Ambience Entertainment has announced that Geoffrey Rush (Pirates of the Caribbean) and Jai Courtney (Suicide Squad) will lead the cast of Storm Boy, a contemporary retelling of the 1976 Australian family film, which is described as a “heartwarming tale about unusual friendship and unconditional love.”
Based on Australian author Colin Thiele’s 1964 novel, the film will see Rush recounting his childhood adventures to his trouble teenage granddaughter, hoping to help her avoid making the same mistakes he did. In flashbacks, Courtney will play the father of Rush’s character, who removes himself and his son from society following the death of his wife and daughter to live on a remote isolated coastline of Australia.
Storm Boy is being directed by Shawn Seet, and is set to feature a combination of live-action and CG animation. Production will begin in July in South Australia ahead of a release in 2018.