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'Outlaw Ned Kelly lived only 25 years, but it was enough to write his story into Australian legend. The subject of countless books, songs, and other lore, he has become a near-mythical figure in the mould of Jesse James or even Robin Hood. Adapting the Booker Prize–winning novel by Peter Carey, True History of the Kelly Gang stars George MacKay, Russell Crowe, Nicholas Hoult, Essie Davis, and Charlie Hunnam in a gloriously fictionalized tale of a true-life renegade.
'Kelly (MacKay) grows up in an already rebellious Irish immigrant family, regularly bristling against the outback justice imposed by local police. Over time, he falls under the influence of Harry Power (Crowe), a true bush-ranger with little regard for colonial authority over the wild territory where he operates. Each encounter with the law pushes Kelly further and further into a dedicated life of crime. Soon enough, he's gathered a gang around him to help with the horse thieving and shootouts, and many Australian settlers are applauding his exploits. It all builds to an epic final showdown.'
Source: Toronto International Film Festival.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
‘Nothing You’re about to See Is True’ : Justin Kurzel’s True History of the Kelly Gang
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: History Australia , vol. 17 no. 2 2020; (p. 388-390)
— Review of True History of the Kelly Gang 2018 single work film/TV'The bushranger Ned Kelly, whose gang evaded the police along the border of New South Wales and Victoria between 1878 and 1880, has been interpreted and reinterpreted. Each configuration draws on history and myth to intervene in Australian political life, from colonial stage productions that used his story to critique institutional injustice to the use of his iconography to embody Australian culture at the 2000 Sydney Olympics Opening Ceremony. Following a limited theatrical release, Justin Kurzel’s iteration of the legend, True History of the Kelly Gang, reached the streaming platform Stan on Australia Day 2020. This choice of release date evidently sought to capitalise on the national significance of the film’s subject, a decision that sits uneasily with the film’s unease with Kelly both as a national legend and as a figure of Australian history.' (Introduction)
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[Review] True History of the Kelly Gang
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , March no. 419 2020; (p. 62-63)
— Review of True History of the Kelly Gang 2018 single work film/TV'So opens Ned Kelly’s personal journal, addressed to his future daughter. The irony of this heartfelt promise, of course, is that Kelly never kept a journal. Even his unborn child and her mother are inventions of Peter Carey, author of the much-acclaimed True History of the Kelly Gang (2000). The ‘truth’ in the title of his work, and now in the new adaptation directed by Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel – Snowtown (2011), Macbeth (2015) – is a deliberate provocation. It dares the reader (or in this case, the viewer) to take umbrage with any of the fanciful details contained therein.'
-
‘True’ Kelly Tale No Match for Book
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 11 January 2020; (p. 14) -
Kills, Frills and Kelly Aches
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: The Monthly , February no. 163 2020; (p. 56-58)
— Review of True History of the Kelly Gang 2018 single work film/TV 'The arrival of a new Ned Kelly anything, be it book, film, play or even opera, is bound to provoke questions. Chief among them might be “Really? Another one?”… but this, I concede, is a less than charitable view. More useful, perhaps, to ponder precisely which version we’ll be getting, such is the unusual malleability of this particular tale.' (Introduction) -
Ned Kelly Gang Storms Screen in Queer Adaptation of Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , January 2020;
— Review of True History of the Kelly Gang 2018 single work film/TV'History, gender and steel mouldboards are all enthusiastically bent in Australian director Justin Kurzel's blustering, scattershot adaptation of Peter Carey's Booker Prize-winning novel True History of the Kelly Gang, which tracks the life of the nation's most mythologised outlaw from youth to the noose.' (Publication summary)
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True History of the Kelly Gang Review : True History of the Kelly Gang Review: an Unheroic Portrait of a Violent, Unhinged, Colonial Punk
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 9 January 2020;
— Review of True History of the Kelly Gang 2018 single work film/TV'Justin Kurzel’s latest film, True History of the Kelly Gang, marks the tenth screen version of the 1878-1880 Ned Kelly outbreak. It began in 1906 with Charles Tait’s The Story of the Kelly Gang.' (Introduction)
-
Ned Kelly Gang Storms Screen in Queer Adaptation of Peter Carey's True History of the Kelly Gang
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , January 2020;
— Review of True History of the Kelly Gang 2018 single work film/TV'History, gender and steel mouldboards are all enthusiastically bent in Australian director Justin Kurzel's blustering, scattershot adaptation of Peter Carey's Booker Prize-winning novel True History of the Kelly Gang, which tracks the life of the nation's most mythologised outlaw from youth to the noose.' (Publication summary)
-
Kills, Frills and Kelly Aches
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: The Monthly , February no. 163 2020; (p. 56-58)
— Review of True History of the Kelly Gang 2018 single work film/TV 'The arrival of a new Ned Kelly anything, be it book, film, play or even opera, is bound to provoke questions. Chief among them might be “Really? Another one?”… but this, I concede, is a less than charitable view. More useful, perhaps, to ponder precisely which version we’ll be getting, such is the unusual malleability of this particular tale.' (Introduction) -
[Review] True History of the Kelly Gang
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , March no. 419 2020; (p. 62-63)
— Review of True History of the Kelly Gang 2018 single work film/TV'So opens Ned Kelly’s personal journal, addressed to his future daughter. The irony of this heartfelt promise, of course, is that Kelly never kept a journal. Even his unborn child and her mother are inventions of Peter Carey, author of the much-acclaimed True History of the Kelly Gang (2000). The ‘truth’ in the title of his work, and now in the new adaptation directed by Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel – Snowtown (2011), Macbeth (2015) – is a deliberate provocation. It dares the reader (or in this case, the viewer) to take umbrage with any of the fanciful details contained therein.'
-
‘Nothing You’re about to See Is True’ : Justin Kurzel’s True History of the Kelly Gang
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: History Australia , vol. 17 no. 2 2020; (p. 388-390)
— Review of True History of the Kelly Gang 2018 single work film/TV'The bushranger Ned Kelly, whose gang evaded the police along the border of New South Wales and Victoria between 1878 and 1880, has been interpreted and reinterpreted. Each configuration draws on history and myth to intervene in Australian political life, from colonial stage productions that used his story to critique institutional injustice to the use of his iconography to embody Australian culture at the 2000 Sydney Olympics Opening Ceremony. Following a limited theatrical release, Justin Kurzel’s iteration of the legend, True History of the Kelly Gang, reached the streaming platform Stan on Australia Day 2020. This choice of release date evidently sought to capitalise on the national significance of the film’s subject, a decision that sits uneasily with the film’s unease with Kelly both as a national legend and as a figure of Australian history.' (Introduction)
-
From Mick Jagger to Heath Ledger : Australia's Bungled Quest to Make a Great Ned Kelly Film
2017
single work
column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 15 November 2017;'With Justin Kurzel’s new movie in the works, will Australia’s favourite villain finally get the film treatment he deserves?'
-
2019’s Most Anticipated Movies
2018
single work
column
— Appears in: FilmInk , 26 December 2018; -
‘True’ Kelly Tale No Match for Book
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 11 January 2020; (p. 14)