Overview
What do Picnic at Hanging Rock, Romper Stomper, Wake in Fright, Puberty Blues, The Devil's Playground and Mystery Road all have in common? As well as being exceptional Australian movies, they've all made the jump to the small screen, too. Television shows based on all of these great flicks have reached TVs over the past decade, in fact — and now a series inspired by 1999 classic Two Hands looks set to join them.
Screen Australia, the country's screen development, production and promotion support agency, has just announced that it's providing funding for the new TV version of Two Hands. At the moment, the series has the same working title as the Heath Ledger- and Rose Byrne-starring hit flick, and also boasts the same creative driving force, with writer/director Gregor Jordan (Dirt Music) working on developing his stellar crime film into a television show.
Like the movie, the series will be an action-charged comic revenge thriller. Obviously, it can't star Ledger, who catapulted to fame thanks to his iconic role. Whether any other original cast members might pop up, if the show will link in with the feature or be set in the same world, or if it'll act as a small-screen remake — these are all questions that it's too early to answer. The same goes for whether Powderfinger's 'These Days' will feature on the soundtrack, and then get stuck in everyone's heads for years again afterwards.
Jordan is developing the series with help from writers Melissa Bubnic (Shameless), Gretel Vella (The Great), Sarah Bassiuoni (The Heights), Greg Haddrick (Pine Gap) and Meyne Wyatt (play City of Gold), as well as producers Justin Davies (Psychoville) and Marian Macgowan (The Great), plus executive producers Tim White (The Luminaries) and Chris Oliver-Taylor (Glitch).
Need a refresher on the original movie? Haven't seen it yet, somehow? As well as starring a fresh-faced Ledger and Byrne, it's one the best Australian films of the 90s, and one of the best Aussie movies in general, too. It follows Jimmy (the one and only Ledger), an ex-street kid and strip-club bouncer who is charged with delivering some cash for his boss (Bryan Brown, Hungry Ghosts). That doesn't turn out as planned, so soon he's on the run — alongside Alex (Byrne, worlds away from her recent role in Physical), the girl of his dreams.
If you're suddenly and understandably now keen to watch Two Hands, the movie, it's currently streaming via Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Binge, Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes.
Check out the trailer for the film below:
The Two Hands TV series has just received development funding from Screen Australia, so it doesn't yet have an airdate — but we'll update you with further details as they come to hand.