Returning to film in his homeland for the first time since his 1988 film “Evil Angels”, Australian filmmaker Fred Schepisi has commenced production on “The Eye Of The Storm” in Melbourne, THR reports.
The film is based on a novel of the same title by Nobel Prize-winning Australian author Patrick White and will be adapted by “Babe: Pig In the City” co-writer and “Happy Feet” co-director Judy Morris. The film will star Charlotte Rampling, Geoffrey Rush, and Judy Davis, with a supporting cast that includes the filmmaker’s daughter, Alexandra Schepisi, as well as Robyn Nevyn, Colin Friels, John Gaden, and Helen Morse. The story centers around the impending death of powerful matriarch Elizabeth Hunter (Rampling) and the response of two nurses and her two children (Rush and Davis). Sounds like Oscar-baiting, heartstring-tugging material for sure.
The film marks Schepisi’s return to the big screen since the Kirk and Michael Douglas-starring “It Runs In The Family” in 2003. Not surprisingly, the film will probably fit safely in the Euro-flavored arthouse crowd, as it will be shopped out to prospective buyers at next month’s Cannes festival.