Overview
How are you planning to spend gravy day in 2023? If you'll be listening to Paul Kelly sing about making gravy when it's the 21st of December, that's understandable. How are you planning to spend gravy day in 2024? Here's our suggestion: watching the movie How to Make Gravy, which is indeed adapted from Kelly's Christmas classic tune 'How to Make Gravy'.
News that the flick was coming first dropped in 2022, with musician Meg Washington and writer/director Nick Waterman announcing that they'd locked in the rights to make the song into a film. Now, Australian streaming platform Binge has revealed that it's behind the movie, which will mark its first-ever original feature. Production has also started head of a planned 2024 release.
Set to star: The Royal Hotel co-stars Daniel Henshall and Hugo Weaving, as well as Brenton Thwaites (Titans), Damon Herriman (now that he's no longer playing Charles Manson in both Mindhunter and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) and Kate Mulvany (The Clearing) among the homegrown talents. Joining them is French actor Agathe Rousselle from Titane, who'll be making her first English-language film.
Will Kelly feature? More cast members are still to be revealed, but cameos by Adam Briggs and Dallas Woods have been announced so far.
Filming is currently underway on the Gold Coast. The exact story that the movie will tell hasn't been unveiled as yet; however, as anyone who knows the words to 'How to Make Gravy' by heart and is currently singing them right now while they're reading this is well aware, Kelly's tune tells a tale itself, starting with a prisoner called Joe who writes to his brother Dan.
Presumably, Stella, Frank and Dolly will all also feature, and Rita, Roger, Mary and her new boyfriend. Junior Murvin will have to pop up on the soundtrack, of course. Also, the words "and give my love to Angus" better get uttered — or would it really be a How to Make Gravy movie?
Although Binge hasn't advised exactly when in 2024 the film will release, either, you could probably put money on it hitting screens on or around December 21 to start a new gravy day tradition.
(And, given the character of Joe also pops up in other Kelly songs such as 'To Her Door' and 'Love Never Runs On Time', cross your fingers that we're about to get a PKCU — Paul Kelly cinematic universe — too.)
"It's a dream to be working with such an incredible cast and crew on our debut feature film. It's testament to Paul's songwriting that the world and characters within the song are so vivid, and we are proud to have the honour of bringing it to life," said Waterman and Washington.
"It's a uniquely Australian story, made for film lovers and music fans alike. We can't wait to share our adaptation of 'How to Make Gravy' with the world."
There's no trailer for the movie yet, of course, but here's the music video for the song.
How to Make Gravy, the movie, doesn't yet have a release date — we'll update you when further details are announced.
Via Variety.