Eric Bana wades into Australia-set mystery ‘The Dry’

It’s the extended Australian drought that gives “The Dry” its name.

But this murder mystery is also coming up dry — as in empty — for Eric Bana’s Aaron Falk, a federal agent returning to his hometown after 20 years.

Falk has come to attend the funeral of his childhood friend Luke. The small town’s convinced that before committing suicide, Luke murdered his wife Karen and boy Billy — but spared his infant daughter.

Like a classic Clint Eastwood lone lawman back in the ’70s, Falk is persuaded to investigate what looks like an open and shut case by Luke’s disbelieving parents.

But it’s a dry spell for clues, much less confessions, as Falk finds more complications as two murders — separated by 20 years — are being investigated.

For Bana, last seen as a malevolent con artist in “Dear John,” “The Dry” has been a game changer.

“It’s the first film I’ve shot in Australia in 12 years but I live here,” said this Melbourne resident. “So it feels quite undramatic because it’s just where I live.”

Based on British-Australian journalist Jane Harper’s 2016 award-winning bestseller of the same name, Bana, 52, calls “The Dry,” “An amazing confluence of people and ideas. It’s taken a long time to find something of this caliber.

“It’s already an incredibly well-written book. The question was: How do we make this journey the most emotional for the audience?”

Bana calls Falk, a man of few words who is distrusted by most of the town folk, “An interesting character to play. A large challenge was calibrating the emotional journey. You’re on a slow burn and you’re so far from the emotional pay-off — and then there’s a gut punch at the end.”

“Dry” director Robert Connolly first worked with Bana on the 2007 Aussie drama “Romulus, My Father.” They’ve shared an office in Melbourne for the last 10 years.

“Every day,” Connolly recalled, “Eric and I went 4 1/2 hours outside Melbourne and filmed in small satellite towns, almost ghost towns.

“Getting up when it was dark every morning and driving to see the sun come up and the world changed, it cast a magic spell on all of us.”

“The Dry” is now a local phenomenon. A sleeper success with rave reviews and $20 million-plus box-office, it ranks 14th among Australia’s Top 20 films of all time.

“It’s the first time in my career I’m able to bring a massive Australian hit to the U.S. It’s never happened before,” Bana marveled.  “We couldn’t be more excited about getting in front of a big American audience.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3wbmJNc