Leading independent Australian production company Aquarius Films has partnered with Irish production company Port Pictures to produce the feature film, The Good People. The film is based on the award-winning novel by Hannah Kent (the upcoming Run Rabbit Run), who adapted it for the screen.
The Good People is the second novel from bestselling author Kent and was published in 2016 by Pan Macmillan in Australia, Picador in the UK and by Little, Brown and Company in North America, both in 2017. It has been translated into 10 languages and was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Award for Historical Fiction, the Indie Books Award for Literary Fiction, the ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year and the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction
The Good People is produced by Angie Fielder and Polly Staniford of Aquarius Films, and Martina Niland of Port Pictures. Angie Fielder is an Academy Award-nominated producer known for Lion, starring Nicole Kidman, Dev Patel and Rooney Mara. Polly Staniford produced Vertical Entertainment’s Berlin Syndrome starring Teresa Palmer, directed by Cate Shortland (Marvel’s Black Widow). Martina Niland produced the Academy Award-winning Once and the Golden Globe-nominated Sing Street, both by award winning writer/director John Carney. The film will be executive produced by Aquarius Films’ Miranda Culley. The film has received development funding from Screen Australia.
“What’s not to love about Hannah Kent’s brilliant novel? A dark tale about three complex women, fairies, witches and changelings. All set against the eerie backdrop of 1800’s Ireland. We can’t wait to bring this story to the screen,” commented producers Angie Fielder and Polly Staniford.
The Good People is set in 19th century Ireland, as the Catholic church wages war against pagan beliefs, three women conspire to free a young boy from evil spirits. Terrifying, thrilling and moving in equal measure, The Good People is a startling examination of absolute belief and superstition. As it explores a series of actions that are both tender and harsh, it examines our need for belonging, understanding and acceptance, and the universal need to love and be loved.
Hannah Kent’s first novel, the international bestseller, Burial Rites, was translated into over 30 languages and won the ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year, the Indie Awards Debut Fiction Book of the Year, and the Victorian Premier’s People’s Choice Award – it is currently being adapted for the screen by Sony TriStar. Following the success of The Good People, Kent released her third novel Devotion this year. She wrote the original screenplay for the feature film Run Rabbit Run, which will be released later this year and stars Sarah Snook (HBO’s Succession) and is directed by Daina Reid (The Handmaid’s Tale) with major production investment from Screen Australia. Kent co-founded the Australian literary publication Kill Your Darlings and is a Patron for World Vision Australia. She has written for The New York Times, The Saturday Paper, The Guardian, The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, Meanjin, Qantas Magazine and LitHub.
Aquarius Films’ production and development slate includes the feature film project Paradise, based on award-winning journalist Abdul Karim Hekmat’s haunting article “True Love in Nauru” published in The Monthly; the feature film Most Admired Woman based on the acclaimed biography Sister Kenny: The Woman Who Challenged the Doctors, co-produced with Decade Films; sci-fi thriller The Subjugate based on the acclaimed novel of the same title written by award-winner Amanda Bridgeman and co-produced with Anonymous Content; a co-production with Rose Byrne’s Dollhouse Pictures for the psychological thriller series The Geography of Friendship, based on Sally Piper’s best-selling novel, for Stan and Lionsgate, and the comedy drama series Fight Like a Girl adapted from the acclaimed novel of the same title by Clementine Ford. Aquarius recently wrapped production on Savage River, a crime drama series directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse and starring Katherine Langford, for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and romantic drama series Love Me starring Hugo Weaving, produced by Aquarius for Warner Bros. Australia and Foxtel’s BINGE, is now streaming in the U.S. on Hulu.
