by FilmInk Staff
The Camera d’Or award-winning director of Samson & Delilah, The New Boy and Sweet Country, will helm the epic story of Australian Aboriginal resistance fighter Pemulwuy.
“I am so honoured to be a part of this amazing film. It’s an important story with an awesome script and legendary actors,” Thornton said in a statement.
A Bidjigal man of the Sydney tribes, Pemulwuy headed up a 12-year resistance against British settlers as Australia was colonised in the late 1700s.
The leading role is yet to be cast, however, both Sam Worthington and Jason Clarke are attached, no doubt as villains.
First Warrior is supported by the Bidjigal, Dharawal and Dharug Elders, and is led by the all-Indigenous core creative team of writer Jon Bell (The Moogai, Cleverman) and writer-producer Andrew Dillon, a direct descendent of both the Dharug and Gomeroi people. He will produce with his That’s-A-Wrap Productions, which is 100% Indigenous First Nations owned and operated.
Stuart Beattie, Phillip Noyce and Shana Levine (The Portable Door, Charlie & Boots) have also come aboard, though not specified in what capacity, but no doubt as Executive or Associate Producers.
“It has been a lifelong goal of mine to have our Indigenous warriors celebrated on the silver screen,” said Andrew Dillon in the statement. “I can’t wait for audiences to not only experience Warwick’s vision for this story but to leave the cinema with a newfound appreciation of Australia’s shared history.”
