“High Ground,” a 1930s-set drama film, picked up eight nominations for the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards. It narrowly led the field of contenders that included controversial drama “Nitram” with seven nominations, “The Dry” with six and “Penguin Bloom” with five.
Nominations were announced over the weekend ahead of a week of voting. The winners will be announced at a ceremony at Sydney Opera House on Dec. 8, 2021.
Six films received nominations for best film: “The Dry,” “The Furnace,” “High Ground,” “Nitram,” “Penguin Bloom” and “Rams.” Five of the six also received nominations for best director.
“High Ground,” received five of its nominations for acting, with two of its performers going head-to-head in the best actor category, and two more in the best supporting actor section.
Similarly, “Nitram,” which chronicles the build-up to a real-life mass shooting in Tasmania, received nominations for its two leads and two supporting cast.
Nominations were announced over the weekend ahead of a week of voting. The winners will be announced at a ceremony at Sydney Opera House on Dec. 8, 2021.
Six films received nominations for best film: “The Dry,” “The Furnace,” “High Ground,” “Nitram,” “Penguin Bloom” and “Rams.” Five of the six also received nominations for best director.
“High Ground,” received five of its nominations for acting, with two of its performers going head-to-head in the best actor category, and two more in the best supporting actor section.
Similarly, “Nitram,” which chronicles the build-up to a real-life mass shooting in Tasmania, received nominations for its two leads and two supporting cast.
- 11/1/2021
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Aacta has revealed those in contention for the major film, television and short-form prizes at this year’s awards, with High Ground leading the charge in the film categories and The Newsreader ahead in television.
The nominations follow those revealed for feature documentary in July, with the technical craft categories still to come.
Aacta also announced today that this year’s awards will move from The Star to the Sydney Opera House, with the ceremony to be held December 8.
There has also been a change in broadcast partners from Seven to 10, where the ceremony will air first followed by an encore on Fox Arena on Foxtel, Binge, and Aacta TV.
High Ground has earned eight nominations, including Best Film. Also nominated for the night’s major prize are Nitram, which earned seven nods, The Dry, which has six, as well as The Furnace, Penguin Bloom and Rams.
The Best Indie Film Award,...
The nominations follow those revealed for feature documentary in July, with the technical craft categories still to come.
Aacta also announced today that this year’s awards will move from The Star to the Sydney Opera House, with the ceremony to be held December 8.
There has also been a change in broadcast partners from Seven to 10, where the ceremony will air first followed by an encore on Fox Arena on Foxtel, Binge, and Aacta TV.
High Ground has earned eight nominations, including Best Film. Also nominated for the night’s major prize are Nitram, which earned seven nods, The Dry, which has six, as well as The Furnace, Penguin Bloom and Rams.
The Best Indie Film Award,...
- 10/30/2021
- by Jackie Keast
- IF.com.au
February is shaping up to be something special. In response to a pandemic-extended awards season, the sort of films that used to crowd the release calendar just before New Year’s in an effort to Oscar-qualify while also still maintaining some measure of last-minute/latest-thing freshness are now arranging to come out over the coming weeks.
Think of that as a teaser of such upcoming films as “Minari” and “Nomadland” more than a reflection of this week’s lineup, although a couple of this week’s releases feature elements the marketing departments would be happy to hear described as “Oscar worthy.”
The first is Viggo Mortensen’s directorial debut, in which he plays a gay man dealing with his father’s dementia (featuring a raging performance by Lance Henriksen). The second is Sam Levinson’s resourceful two-hander “Malcolm & Marie,” made during the pandemic and featuring two terrific, on-fire performances...
Think of that as a teaser of such upcoming films as “Minari” and “Nomadland” more than a reflection of this week’s lineup, although a couple of this week’s releases feature elements the marketing departments would be happy to hear described as “Oscar worthy.”
The first is Viggo Mortensen’s directorial debut, in which he plays a gay man dealing with his father’s dementia (featuring a raging performance by Lance Henriksen). The second is Sam Levinson’s resourceful two-hander “Malcolm & Marie,” made during the pandemic and featuring two terrific, on-fire performances...
- 2/5/2021
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Nearly six years ago, “Rams,” a touching humanist drama from Iceland directed and written by Grímur Hákonarson, won hearts — and prizes — at the Cannes Film Festival. Now, in trots “Rams,” an Australian remake, directed by Jeremy Sims (“Last Cab to Darwin”). Adapted with winning cultural specificity by former newsman Jules Duncan, it’s longer and more broadly comic than the Icelandic version and boasts a tacked on, feel-good ending. Beloved Antipodean stars Sam Neill and Michael Caton play the two estranged brothers who must pull together to save what is dearest to them: their sheep.
Although they have not spoken to one another for 40 years, Colin (Neill) and older brother Les (Caton) Grimurson live on neighboring stud farms in a valley near Mount Barker, Western Australia. The spectacularly scenic landscape with its nearby mountains and beaches as well as baking hot summers and bush fires becomes a fateful character in the action.
Although they have not spoken to one another for 40 years, Colin (Neill) and older brother Les (Caton) Grimurson live on neighboring stud farms in a valley near Mount Barker, Western Australia. The spectacularly scenic landscape with its nearby mountains and beaches as well as baking hot summers and bush fires becomes a fateful character in the action.
- 2/5/2021
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
In 2016, Icelandic online newspaper Kjarninn voted Rams, released only the year before, as the second greatest film their country had ever produced. I doubt the same will be happening in Australia for this remake.
Writer Jules Duncan and Director Jeremy Sims faithfully transplant Grímur Hákonarson’s film to Western Australia, making appropriate contextual changes but otherwise preserving both the plot and the serio-comic tone of the story of brothers Colin (Sam Neill) and Les (Michael Caton), neighbouring sheep farmers who have barely spoken in years. When a disease is identified in one flock, authorities determine that all the sheep in the valley where Colin and Les live, including those of their friends and neighbours, must be destroyed. Colin, after killing his own flock before it could be done for him, hides a few of them away, hoping to preserve the rare breed he farms.
Sam Neill is enjoying something of a late career high,...
Writer Jules Duncan and Director Jeremy Sims faithfully transplant Grímur Hákonarson’s film to Western Australia, making appropriate contextual changes but otherwise preserving both the plot and the serio-comic tone of the story of brothers Colin (Sam Neill) and Les (Michael Caton), neighbouring sheep farmers who have barely spoken in years. When a disease is identified in one flock, authorities determine that all the sheep in the valley where Colin and Les live, including those of their friends and neighbours, must be destroyed. Colin, after killing his own flock before it could be done for him, hides a few of them away, hoping to preserve the rare breed he farms.
Sam Neill is enjoying something of a late career high,...
- 2/3/2021
- by Sam Inglis
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Stars: Sam Neill, Michael Caton, Miranda Richardson, Asher Keddie | Written by Jules Duncan | Directed by Jeremy Sims
Sam Neill is truly blazing a new trail right now… After his performance in Peaky Blinders Season 1; his star turn in Hunt for the Wilderpeople; and his imminent return to the Jurassic Park franchise; it’s hard to not be a Sam Neill fan right now. Though that’s always been the case – whether he is researching dinosaurs or scaring the bejesus out of Laurence Fishburne (Event Horizon call back). Though his wheelhouse these days, in my opinion, are his more low-budget and personal stories. As he’s aging he’s taking on new roles, new challenges, a lot of which see him embody the everyman who simply cannot be phased. It’s a role he embodies so perfectly too.
I can’t lie to you, apparently this film is an Australian remake,...
Sam Neill is truly blazing a new trail right now… After his performance in Peaky Blinders Season 1; his star turn in Hunt for the Wilderpeople; and his imminent return to the Jurassic Park franchise; it’s hard to not be a Sam Neill fan right now. Though that’s always been the case – whether he is researching dinosaurs or scaring the bejesus out of Laurence Fishburne (Event Horizon call back). Though his wheelhouse these days, in my opinion, are his more low-budget and personal stories. As he’s aging he’s taking on new roles, new challenges, a lot of which see him embody the everyman who simply cannot be phased. It’s a role he embodies so perfectly too.
I can’t lie to you, apparently this film is an Australian remake,...
- 1/28/2021
- by Kevin Haldon
- Nerdly
Check out US trailer for Rams, starring Sam Neill (Jurassic Park), Miranda Richardson (Sleepy Hollow) & Michael Caton (Last Cab to Darwin).
The heartwarming drama will hit theaters & VOD on February 5th.
In remote Western Australia, two estranged brothers, Colin (Sam Neill) and Les (Michael Caton), are at war. Raising separate flocks of sheep descended from their family’s prized bloodline, the two men work side by side yet are worlds apart. When Les’s prize ram is diagnosed with a rare and lethal illness, authorities order a purge of every sheep in the valley.
While Colin attempts to stealthily outwit the powers that be, Les opts for angry defiance. But can the warring brothers set aside their differences and have a chance to reunite their family, save their herd, and bring their community back together?
From Samuel Goldwyn Films, Rams is directed by Jeremy Sims and written by Jules Duncan...
The heartwarming drama will hit theaters & VOD on February 5th.
In remote Western Australia, two estranged brothers, Colin (Sam Neill) and Les (Michael Caton), are at war. Raising separate flocks of sheep descended from their family’s prized bloodline, the two men work side by side yet are worlds apart. When Les’s prize ram is diagnosed with a rare and lethal illness, authorities order a purge of every sheep in the valley.
While Colin attempts to stealthily outwit the powers that be, Les opts for angry defiance. But can the warring brothers set aside their differences and have a chance to reunite their family, save their herd, and bring their community back together?
From Samuel Goldwyn Films, Rams is directed by Jeremy Sims and written by Jules Duncan...
- 12/21/2020
- by Michelle Hannett
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Don’t judge this warm, funny, tender and down-to-earth rural drama about odd-couple brothers by its garish marketing materials
The poster for Rams depicts a perturbed-looking Michael Caton next to a smug-looking Sam Neill, both standing behind a sheep, which, like them, is staring into the camera. Going by this advert alone you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a bone-headed comedy about cack-handed country types and their livestock – something with a tagline like “they’re baaaaaad to the bone” or “just ewe and me”.
How wrong you would be. Rams is a lovely, even-tempered drama about men and rural life, gentle but firm of spirit, with a down-to-earth pith and a way of entertainingly and unpretentiously exploring potentially difficult subjects such as masculinity. Director Jeremy Sims and screenwriter Jules Duncan faithfully remake the excellent Icelandic film of the same name, which won best film in the Un Certain...
The poster for Rams depicts a perturbed-looking Michael Caton next to a smug-looking Sam Neill, both standing behind a sheep, which, like them, is staring into the camera. Going by this advert alone you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a bone-headed comedy about cack-handed country types and their livestock – something with a tagline like “they’re baaaaaad to the bone” or “just ewe and me”.
How wrong you would be. Rams is a lovely, even-tempered drama about men and rural life, gentle but firm of spirit, with a down-to-earth pith and a way of entertainingly and unpretentiously exploring potentially difficult subjects such as masculinity. Director Jeremy Sims and screenwriter Jules Duncan faithfully remake the excellent Icelandic film of the same name, which won best film in the Un Certain...
- 10/29/2020
- by Luke Buckmaster
- The Guardian - Film News
‘Rams.’
Samuel Goldwyn Films continues to show a greater appetite for Australian films than any other North American distributor, with Jeremy Sims’ Rams as the latest acquisition.
WestEnd Films negotiated the deal for the remake of the cult Icelandic pic Hrútar, which stars Sam Neill, Michael Caton, Miranda Richardson, Wayne Blair, Asher Keddie and newcomer Will McNeill.
Roadshow will launch the comedy-drama produced by Wbmc’s Janelle Landers and Aidan O’Bryan and scripted by Jules Duncan on more than 240 screens on October 29.
This year Goldwyn released Mirrah Foulkes’ Judy & Punch, Wayne Blair’s Top End Wedding, Paul Ireland’s Measure for Measure, John Sheedy’s H is for Happiness and Gregor Jordan’s Dirt Music, mostly on VOD.
Stephen Johnson’s High Ground will premiere next year after its Australian release via Madman Entertainment.
Landers tells If that two US distributors made bids for Rams and Goldwyn won out...
Samuel Goldwyn Films continues to show a greater appetite for Australian films than any other North American distributor, with Jeremy Sims’ Rams as the latest acquisition.
WestEnd Films negotiated the deal for the remake of the cult Icelandic pic Hrútar, which stars Sam Neill, Michael Caton, Miranda Richardson, Wayne Blair, Asher Keddie and newcomer Will McNeill.
Roadshow will launch the comedy-drama produced by Wbmc’s Janelle Landers and Aidan O’Bryan and scripted by Jules Duncan on more than 240 screens on October 29.
This year Goldwyn released Mirrah Foulkes’ Judy & Punch, Wayne Blair’s Top End Wedding, Paul Ireland’s Measure for Measure, John Sheedy’s H is for Happiness and Gregor Jordan’s Dirt Music, mostly on VOD.
Stephen Johnson’s High Ground will premiere next year after its Australian release via Madman Entertainment.
Landers tells If that two US distributors made bids for Rams and Goldwyn won out...
- 10/22/2020
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
In today’s Global Bulletin Vivendi’s 2020 finances are up 2.4%, the Young Artist Academy announces this year’s award recipients, All3Media picks up “A World of Calm,” West End Films sells “Rams” in key territories and Fremantle promotes Seb Shorr.
Finance
In a year marked by the coronavirus pandemic, Vivendi saw its consolidated revenues go up by 2.4% to €11.6 billion ($13.7 billion) during the first nine months of 2020, and up 1.3 % during the third quarter.
The group’s subscription-based activities, especially at Universal Music Group and to a lesser extent Canal Plus Group, have bolstered Vivendi’s revenues. Canal Plus Group’s revenues were up 6.6% for the first nine months of 2020 and up 7.3% for the third quarter of 2020. The company’s international activities grew a strong pace with revenues from international operations rising by 27.4%. The addition of 1.2 million subscribers around the world, and the integration of M7, a leading pay-tv company in Europe...
Finance
In a year marked by the coronavirus pandemic, Vivendi saw its consolidated revenues go up by 2.4% to €11.6 billion ($13.7 billion) during the first nine months of 2020, and up 1.3 % during the third quarter.
The group’s subscription-based activities, especially at Universal Music Group and to a lesser extent Canal Plus Group, have bolstered Vivendi’s revenues. Canal Plus Group’s revenues were up 6.6% for the first nine months of 2020 and up 7.3% for the third quarter of 2020. The company’s international activities grew a strong pace with revenues from international operations rising by 27.4%. The addition of 1.2 million subscribers around the world, and the integration of M7, a leading pay-tv company in Europe...
- 10/21/2020
- by Jamie Lang and Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Further deals include Germany, Italy, Russia, China.
UK-based WestEnd Films has sealed deals for multiple major territories on Rams, the English-language adaptation of the 2015 Icelandic feature.
Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired the film for North America, with Signature Entertainment taking the rights for the UK.
Further deals are set for Germany and Italy (Koch Media), Russia and the Baltics (Paradise), Poland (Canal+), Middle East (Phoenicia Pictures), China (Jetsen Huashi Media), former Yugoslavia (McF Megacom Film) and airlines (Encore).
Village Roadshow will release the Australian film in Australia and New Zealand on October 29, as the first major domestic release since cinemas reopened following the pandemic.
UK-based WestEnd Films has sealed deals for multiple major territories on Rams, the English-language adaptation of the 2015 Icelandic feature.
Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired the film for North America, with Signature Entertainment taking the rights for the UK.
Further deals are set for Germany and Italy (Koch Media), Russia and the Baltics (Paradise), Poland (Canal+), Middle East (Phoenicia Pictures), China (Jetsen Huashi Media), former Yugoslavia (McF Megacom Film) and airlines (Encore).
Village Roadshow will release the Australian film in Australia and New Zealand on October 29, as the first major domestic release since cinemas reopened following the pandemic.
- 10/21/2020
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Sam Neill and Michael Caton star.
Screen can exclusively reveal the first international trailer for Rams, Jeremy Sims’ English-language remake of Grímur Hákonarson’s 2015 Icelandic hit.
WestEnd Films is handling worldwide sales, and is screening the Australian film during next week’s Cannes online market, which runs from June 22-26.
Rams stars Sam Neill (Jurassic Park) and Michael Caton (The Animal) in the story of a decades-long feud between two sheep farming brothers which comes to a head when disaster strikes their flocks.
Miranda Richardson, Asher Keddie, and Hayley McElhinney are also in the cast. Jules Duncan adapted the script,...
Screen can exclusively reveal the first international trailer for Rams, Jeremy Sims’ English-language remake of Grímur Hákonarson’s 2015 Icelandic hit.
WestEnd Films is handling worldwide sales, and is screening the Australian film during next week’s Cannes online market, which runs from June 22-26.
Rams stars Sam Neill (Jurassic Park) and Michael Caton (The Animal) in the story of a decades-long feud between two sheep farming brothers which comes to a head when disaster strikes their flocks.
Miranda Richardson, Asher Keddie, and Hayley McElhinney are also in the cast. Jules Duncan adapted the script,...
- 6/19/2020
- by 1101321¦Ben Dalton¦26¦
- ScreenDaily
Nir Shelter and Jules Duncan.
Jules Duncan’s The Big Yarn and Nir Shelter’s Home won the Monte Miller Awards for the best unproduced scripts presented by the Australian Writers’ Guild in Melbourne on Tuesday night.
Duncan’s feature screenplay revolves around a small town journalist who, after surviving a bungled hit, teams up with a wannabe cop to find out which of the lame stories she’s been working on masks a broader conspiracy.
Home is a short film about a Palestinian who boards an Israeli bus, forcing an Israeli soldier to choose between risking the lives of the other passengers and a potentially innocent man.
Duncan wrote the action comedy as part of Screenwest’s Feature Navigator program; it also won the Bill Warnock Screenwriting award.
His first produced screenplay is Rams, an adaptation of writer-director Grímur Hákonarson’s Icelandic hit Hrútar. Now in post, Rams stars Miranda Richardson,...
Jules Duncan’s The Big Yarn and Nir Shelter’s Home won the Monte Miller Awards for the best unproduced scripts presented by the Australian Writers’ Guild in Melbourne on Tuesday night.
Duncan’s feature screenplay revolves around a small town journalist who, after surviving a bungled hit, teams up with a wannabe cop to find out which of the lame stories she’s been working on masks a broader conspiracy.
Home is a short film about a Palestinian who boards an Israeli bus, forcing an Israeli soldier to choose between risking the lives of the other passengers and a potentially innocent man.
Duncan wrote the action comedy as part of Screenwest’s Feature Navigator program; it also won the Bill Warnock Screenwriting award.
His first produced screenplay is Rams, an adaptation of writer-director Grímur Hákonarson’s Icelandic hit Hrútar. Now in post, Rams stars Miranda Richardson,...
- 2/26/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
‘Miranda Richardson.’
Miranda Richardson is joining Sam Neill and Michael Caton in Jeremy Sims’ Rams, a re-imagining of Icelandic drama Hrútar, which is now shooting in Mt Barker in Wa’s Great Southern region.
The Oscar-nominated and BAFTA-winning (Damage) actress is playing Kat, an expat Brit who works as the veterinarian in a sheep farming town that is overcome by a rare ovine disease.
Neill and Caton star as estranged brothers who live on adjoining farms but haven’t spoken to each other for 40 years. The brothers are forced to find a way to work together to save their flock and their family’s legacy when their sheep and their small town are threatened.
Sims said: “I am thrilled that Ms Richardson is able to join us in telling our version of this beautiful saga about warring brothers. I’ve been a fan forever, from Queenie to Stronger, and fought...
Miranda Richardson is joining Sam Neill and Michael Caton in Jeremy Sims’ Rams, a re-imagining of Icelandic drama Hrútar, which is now shooting in Mt Barker in Wa’s Great Southern region.
The Oscar-nominated and BAFTA-winning (Damage) actress is playing Kat, an expat Brit who works as the veterinarian in a sheep farming town that is overcome by a rare ovine disease.
Neill and Caton star as estranged brothers who live on adjoining farms but haven’t spoken to each other for 40 years. The brothers are forced to find a way to work together to save their flock and their family’s legacy when their sheep and their small town are threatened.
Sims said: “I am thrilled that Ms Richardson is able to join us in telling our version of this beautiful saga about warring brothers. I’ve been a fan forever, from Queenie to Stronger, and fought...
- 11/27/2018
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Miranda Richardson has signed on for the English-language remake of Un Certain Regard winner “Rams.” The British star of stage and screen joins a cast that includes Sam Neill and Michael Caton on the movie, which is currently shooting in western Australia.
Richardson plays Kat, the local veterinarian of a sheep-farming town hit by a rare disease affecting the flocks of estranged brothers Colin and Les, played by Neill and Caton, respectively. The outbreak forces them to work together to save their livelihoods and family legacy. Charlotte Boving played the original character that Richardson has taken on in the re-imagining of Grimur Hakonarson’s well-received picture.
Richardson has a lengthy list of film, TV and stage credits including “Blackadder,” “The Crying Game,” and “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.” Jeremy Sims directs the adaptation of the Icelandic film and said he was thrilled to have Richardson on board.
“I’ve been a fan forever,...
Richardson plays Kat, the local veterinarian of a sheep-farming town hit by a rare disease affecting the flocks of estranged brothers Colin and Les, played by Neill and Caton, respectively. The outbreak forces them to work together to save their livelihoods and family legacy. Charlotte Boving played the original character that Richardson has taken on in the re-imagining of Grimur Hakonarson’s well-received picture.
Richardson has a lengthy list of film, TV and stage credits including “Blackadder,” “The Crying Game,” and “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.” Jeremy Sims directs the adaptation of the Icelandic film and said he was thrilled to have Richardson on board.
“I’ve been a fan forever,...
- 11/27/2018
- by Stewart Clarke
- Variety Film + TV
Sam Neill (“Hunt for the Wilderpeople”) and Michael Caton (“The Animal”) can be seen in-character in the eagerly-anticipated “Rams” in these exclusive first-look images from the shoot. The pair play sheep farmers and estranged brothers Colin (Neill) and Les (Caton).
They are a chalk and cheese pair – Colin is studious and introverted, while Les is hot-headed and crude. But they must reunite after a 40-year silence to save their flocks after the authorities order the slaughter of their sheep when a ram is found to be carrying a rare disease.
The film is a reimagining of Grimur Hakonarson’s earlier picture, which was set in Iceland and won the Un Certain Regard section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. The English-language version is being filmed in Western Australia’s Great Southern region.
“Rams” was adapted by screenwriter Jules Duncan and is being produced by Janelle Landers and Aidan O’Bryan from Australia-based Wbmc.
They are a chalk and cheese pair – Colin is studious and introverted, while Les is hot-headed and crude. But they must reunite after a 40-year silence to save their flocks after the authorities order the slaughter of their sheep when a ram is found to be carrying a rare disease.
The film is a reimagining of Grimur Hakonarson’s earlier picture, which was set in Iceland and won the Un Certain Regard section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. The English-language version is being filmed in Western Australia’s Great Southern region.
“Rams” was adapted by screenwriter Jules Duncan and is being produced by Janelle Landers and Aidan O’Bryan from Australia-based Wbmc.
- 11/2/2018
- by Stewart Clarke
- Variety Film + TV
Jeremy Sims (L) with Sam Neill on the set of ‘Rams’ (Photo credit: Merlyn Moon).
Jeremy Sims was promoting his drama Last Cab to Darwin on the international film festival circuit in 2015 when he noticed Icelandic film Hrútar featured in nearly every program.
His curiosity piqued, he watched writer-director Grímur Hákonarson’s film – the tale of two warring brothers, both sheep farmers – at the Busan festival in Korea, and was hugely impressed. The same year it won best film at Un Certain Regard in Cannes.
So it was a fortuitous coincidence when one of the producers, Wbmc’s Aidan O’Bryan rang his agent earlier this year to ask if he would direct a re-imagining of the film entitled Rams after acquiring the adaptation rights.
Sims loved the screenplay by Western Australian-born writer Jules Duncan, which is a complete reinterpretation of the original, and readily accepted the offer. Produced by O’Bryan and Janelle Landers,...
Jeremy Sims was promoting his drama Last Cab to Darwin on the international film festival circuit in 2015 when he noticed Icelandic film Hrútar featured in nearly every program.
His curiosity piqued, he watched writer-director Grímur Hákonarson’s film – the tale of two warring brothers, both sheep farmers – at the Busan festival in Korea, and was hugely impressed. The same year it won best film at Un Certain Regard in Cannes.
So it was a fortuitous coincidence when one of the producers, Wbmc’s Aidan O’Bryan rang his agent earlier this year to ask if he would direct a re-imagining of the film entitled Rams after acquiring the adaptation rights.
Sims loved the screenplay by Western Australian-born writer Jules Duncan, which is a complete reinterpretation of the original, and readily accepted the offer. Produced by O’Bryan and Janelle Landers,...
- 10/22/2018
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Michael Caton and Sam Neill (Photo: Merlyn Moon).
Production is underway in Western Australia on Wbmc’s Rams, directed by Jeremy Sims – an adaptation of Icelandic film Hrútar.
Leading the cast are Sam Neill and Michael Caton, who play two estranged brothers who live on adjourning sheep farms yet haven’t spoken in 40 years. When a rare disease threatens their flock, they have to work together to save their flock, their small town and their family’s legacy.
Also set to star are Wayne Blair, Leon Ford, Travis McMahon, Asher Keddie, Hayley McElhinney, Kipan Rothbury and newcomers Asher Yasbincek and Will McNeill.
Hrútar, from writer-director Grímur Hákonarson, won the Un Certain Regard Award at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. However Rams – adapted by Wa screenwriter Jules Duncan – is promised to be “far from a ‘remake’” and a fresh interpretation of the film from an Australian perspective. It is shooting in Wa...
Production is underway in Western Australia on Wbmc’s Rams, directed by Jeremy Sims – an adaptation of Icelandic film Hrútar.
Leading the cast are Sam Neill and Michael Caton, who play two estranged brothers who live on adjourning sheep farms yet haven’t spoken in 40 years. When a rare disease threatens their flock, they have to work together to save their flock, their small town and their family’s legacy.
Also set to star are Wayne Blair, Leon Ford, Travis McMahon, Asher Keddie, Hayley McElhinney, Kipan Rothbury and newcomers Asher Yasbincek and Will McNeill.
Hrútar, from writer-director Grímur Hákonarson, won the Un Certain Regard Award at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. However Rams – adapted by Wa screenwriter Jules Duncan – is promised to be “far from a ‘remake’” and a fresh interpretation of the film from an Australian perspective. It is shooting in Wa...
- 10/2/2018
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
Sam Neill and Michael Caton will play estranged brothers and farmers forced to work together after a crisis hits their farms in comedy drama “Rams.” The project is an English-language adaptation of the Icelandic movie of the same name that won best film in Un Certain Regard at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. Jeremy Sims will helm the picture, reuniting him with Caton (“The Castle”) after the pair worked together on “Last Cab to Darwin.”
The original picture was written and directed by Grimur Hakonarson. It was set and filmed in his native Iceland. Production started Monday on the Australia-set version, which is shooting in Western Australia’s Great Southern region. Sims said he is “excited to have the chance to take this elegant and powerful tale and set it in the place that I spent my summers growing up.”
The film follows two brothers on adjoining sheep farms, played by Neill (“Jurassic Park”) and Caton.
The original picture was written and directed by Grimur Hakonarson. It was set and filmed in his native Iceland. Production started Monday on the Australia-set version, which is shooting in Western Australia’s Great Southern region. Sims said he is “excited to have the chance to take this elegant and powerful tale and set it in the place that I spent my summers growing up.”
The film follows two brothers on adjoining sheep farms, played by Neill (“Jurassic Park”) and Caton.
- 10/1/2018
- by Stewart Clarke
- Variety Film + TV
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