TRUE HISTORY OF THE KELLY GANG is a 2019 British-Australian biographical film from Justin Kurzel, the director of SNOWTOWN (2011) and MACBETH (2015).
It stars George MacKay as Ned Kelly. MacKay is known for his roles in SUNSHINE ON LEITH (2015) and playing Hamlet in Claire McCarthy’s OPHELIA (2018). Essie Davis (Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries) plays Ned’s mother Ellen. Russell Crowe is a mentoring bushranger Harry Power. Nicholas Hoult and Charlie Hunnam represent the authorities and play police roles that challenge the young Ned.
The screenplay is written By Shaun Grant who co-wrote SNOWTOWN and wrote the screenplays for BERLIN SYNDROME (2017) and JASPER JONES (2017). It is an adaptation of Peter Carey’s Booker Prize winning novel published in 2000.
Like the Carey book it is based on, Kurzel’s film offers a loose reading of the events that created the legend of this divisive and iconic Australian historical figure. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, 2019. It will hit Australian cinemas on January 9, 2020 and will be released on Australian streamer Stan on January 26, 2020.
The UK release of the movie is 28 February 2020. THE date of the US release is as yet unannounced.
