Lion Roars With First Award Nod For Dev Patel

By Jackie Shannon

Based on the life of Saroo Brierly, as chronicled in his book, A Long Way Home, the powerful Australian drama, Lion, tells the story of an Indian-born adoptee (Dev Patel, from Slumdog Millionaire and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) who tracks down his birth parents using Google Earth. Nicole Kidman, David Wenham, and Rooney Mara also feature in the film, which was shot in Tasmania and India, and premiered to acclaim at the recent Toronto International Film Festival.

In the first of what could very well be a considerable list of award nominations, Dev Patel has scored the film’s inaugural nod, notching up a place in the Best Performance By An Actor category at The 10th Asia Pacific Screen Awards, which will be announced on November 24 in Brisbane. “We are delighted to hear of Dev’s nomination at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards,” says Lion producer, Emile Sherman. “Dev put his heart and soul into this project and exceeded all of our extremely high expectations. He has such warmth and openness both as a person and actor. But above all we have been blown away by his bravery. He takes us right into the depth of Saroo’s character and his epic search for home.”

Australia’s representation at The Asia Pacific Screen Awards over the last decade has included eight wins from 24 nominations of 23 films, including two career achievement awards for Mad Max director, George Miller, and Lion producer, Emile Sherman, plus direct investment into script development of three Australian projects. Australian films to have received nominations are 52 Tuesdays, Another Country, The Black Balloon, Blinky Bill The Movie, Bran Nue Dae, Charlie’s Country, Downriver, Eye Of The Storm, Gandhi’s Children, Happy Feet Two, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’hoole, Lion, Lucky Miles, Mary And Max, Maya The Bee Movie, Mystery Road, Red Dog, Samson & Delilah, Snow Monkey, Spear, Toomelah, Tracks, and The Turning.