Synopsis
When JR (Brenton Thwaites) is sent to prison for a minor crime, he becomes the apprentice to Brendan Lynch (Ewan McGregor), Australia’s public enemy number one. When JR helps Brendan break out, they go on the run and form a complex co-dependent relationship. JR quickly learns in the criminal world, life is like a game of chess. To gain control, you have to stay a few moves ahead of your opponent. Lose that control, and you risk becoming a pawn in their very dangerous game.
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Production Information
Writer & Director
Julius Avery
Producers
Timothy White
Co-Producer
Janelle Landers
Executive Producers
John Collee
Bryce Menzies
Key Cast
Ewan McGregor
Brenton Thwaites
Alicia Vikander
Jacek Koman
Matt Nable
Tom Budge
Eddie Baroo
Nash Edgerton
Damon Herriman
Distributor
Hopscotch Films (ANZ)
Key Locations
Fremantle
Kalgoorlie
Rottnest
Director of Photography
Nigel Bluck
Editor
Jack Hutchings
Production Designer
Fiona Crombie
Costume Designer
Terri Lamera
Composer
Jed Kurtzel
First Assistant Director
Chris Webb
Second Unit Director
Michael Spiccia
Art Director
Sophie Nash
Makeup and Hair Designer
Wendy De Waal
Production Coordinator
Kelly Vincent
Sound Recordist
Trevor Hope
Post Production Sound Facility
Deluxe Stage One Sound
A Location-based aesthetic
“Julius and I had a drive around early in pre production and we were both drawn to the same sorts of architecture.”
“The first location we found was the Truck Stop and for me it sums up the look that I was going for in the film – a graphic cream brick block sitting in a car park on the edge of an expanse of sand and surrounded by cyclone fencing. We were drawn to the industrial shapes around Fremantle; the fantastic overpasses that lead to the beach, the container stacks. I was really drawn to brutalist, blunt shapes framed against the blue sky.”
– Fiona Crombie, Production Designer
From Tatooine to Western Australia
“The whole of Western Australia”
“I had never been before and I was really impressed by it. Kalgoorlie is dominated by the mining industry of course so the landscape is peppered with these massive pits; they were quite amazing to see, I mean just the scale of them. It’s always nice with this job, it takes you places and you see parts of the world you might not otherwise see. I like working here, I like the Australian crews very much, and it was nice to work in Perth. Another place we went was Rottnest Island, which is spectacularly beautiful. I saw the most amazing sunset of my life there.”
– Ewan McGregor, Lead Actor (Brendan)