on November 24.

La-based Mitchell (The Waiting City, High Art, Finding Neverland) will be joined by Brooks (Japanese Story) in her home city, along with fellow cast members Odessa Young, Terry Norris and Julia Blake when the film is screened to Melbourne audiences for the first time.

In the film, Mitchell stars as Denise, the mother of eponymous Grace (Young) and wife of Dan (Richard Roxburgh), whose quiet suburban lives are thrown into turmoil when their daughter absconds with a large amount of money from their family safe.

It was only Australian film of the year to be selected In Competition for both Venice and Toronto International Film Festivals, where it had its World and North American Premieres in September.

The film had its Australian premiere...

Special Mention: Gojira (Godzilla)

Written and directed by Ishirô Honda

Japan, 1954

Ishiro Honda’s grim, black-and-white post-Hiroshima nightmare stands the test of time. This allegory for the devastation wrought on Japan by the atomic bomb is quite simply a powerful statement about mankind’s insistence to continue to destroy everyone and everything the surrounds us. With just one shot (a single pan across the ruins of Tokyo), Honda manages to express the devastation that Godzilla represents. Since its debut, Godzilla has become a worldwide cultural icon, but very little is said about actor Takashi Shimura, who adds great depth as Dr. Yamane; his performance is stunning. Special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya originally wanted to use classic stop-motion animation to portray Godzilla, but time and budget limitations forced him to dress actors up in monster suits. Despite this minor setback, Tsuburaya’s scale sets of Tokyo are crafted with such great attention to detail,...

Exclusive: Ryan Kampe and his New York-based team head into the fall festival season with a raft of new acquisitions led by a worldwide deal excluding Australia/New Zealand on Venice premiere Tanna.

Visit FIlms’ roster encompasses world rights excluding Ireland and Scandinavia to My Name Is Emily, the world excluding Australia/New Zealand to A Month Of Sundays and the world for Lace Crater, all of which will screen in Toronto.

Toronto Vanguard world premiere Lace Crater is a genre-bending horror-comedy produced by Joe Swanberg about a woman who has an affair with a ghost during a stay in the Hamptons. Lindsay Burdge stars in Harrison Atkins’ feature directorial debut.

My Name Is Emily stars Evanna Lynch as 16-year-old who ditches her foster home and embarks on a road trip with her new friend to break her troubled father out of a psychiatric institution.

Simon Fitzmaurice wrote and directed using iris recognition software after he was...

Matthew Saville.s A Month of Sundays and Jeremy Sims. Last Cab to Darwin will screen in the Contemporary World Cinema program at next month.s Toronto International Film Festival.

It will be the world premiere for Saville.s comedy-drama which stars Anthony Lapaglia as real estate agent Frank Mollard, who is divorced but still attached, can't connect with his teenage son or sell houses in a property boom. One night Frank gets a phone call from his mother, who died a year ago. John Clarke, Justine Clarke and Julia Blake round out the cast.

Produced by Madman.s Nick Batzias, Saville and Kirsty Stark, the film deals with parents, children, regrets, mourning, joy, houses, homes, love, work, television, Shakespeare and jazz fusion. Madman has yet to set a release date.

The Toronto launch steals a march on the Adelaide Film Festival (October 15-25), which had announced A Month of Sundays as a world premiere.

The world premieres of Scott Hicks. documentary Highly Strung and Matt Saville.s comedy/drama A Month of Sundays are among the highlights of this year.s Adelaide Film Festival.

The program includes the debut features from Bangarra Dance Company.s Stephen Page and Windmill Theatre Company.s Rosemary Myers as well as Jocelyn Moorhouse.s The Dressmaker.

A hit at. Sundance this year, Sam Klemke.s Time Machine will have its Australian premiere at the festival, which runs from October 15-25.

Another highlight is the 21st anniversary screening of Rolf de Heer.s Bad Boy Bubby at the Waterside Workers Hall in Port Adelaide on October 17. De Heer said, .It's startling to think that 22 years after Bad Boy Bubby confounded everyone, including me, by winning five prizes at the Venice Film Festival, and 21 years after it was released to an unsuspecting general public, the film is still ticking away,...

DoP Mark Wareham with Matthew Saville with Anthony Lapaglia.

.

On paper the shooting schedule sounded logistically daunting: 20 days for a feature film starring Anthony Lapaglia, Justine Clarke, Julia Blake and John Clarke.

As it turned out, filming comedic drama A Month of Sundays in Adelaide proved relatively easy, much to the surprise of writer-director Matthew Saville.

.Thanks to the cast, crew and logistic simplicity of shooting in Adelaide, it all went very smoothly,. Saville tells If during a break from the editing suite.

Produced by Madman Production Company.s Nick Batzias and Kirsty Stark, the film stars Lapaglia as Frank Mollard, a real estate agent whose life takes an unexpected turn when he receives a call from his dead mother, sending him on a journey of redemption.

Justine Clarke plays Frank.s estranged wife, with John Clarke as his boss/friend and Blake as the woman at the heart of a life-changing new relationship.

Madman.s Nick Batzias and writer-director Matthew Saville have been keen to work together again since Madman released Saville.s 2003 telemovie Roy Hollsdotter Live and his 2007 crime thriller Noise.

After years of development they.ll start shooting A Month of Sundays, a comedic relationships drama starring Anthony Lapaglia, Justine Clarke, Julia Blake and John Clarke, in Adelaide on January 12.

Lapaglia plays Frank Mollard, a real estate agent whose life takes an unexpected turn when he receives a call from his dead mother, sending him on a journey of redemption. Justine is his estranged wife, with John Clarke as his boss/friend and Blake as the woman at the heart of a life-changing new relationship. Indiana Crowther plays Frank.s teenage son.

Saville, whose last feature was Felony, wrote the screenplay, inspired by his family.s experiences. It.s the first narrative feature from Madman Production Company, produced by Batzias and Kirsty Stark,...

Roy Billing.s plea to his union Actors. Equity to ease the restrictions on importing actors for Australian films has triggered a wave of support from producers, directors, writers and other industry figures.

Some believe Equity should have no role in vetoing foreign actors and that producers and directors should be free to cast whoever they think is right for particular roles.

Odin.s Eye Entertainment.s Michael Favelle says, .There should not be any kind of arbiter in respect of who a director, producer and financier need in their movie to make it financially viable and audience friendly..

In a similar vein, producer-distributor Antony I. Ginnane contends, .The industry push should be to take Equity out of the mix completely and leave casting decisions to the producers and investors who are taking the entrepreneurial and financial risks..

Hoodlum Entertainment.s Tracey Robertson, who is in the Us producing the...

Richard Roxburgh and Radha Mitchell are playing the parents of a 14-year-old runaway who hire a retired detective to help find her in writer-director Sue Brooks. Looking for Grace.

Formerly known as Driving Back from Dubbo, the drama starts shooting this week in Western Australia, produced by Lizzette Atkins, Sue Taylor and Alison Tilson.

Odessa Young (The Moodys, Wonderland) will play the title character who runs away with her best friend (Kenya Pearson) to see her favourite band.

The cast includes Terry Norris as the retired cop, Julia Blake as his wife and Tasma Walton. The plot follows the couple and their helper as they head off on the road to Ceduna to try to retrieve Grace.

Miranda Otto was originally in the frame to play Grace's mother and Sam Neill had been in talks to play the former detective.

The investors include Screen West, Screen Australia, Film Victoria, the...

Chasing the dream of making your own feature requires time and perseverance as well as, dare it be mentioned, money. Yet, for those who hang in there, the dream is achievable.

There.s no greater example than that of 64 year-old David Pulbrook. After working as an editor for over forty years, he has made his feature directorial debut with the claustrophobic-thriller Last Dance.

.I certainly want to do it again,. he says. .Even at my age, in my declining years, I just look at Clint Eastwood and think there.s hope for all of us..

The idea for the film, a study of the relationship between a Jewish holocaust survivor (Julia Blake) and a young, Palestinian terrorist (Firass Dirani), first came to Pulbrook 25 years ago. However, it wasn.t until eight years ago that he approached scriptwriter Terence Hammond and the first 60 pages were penned.

.It.s taken a long...

Throughout the month of October, Editor-in-Chief and resident Horror expert Ricky D, will be posting a list of his favorite Horror films of all time. The list will be posted in six parts. Click here to see every entry.

As with all lists, this is personal and nobody will agree with every choice – and if you do, that would be incredibly disturbing. It was almost impossible for me to rank them in order, but I tried and eventually gave up.

****

124: (Tie) Inside (À l’intérieur)

Directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury

Written by Alexandre Bustillo

2007, France

Four months after the death of her husband, a pregnant woman is tormented by a strange woman who invades her home with the intent on killing her and taking her unborn baby. This movie is not recommended for women on the brink of motherhood. Inside is one of the most vicious and...

The Melbourne International Film Festival has announced its first 30 films.

Joining the The Sapphires, already announced as the opening night film, two Australian thrillers have been selected in the feature film section.

The directorial debut by the Colin and Cameron Cairnes, 100 Bloody Acres, is a gruesome comedy starring Angus Sampson and Damon Herriman.

Last Dance, by first-time director David Pulbrook, editor of The Cup and Hotel Sorrento, tells of the fallout of a terrorist attack on a synagogue by surviving bomber Sadiq Mohammad, played by Underbelly’s Firass Dirani as he seeks shelter in the house of holocaust survivor Ulah Lippman, played by Julia Blake.

Joining the Australian films are Sundance and Cannes winner Beasts of the Southern Wild, directed by Benh Zeitlin and Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom.

In the documentary section Paul Kelly: Stories of Me, about Australian musician Paul Kelly while Make Hummus Not War, tries to answer which nationality – Lebanon,...

Melbourne-made drama Last Dance and local horror comedy 100 Bloody Acres will screen as part of the 2012 Melbourne International Film Festival (Miff).

The festival has revealed a sneak peek of their program ahead of the official launch in July.

Last Dance, which was filmed in and around St Kilda at the end of last year, follows Sadiq Mohammad (Firass Dirani), a radical Palestinian, who, after fleeing from a suicide bombing that has gone wrong, takes holocaust survivor, Ulah Lippman (Julia Blake), hostage in her own apartment. The film, which was directed by David Pulbrook and produced by Antony I. Ginnane, received part of its financing from the Miff Premiere Fund.

Horror film 100 Bloody Acres stars Damon Herriman and Angus Sampson as Reg and Lindsay Morgan, brothers with a small fertiliser business called 'Blood and Bone' which uses dead car crash victims to make its product. When Reg comes across...

The Becker Film Group has just acquired Australian and New Zealand rights to Caught in Flight, the film in which Naomi Watts is to play Princess Diana.

The UK film is scheduled to go into production in July and is the first to be represented internationally by sales and financing company Embankment Films, which has already made sales to more than 40 territories.

.From my perspective, Princess Diana is one of the great stories of our time, and Naomi Watts has a great profile in Australia and I hope she will come out and support the release,. said Richard Becker.

The film is a love story between Princess Diana and heart surgeon Dr Hasnat Khan to be directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, who made Downfall. The producers are Robert Bernstein and Douglas Rae of Ecosse Films, and the script has been written by Stephen Jeffreys.

Becker said Caught in Flight and his...

Hugh Jackman, Wolverine When Charles Ferguson accepted the Best Documentary Feature Academy Award for Inside Job earlier this year, he remarked that none of those responsible for the global economic crisis — the worst since the Great Depression — had gone to jail. If only those jerks had uploaded movies online. New York resident Gilberto Sanchez, who uploaded to the Internet an unfinished copy of 20th Century Fox's X-Men spinoff X-Men Origins: Wolverine, has been sentenced to one year in federal prison. As per The Hollywood Reporter, U.S. District Judge Margaret Morrow described his misdeed as "extremely serious," while U.S. attorney Andre Birotte Jr. said in a statement that "the federal prison sentence handed down in this case sends a strong message of deterrence to would-be Internet pirates. The Justice Department will pursue and prosecute persons who seek to steal the intellectual property of this nation." Thanks to Sanchez, Wolverine...

Troy Nixey's 'Don't Be Afraid of the Dark' will be creeping up on us next January when it arrives on DVD and Blu-ray from 3 January 2012. The disc debut comes courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and will feature a special 3-part 'Making Of' documentary and some conceptual artwork. The haunted house horror direct from the pen of co-writers Guillermo Del Toro ('Pan's Labyrinth') and Matthew Robbins and stars Katie Holmes ('The Gift'), Guy Pearce ('The King's Speech'), Alan Dale ('Lost'), Julia Blake ('X-Men Origins: Wolverine') and Bailee Madison. Check out the blu-ray artwork below....

Gena Rowlands Barred From Australian Movie Gena Rowlands has been bumped from the Australian film Last Dance because of restrictions on casting of foreign talent, the Australian reports. The 81-year-old actress was to have played a Holocaust survivor of German and Jewish origin who is taken hostage in her apartment by a radical Palestinian (Underbelly‘s Firass Dirani). Under Australian union guidelines, a local production must obtain 30% foreign investment if it hires foreign actors although that rule apparently did not apply to Last Dance because of its less than A$2.5million budget. Terence Hammond wrote the screenplay with Rowlands in mind and she rehearsed for months. The decision by the actors union comes weeks after it bowed to pressure and allowed Richard E. Grant to star in The Kath and Kim Fillum now shooting in Melbourne. The barring of Rowlands has raised the ire of the production industry and placed...

Purporting to be a drama torn from today's headlines, David Pulbrook's feature debut, Last Dance, will explore themes of ideology, faith, freedom, oppression and the power of compassion.   The film stars British born AFI award winning actress Julia Blake, known for roles in films such as Innocence and The Boys are Back, the cult eighties series Prisoner, and the recent ABC television series, Bed of Roses.   Blake will star alongside Firass Dirani, known for his portrayal of Lebanese nightclub owner, John Ibrahim, in Underbelly: The Golden Mile and who will be seen in the soon to be released actioner Killer Elite.

Australian film Last Dance has begun production in Melbourne.

Directed by David Pulbrook, principle photography began on Monday in and around St Kilda, Melbourne.

The film is Pulbrook’s debut feature film. Pulbrook has had a long history as an editor, beginning his career in the 60s working on episodes of Homicide and Division 4. He’s since edited Gillian Armstrong’s Smokes and Lollies, Kevin Dobson’s Squizzy Taylor, Michael Pattinson’s Street Hero and Ground Zero which he won an AFI for. Most recently he edited Simon Wincer’s The Cup.

The film stars Julia Blake (Innocence, Bed of Roses), Firass Dirani (Killer Elite, Underbelly) and Alan Hopgood.

Pulbrook said of his film: “Last Dance digs beneath the stereotypes to reveal the basic humanity of the two principle protagonists and transcends the tragedy of their pasts and speaks of optimism, possibilities and tolerance. We were careful not to...

New Australian film Last Dance has gone into production this week. The film, which is helmed by first time director David Pulbrook and produced by former Spaa president, Antony I. Ginnane, commenced principle photography in and around St Kilda on Monday. Last Dance follows Sadiq Mohammad (Underbelly's Firass Dirani), a radical Palestinian, who, after fleeing from a suicide bombing that has gone wrong, takes holocaust survivor, Ulah Lippman, hostage in her own apartment. As the police close in, the unlikely pair are forced to confront their own pasts. In February, it was announced that the role of Ulah would be played by American screen veteran, Gena Rowlands (Woman Under the Influence, The Notebook). The part has since been recast, with Bed of Roses star, Julia Blake, replacing...

Australia may not have an overabundance of horror films but they’ve managed to produce some quality genre pictures. The recent success of the acclaimed documentary Not Quite Hollywood has shed light on a much overlooked aspect of Aussie genre filmmaking, from lowbrow slashers to twisted thrillers and gross-out horror comedies. Back in the 70′s a number of prominent filmmakers began to develop a film movement that would eventually see the successes of such films as Mad Max and The Last Wave. It was during this time that Australian cinema as a whole experienced resurgence due to increased governmental funding and eventually gave way to what international film critics termed the “Australian New Wave” or the “Golden Age of Australian cinema”.

New Zealand hasn’t produced many horror films over the years, but those it has given birth to are remarkably strong entries. In fact one of the biggest filmmakers...

Director: Troy Nixey Writers: Guillermo del Toro, Matthew Robbins, Nigel McKeand (1973 teleplay) Starring: Bailee Madison, Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce, Jack Thompson, Julia Blake Sally (Bailee Madison) has been sent from Los Angeles by her mother (voiced by Abbe Holmes) to live with her architect father, Alex (Guy Pearce), and his interior-designer girlfriend, Kim (Katie Holmes), in a creepy Victorian mansion located somewhere in rural Rhode Island. Little do they know, their home -- Blackwood Manor -- is infested by ancient, beady-eyed, sharp-toothed vermin. The rat-like monsters (which are first introduced to us during the prologue) live in the basement ash pit; they have a penchant for eating children's teeth; and they need to take a human life every so often. We are privy to a thirty second mythology lesson by a local librarian (James Mackay) about these creatures which is so fleeting and flimsy in its logic that it is not even worth getting into.

Title: Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark Director: Troy Nixey Starring: Bailee Madison, Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce, Jack Thompson, Julia Blake Haunted house films are back in full force. In April we got the beautifully modest and wildly enjoyable Insidious from James Wan and now Guillermo del Toro and Co. are giving the subgenre a go with Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark. While the two are rooted in entirely different core concepts, they do have quite a bit in common, namely child stars vs. evil entities, eerily warm yet threatening tones, fantastic visuals and the fact that they’re both incredibly frightening, exhilarating and entertaining all in one. Haunted house...

Title: Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark Studio: Film District/ Miramax Films Directed By: Troy Nixey Written By: Guillermo del Toro, Matthew Robbins, from the teleplay by Nigel McKeand Cast: Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce, Bailee Madison, Jack Thompson, Garry McDonald, Edwina Ritchard, Julia Blake, Nicholas Bell Screened at: Broadway, NYC, 7/28/11 Opens: August 26, 2011 If you go by the production notes, this is one of those times in which the studio had mixed feelings about being denied the PG-13 rating that it requested. Instead the MPAA slapped an R rating, which could lower box office since kids under 17 would have to accompanied by adults. Though there’s no sex...

While I still find it amusing that the studio insists on calling it "Guillermo del Toro's" Don't Be Afraid of the Dark so as to give it some notoriety beyond just another horror film in the twilight of summer, there's no denying the promise inherent in that statement. The trailer, too, offered a decent scare the first time it played on TV and it boasts that del Toro visual flair, giving you the feeling that his influence was felt in more places than just the storytelling. Directed by Troy Nixey, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark stars Katie Holmes (Batman Begins), Guy Pearce (Memento), Bailee Madison (Just Go With It), and Julia Blake (X-Men Origins: Wolverine).

Check out the two clips, "Garage" and "Bath" (named for the undeniable terror people associate with both those things).

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FilmDistrict has released two new clips from the upcoming horror-thriller Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, which debuts in theaters across the country on August 26. Take a look at these clips below, which feature evil demons causing trouble for Guy Pearce and young Bailee Madison.

Click to watch Bath!

Click to watch Garage!

Blackwood Manor has new tenants. While architect Alex Hurst (Guy Pearce) and his new girlfriend Kim (Katie Holmes) restore their Gothic mansion's period interiors, Alex's young daughter Sally (Bailee Madison)-neglected by her real mother and brushed aside by the careerist father-can investigate the macabre history and dark corners of the estate. Spurring Sally's investigation are the voices-rasping whispers who call out to her from the basement, who promise her understanding and friendship, who are so very hungry and would like to be set free. When Sally gives in to her curiosity, she opens a gateway into...

Chicago – In our latest horror/thriller edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 40 admit-two passes up for grabs to the advance Chicago screening of Guillermo del Toro’s highly anticipated “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” starring Katie Holmes and Guy Pearce!

“Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” also stars Bailee Madison, Jack Thompson, Julia Blake, Nicholas Bell, Libby Gott, Garry McDonald, Edwina Ritchard, Bruce Gleeson, Trudy Hellier, Alan Dale, Emelia Burns and James Mackay from writer Guillermo del Toro (“Pan’s Labyrinth,” “Hellboy”) and director Troy Nixey. The film hits theaters on Aug. 26, 2011.

To win your free pass to the advance Chicago screening of “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, just answer our question below. That’s it! This advance screening is on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011 at 7 p.m. in downtown Chicago. Directions to enter this Hookup and win can be found beneath the graphic below.

The "reimagining" of cult .70s film Patrick is set to be shot in Melbourne as early as next April, producer Antony I..Ginnane says. Ginnane says the film, to be directed by Not Quite Hollywood.s Mark Hartley,.will have a budget between $5-$10 million. The new film has been in the works for the past 3-4 years and is currently set to have a Halloween, 2013 release. Not mentioning names,.the veteran producer.says a couple of "significant actors" will reprise the roles of Robert Helpmann and Julia Blake. The outgoing Spaa president says he had been approached several times from Us writers and producers about a possible .retelling., however they didn.t come to fruition. .We had explored that a couple of...

We've just been handed a brand new batch of behind the scene stills from the set of the new Guillermo Del Toro produced haunted house horror 'Don't Be Afraid of the Dark'. The Troy Nixey directed spook-tale will hit Us theatres later this month. UK fans will have to wait until its general release on 7 October. The movie stars Katie Holmes ('The Gift'), Guy Pearce ('The King's Speech'), Alan Dale ('Lost'), Julia Blake ('X-Men Origins: Wolverine') and little Bailee Madison. Check out the new stills below....

Check out a new clip from Troy Nixey's Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, starring Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce, Bailee Madison, Alan Dale, Jack Thompson, Julia Blake, Nicholas Bell, Emelia Burns, Dylan Young and Edwina Richard. Producers Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth, The Orphanage) and Mark Johnson (Chronicles of Narnia) join forces to deliver Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, a tale of hair-raising, spine-chilling horror which opens via Film District on August 26th, looking to get the chills going! Sally Hurst (Bailee Madison), a lonely, withdrawn child, has just arrived in Rhode Island to live with her father Alex (Guy Pearce) and his new girlfriend Kim (Katie Holmes) at the 19th-century mansion they are restoring. While exploring the sprawling estate, the young girl discovers a hidden basement, undisturbed since the strange disappearance of the mansion's builder a century ago. When Sally unwittingly lets loose a race of ancient,...

Check out a new clip from Troy Nixey's Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, starring Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce, Bailee Madison, Alan Dale, Jack Thompson, Julia Blake, Nicholas Bell, Emelia Burns, Dylan Young and Edwina Richard. Producers Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth, The Orphanage) and Mark Johnson (Chronicles of Narnia) join forces to deliver Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, a tale of hair-raising, spine-chilling horror which opens via Film District on August 26th, looking to get the chills going! Sally Hurst (Bailee Madison), a lonely, withdrawn child, has just arrived in Rhode Island to live with her father Alex (Guy Pearce) and his new girlfriend Kim (Katie Holmes) at the 19th-century mansion they are restoring. While exploring the sprawling estate, the young girl discovers a hidden basement, undisturbed since the strange disappearance of the mansion's builder a century ago. When Sally unwittingly lets loose a race of ancient,...

Check out a new clip from Troy Nixey's Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, starring Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce, Bailee Madison, Alan Dale, Jack Thompson, Julia Blake, Nicholas Bell, Emelia Burns, Dylan Young and Edwina Richard. Producers Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth, The Orphanage) and Mark Johnson (Chronicles of Narnia) join forces to deliver Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, a tale of hair-raising, spine-chilling horror which opens via Film District on August 26th, looking to get the chills going! Sally Hurst (Bailee Madison), a lonely, withdrawn child, has just arrived in Rhode Island to live with her father Alex (Guy Pearce) and his new girlfriend Kim (Katie Holmes) at the 19th-century mansion they are restoring. While exploring the sprawling estate, the young girl discovers a hidden basement, undisturbed since the strange disappearance of the mansion's builder a century ago. When Sally unwittingly lets loose a race of ancient,...

Troy Nixey directs Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, a chilling tale of horror that finds a loving married couple (Guy Pearce, Katie Holmes) moving their young daughter into a house plagued by tooth-eating demons. Two more scary clips from the film have been released, check them out below.

Click to watch They Don't Like Bright Lights!

Click to watch Set Us Free!

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark comes to theaters August 26th, 2011 and stars Guy Pearce, Katie Holmes, Bailee Madison, Alan Dale, Emelia Burns, Jack Thompson, Julia Blake, Eliza Taylor-Cotter. The film is directed by Troy Nixey.

Beyond meeting Guy Pearce in the elevator at the San Diego Bayfront, we also caught up with the actor officially on the pressline for his new movie, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark. We talked with him and director Troy Nixey about the upcoming horror movie and what we can expect. Check it out below.

Click to watch Comic-Con Exclusive: Guy Pierce!

Click to watch Comic-Con Exclusive: Director Troy Nixey!

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark centers on a young girl, sent to live with her father and his new girlfriend, who discovers sinister creatures that live underneath the stairs.

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark comes to theaters August 26th, 2011 and stars Guy Pearce, Katie Holmes, Bailee Madison, Alan Dale, Emelia Burns, Jack Thompson, Julia Blake, Eliza Taylor-Cotter. The film is directed by Troy Nixey.

A new international one-sheet for the Guillermo Del Toro presented horror feature 'Don't Be Afraid of the Dark', which once again features little Bailee Madison, has been revealed by the Imp Awards. The new Polish poster for the Troy Nixey helmed project is slightly different to the previous teasers we've seen but still features that underlying menace from the creepy crawling hand shadows. The haunted house movie itself stars Katie Holmes ('The Gift'), Guy Pearce ('The King's Speech'), Alan Dale ('Lost') and Julia Blake ('X-Men Origins: Wolverine'). Check out the new one-sheet below....