By Erin Free
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
One of Australia’s many great unsung explorers, Sir Hubert Wilkins lived a life rich with excitement, adventure, tragedy, loss, and often crazed ambition. Born on a South Australian sheep farm in 1888, Wilkins found work with a travelling cinema in Adelaide before establishing himself as an accomplished cinematographer and photographer, working in England for Gaumont Studios. After shooting various Arctic expeditions, he returned to Australia, and served as a war photographer in WW1, during which he was awarded for bravery after rescuing wounded soldiers at The Battle Of Ypres, and taking command of a cadre of lost and battered US Army men. After the war, Wilkins served as an ornithologist on Sir Ernest Shackleton’s last Antarctic project. Wilkins was most famous, however, for The Nautilus Expedition, which saw the visionary Australian lease a decommissioned submarine from The US Navy, with the aim of undertaking a scientifically driven journey to The North Pole. The expedition, however, was hit with one setback after another (Wilkins even believed that a crew member was intentionally sabotaging the mission), and with his submarine finally damaged beyond repair, Wilkins sunk the vessel off Norway in 1931. Unbowed by this epic failure, Wilkins continued in his adventurous ways, staging a trans-Atlantic flight from Alaska to Norway; embracing Aboriginal culture during an ornithological study in Northern Australia; and flying over treacherous Antarctica. Wilkins died in America in 1958, after which The US Navy took his ashes to The North Pole aboard the submarine USS Skate, and scattered them across the ice per the adventurer’s final wishes.
WHY WOULD IT MAKE A GOOD MOVIE?
A never-say-die visionary with a loopy side (he was a proponent of The Urantia Book, a mysterious, inspirational tome that sought to unite religion, science, and philosophy, and prompted the formation of a number of oddball “secret societies”), Sir Hubert Wilkins was a larger than life figure, and would make for a wonderfully flawed cinematic hero: brave, heroic, decent, and honest, but undeniably touched by madness.

WHO SHOULD DIRECT IT?
After the exciting, ambitious, locally shot 2011 underwater cave thriller, Sanctum, the creative team of director, Alister Grierson (Kokoda), and Hollywood powerhouse and executive producer, James Cameron (the third member of that creative team, producer, Andrew Wight, sadly and tragically passed away in 2012), would be the right fit for this epic tale of adventure and over-reaching ambition. They could not only assemble the much-needed big budget, but would also be able to tap into Wilkins’ collision of brilliance and desperation, and could handle what would be a hugely demanding shoot.

WHO SHOULD BE IN IT?
The physical similarities might be minimal, but Hugh Jackman has substantial acting range, as well as the right mix of sunny optimism and toughness, to play Sir Hubert Wilkins. Flashy supporting roles, meanwhile, could go to Harrison Ford (as legendary American publishing magnate, William Randolph Hearst, who financed all of Wilkins’ major expeditions); Mark Ruffalo (as Carl Ben Eielson, Wilkins’ American co-pilot on his Antarctic flights); Ethan Hawke (as Wilkins’ friend and fellow Arctic explorer, Lincoln Ellsworth); Colin Firth (as legendary Arctic explorer, Sir Ernest Shackleton); and Margot Robbie (as Suzanne Bennett, the US-based Australian actress who Wilkins married in New York).
Agree long over due for the great Hubert Wilkins
I totally agree both Hubert and Suzanne have a fascinating story. I only heard about them after tracing my DNA and finding a connection to Suzanne. Amazing Australian we need to embrace in modern Australia. Celebrities