Ain't it cool news: Ned Kelly
The Silent Type and Father Geek
Aint It Cool News
02 May 2002
source: aintitcool.com

NED KELLY is a project I'm especially interested in, I've been a fan of the character for 40 years now. I've had a 1st edition of his autobiography that he wrote while awaiting the hangman, for nearly 30 years now and I whipped it out and reread it when talk of the new series of flicks based on him were first rumored over a year ago... The Silent Type here with a report from Down Under. The Ned Kelly article below is from the Sydney Morning Herald on May 2 2002:

Playing a folk hero is a heavy responsibility for 23-year-old Heath Ledger, writes Garry Maddox. Director Gregor Jordan knows there's a special responsibility in taking on the Ned Kelly story. Lots of people have told him lately how exciting it is that he is making a new film about the country's most revered bushranger and folk hero. "Then they look at you and say 'don't f--- it up!"' says the director of Two Hands and the forthcoming Buffalo Soldiers on day two of the shoot in rural Victoria. "You get a sense that this is a story that is quite dear to a lot of Australians. So there's a responsibility to do it well and to not disappoint people."

All the elements are in place for a terrific go at the story of a legendary outlaw whose armoured battles with the police have been shot many times for the screen since the early silent film The Story of the Kelly Gang in 1906. For starters, there's a healthy $30 million budget. Then there's a blue-chip Australian cast headed by Heath Ledger, who, still just 23, has risen to Hollywood stardom since working with Jordan on Two Hands. The director believes Ledger, who starred in The Patriot and A Knight's Tale, will be a great Ned Kelly. "Number one, he's the right age. Ned was 25 when he died. Ned was also a very charismatic guy. When he walked into a room, he'd command attention without even trying. Heath is the kind of guy who just has that thing, too. He has lots of charisma. "If you want to make a film of this size, you've got to have a star on board. He fits the bill and, as an incredible bonus, he's Australian."

Ledger has been researching Kelly's character so closely he even has a hotel room overlooking the Old Melbourne Jail, where the outlaw was imprisoned and then hanged in 1880. From his window, he can see the yard where Ned Kelly took his last walk, says Jordan. Ledger plays Kelly over the last decade of his life. The largely Australian cast also includes Geoffrey Rush, Rachel Griffiths, Naomi Watts and Orlando Bloom from The Lord of the Rings. Their Hollywood wattage reflects what Jordan believes is a unique situation for the country's film industry, with so many bona fide international stars: "As a director, it's a fantastic thing. You can make an Australian film and cast it with stars who are Australian but will potentially take the movie to an international marketplace."

Ned Kelly is the first project for the new Australian arm of Working Title Films, the British company behind Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bean, Elizabeth, Notting Hill and Bridget Jones's Diary. The company's track record for international success and distribution by Universal Pictures will give Ned Kelly an ideal launch around the world.  Executive producer Tim Bevan, who set up Working Title with Sarah Radclyffe in 1984, says Ledger's presence will overcome the average American's ignorance about Kelly. "The UK, New Zealand and Australia are fine. Everybody knows who Ned Kelly was. But you need to put elements into the movie that are going to make it attractive to a broader audience.  "We were lucky to get Heath and... to fill that cast out so that it's sexy and inviting. The equivalent in Britain when we're doing a romantic comedy is if you get Hugh [Grant], try to get Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet as well. "Then these films begin to feel bigger than they actually are, which is the trick in getting them away outside their indigenous audience."

Bevan refers to Ned Kelly as a western and talks about the importance of audiences being able to place films in identifiable genres. Jordan sees the outlaw's story having the structure of a great myth. "He's a hero figure who stuck up for the underdogs. He was a guy who was picked on and then fought back." While making a film sympathetic to Kelly, the film-makers are trying to be balanced about his battles with the authorities. "We try to explain the times and the circumstances as well," says Jordan. "The police were pretty corrupt and picked on Ned until he snapped and fought back. But we try to look at their situation, too: they were basically trying to police a community made up of criminals." Looking forward to this movie myself, I think Heath will be great in the role, and the supporting cast look superb. I'll let you know if there's any more news. Cheers, The Silent Type

Father Geek back with this little bit that Clint from Moviehole sent me...

I'm sure many of you were wondering whether Heath Ledger was going to adorn that Beard for his role as Ned Kelly - wonder no more. He sure will be, says The Sunday Telegraph. Ledger has committed to the outlaw's fully-fledged beard. Mick Jagger could only manage some wispy bum-fluff in the limp 1970 film of the same name. And Ledger's director, Gregor Jordan, disclosed that Ledger will take on the full Irish accent for his portrayal. "It's going to be all Irish," said Jordan. "You realise, when researching his story, Ned was an Irishman even though he'd never been to Ireland."

Yet Kelly remains the quintessential Australian story, still attracting creative types 120 years after his hanging. He's part of the fabric of Australian culture, Jordan said. "He captures a spirit that Australians can really identify with, someone who's been picked on and persecuted and fights back. "He's also someone who's not perfect, rough around the edges and a bit of a wild man. He's sort of the character that people wish they could be." The Kelly story has attracted filmmakers and novelists since 1906, when the Taits filmed The Story of the Kelly Gang in Melbourne. It is regarded as the world's first feature film. Jordan's Ned Kelly, adapted from Robert Drewe's Our Sunshine, will likely beat two other Kelly films reportedly in development: a low-budget, straight-to-video spoof and an adaptation of Peter Carey's Booker Prize-winning novel, The True History of the Kelly Gang, directed by Neil Jordan. Brad Pitt has been whispered as its Kelly, although the film is now on hold. Previously, Godfrey Cass, Bob Chitty, John Jarratt, John Waters, Yahoo Serious and Mick Jagger played Kelly on screen, with varying success.

"I was talking to Bryan Brown about it," said Jordan. "For a young actor, what is there? There's Hamlet, but for an Australian, Kelly is the ultimate role." Ledger, who starred in Jordan's Two Hands, was the only actor considered for the role. "He's the right age for the role, has the level of charisma and the star power to justify the budget, and also he's an Australian. That combination is unique," he said. "For leading men under the age of 25 there's Leonardo DiCaprio, whose salary is stratospheric, and then basically there's just Heath Ledger and Josh Hartnett." Ledger's commitment ensured this Ned Kelly not only has an unusually large budget for an Australian film, but arguably the highest profile cast ever assembled here. Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush, Naomi Watts, Rachel Griffiths, Joel Edgerton, Peter Phelps, Geoff Morrell, "Bud" Tingwell and The Lord of the Rings' star Orlando Bloom join Ledger on the shoot.  "It's actually more about Ned than it is about me," Jordan said of the casting. "I had so much interest from actors around the world about this film because it's a story that captures people's imagination." The last decade has seen that interest peak with a comprehensive biography (Ian Jones's Ned Kelly A Short Life), Drewe's and Carey's novels and a growing interest in art featuring Ned Kelly. Sidney Nolan's River Crossing sold for $261,750 – $60,000 more than expected – this week in Melbourne.