On May 15 2010, arriving back in Sydney three days before her 17th birthday, Jessica Watson became the youngest person ever to sail solo around the world non-stop and unassisted.
Jessica Watson’s story touched and inspired people in Australia and around the world and now her heroic story will be told on the big screen, Paramount Pictures Australia yesterday announced that they are delighted to be distributing the film about her journey, TRUE SPIRIT, in Australia and New Zealand.
“It’s an honour to have a feature film made about you – quite surreal and very exciting! It will be interesting to watch how a film is made. I’m looking forward to working closely with the production team and Paramount in my capacity as a consultant on the project”, said Jessica Watson.
TRUE SPIRIT will be produced by Brookwell McNamara Entertainment (BME) run by Sean McNamara and David Brookwell. BME produced the inspiring true-story film ‘Soul Surfer’. Also producing is Australia’s Sunstar Entertainment, helmed by Andrew Fraser, Daniel Starling and Brian Andrews. Fraser said, “Jessica Watson is an inspiring story that ultimately proves that we all have the power to live our dreams – no matter how small or big they are! This is a great Australian story on a great Australian”.
Paramount Pictures Vice President of Australia and New Zealand, Mike Selwyn said of the announcement “We are delighted to be working with BME and Sunstar to bring Jessica Watson’s story to the big screen where it belongs. This is a wonderful story of courage, perseverance and triumph that will appeal to all audiences”.
