Eric Bana last hit the limelight playing Dr John Meehan in the first season of Dirty John and while the Australian actor has predominantly worked in US TV and film, he’s back in Australia with a new film The Dry.
Directed by Robert Connolly, The Dry is being released in Australian cinemas on January 1, 2021, and in an interview with the Herald Sun, Bana said he and the team were “impatient” to share it.
“Living here in Melbourne and going through what we have been going through here, I think it’s going to be at a good time,” said Bana. “I know the exhibitors are really excited and it’s a title that can’t be taken away from them at the last minute, which is something different than they have been experiencing in the last six months. We’re really impatient to share it with people.”
So, what do we already know about The Dry?
The Plot
Federal Agent Aaron Falk (Bana) returns to his home town after an absence of over twenty years to attend the funeral of his childhood friend, Luke, who allegedly killed his wife and child before taking his own life – a victim of the madness that has ravaged this community after more than a decade of drought.
When Falk reluctantly agrees to stay and investigate the crime, he opens up an old wound – the death of 17-year-old Ellie Deacon. Falk begins to suspect these two crimes, separated by decades, are connected. As he struggles to prove not only Luke’s innocence but also his own, Falk finds himself pitted against the prejudice towards him and pent-up rage of a terrified community.
The Cast
Alongside Bana, The Dry stars Genevieve O’Reilly (Rogue One), Keir O’Donnell (Wedding Crashers), John Polson (Mission: Impossible II), Julia Blake (Wolverine), Bruce Spence (Mad Max 2), Matt Nable (Riddick), William Zappa (Mad Max 2), James Frecheville (Animal Kingdom), Joe Klocek (Nowhere Boys), Claude Scott-Mitchell (Brassic), Sam Corlett (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), newcomer BeBe Bettencourt and Miranda Tapsell (Top End Wedding).
Where was it filmed?
The Dry was filmed across more than 15 towns in rural Victoria, Australia, in 2019.
The Novel
The Dry is based on Jane Harper’s debut novel and won the Australian Book Industry Award for Book of the Year in 2017. It has since sold more than one million copies worldwide.
When Bana was cast in the lead role, Harper said she was “thrilled” with the choice.
“I am thrilled Eric Bana has been cast to play Aaron Falk. It is very important to me that the nature and depth of Falk shines through and I feel Eric Bana has fully captured that,” she said in a statement.