Back before Assassin's Creed came out, Justin Kurzel was developing a new film about the infamous Kelly crime gang. He's now at the point where he's recruiting the people he needs to star and is adding Russell Crowe, Nicholas Hoult and George MacKay to The True History Of The Kelly Gang.
The new arrivals – with MacKay on to play Ned Kelly – are joining an ensemble that already includes Travis Fimmel, Sean Keenan, Dacre Montgomery, Harry Greenwood, Thomasin McKenzie, and Earl Cave. This film aims to tell Kelly's story in a new way compared to previous cinematic incarnations. His and his gang's history was a complicated one: in the eyes of the law, they were bandits and murderers, but to many ordinary Australians, they were heroes, the bushrangers who defied English authority to life their own lives.
Kurzel is working from a script that Shaun Grant adapted from Peter Carey's prize-winning, eponymous tome. "Peter Carey’s book The True History Of The Kelly Gang always felt like the true spirit of Ned Kelly. Unsentimental, brutal, raw and visceral, his story is one of the great odysseys in history," says Kurzel, "and I feel excited to be bringing it to the screen with a fresh cinematic eye. This is a really unique and modern cast, and I am so proud to be working with such a talented ensemble of new faces and celebrated actors." The cameras should be rolling this coming March in Australia.