Renowned actor Geoffrey Rush plays
Superintendent Francis Hare in "Ned Kelly". Hare
is summoned by Victorian police to capture or, if
necessary, kill Ned Kelly.
Rush made his
international breakthrough with an Oscar-winning
performance in the Australian film "Shine". A
veteran of period films such as "Elizabeth",
"Shakespeare In Love" and "Quills", Rush
was excited to play a role in an Australian historical
production.
"It was, I suppose, a comparable
story when we filmed "Les Miserables" - which
again is another great saga of pursuit," says Rush. "The
roles of Javert (a law enforcer) in "Les
Miserables" and Hare are similar. It was fantastic
to be able to try and create a character with those
classical dimensions in something that belongs to where
I'm from."
"The film tells a very big story and,
within our local film scene, it's quite a big project,"
says Rush.
"The epic nature and the grandeur
behind the myth makes a very attractive story. Plus it
comes packaged with Gregor Jordan (director) whose work
I admire a lot. We've reached quite a specific point in
the current film climate to have this story played out
with a very strong home grown cast, including Heath
Ledger, Naomi Watts, Rachel Griffiths and Joel Edgerton.
There is a great diversity of very experienced talent in
there."
In preparing for his role, Rush gleaned a
lot of information from the archives and records at the
Victoria police museum.
"I didn't know enough
specific details about where Hare came from and what
kind of background he had. I read several obituaries
that were in the newspaper at the time, which gave me a
nice overview of his origins in South Africa.
"He
arrived here in Victoria when he would have been about
Ned Kelly's age - in his early twenties - and he
probably experienced the reckless, lawless life on the
goldfields. He was one of the first people to join the
newly formed Victorian Police, which was set up because
of the nature of life on the goldfields."
With
the Kelly Gang evading police and hiding out in the
northern Victorian bushland, Rush's character is brought
in as the big gun and given carte blanche to capture the
gang.
"When I read the script, the role jumped
out at me because Hare doesn't actually say much, but he
is very much an encroaching presence on the lives of
these four youths," he says. "The story really seems to
be about doomed youth. The odds are stacked so highly
against the Kelly Gang and it plays out as a fairly
fateful tragedy. But Ned himself has so much articulate,
rebellious spirit that he has decided to take it on and
push it to the point almost of a revolution or the seeds
of a civil war." | |
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Heath Ledger brought in Gerry
Grennell, whom he previously worked with, as dialect
coach to help with the Irish, Welsh, Scottish and
English accents |
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Geoffrey Rush as Superintendent Francis
Hare |
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Superintendent Hare (Geoffrey Rush) leads
the police in pursuit of the Kelly Gang |
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