Eric Bana is set to reunite with director Robert Connolly, starring in a new film based on Jane Harper’s 2017 novel Force Of Nature.
The pair previously worked together on 2020’s The Dry, another adaptation of one of Harper’s novels. Force Of Nature is the story of five women venturing onto a corporate hiking retreat, and only four returning. Two federal agents, Erik Falk and Carmen Cooper – who will be played in the film by Jeremy Lindsay and Jacqueline McKenzie, respectively – trek into the Victorian mountain ranges in the hopes of finding the missing woman, really an informant, alive.
Production is currently underway and will be done across Victoria’s Dandenong Ranges, Yarra Valley and the Otways. The film is being produced by three studios – Made Up Stories, Connolly’s Arenamedia and Bana’s Pick Up Truck Pictures. Per Variety, the film has received a major investment from Screen Australia and VicScreen, with additional finance received from Soundfirm and Blue Post.
Connolly said of the project: “I’m so excited to return to the world of Detective Aaron Falk. Jane Harper’s Force Of Nature is a deeply emotional and thrilling story showcasing the extraordinary world and landscape of the Australian wilderness.”
Bana added: “Whilst it was always our dream to bring this story to the big screen, its fate always rested with the Australian cinema-going public. Their overwhelming support of The Dry turns this into a reality.”
The release of The Dry marked Bana’s first Australian film in over a decade. Rated as one of the 10 best Australian films of 2021, The Dry beat out Hollywood smash-hits like Wonder Woman 1984 and Black Widow as the most popular film among cinema-goers.
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“The darkly textured, sometimes sinister landscapes are framed to perfection,” wrote NME’s Paul Merrill, “and the supporting characters are rarely easy to gauge as the investigation lurches unpredictably towards a knotty climax.”