An interview with Kerry Condon (Kate Kelly) Kerry Condon's unofficial audition for a role in Ned Kelly came when she was performing in a play with the Royal Shakespeare Company. The play, "Lieutenant of English Moore", was written by the brother of John Michael McDonagh - the scriptwriter for "Ned Kelly". "Gregor (Jordan, director of "Ned Kelly") came to see me in the play," she says. "Then he called me in to the audition and that was it, I got the part. The character that I played in the play was young and Irish and she was really gutsy - kind of like Kate Kelly." Although she knew little of the Ned Kelly legend before beginning work on the film, Condon was surprised to discover that the bushranger's father had grown up near her own home in Ireland. "So I liked the idea of going to Australia to work on a film that cuts across both Irish and Australian history," she says. Despite the story being focused on the four men of the Kelly Gang, and Ned in particular, Condon's character is highly important to the storyline. The gang become outlaws due to their efforts to protect Kate from a corrupt policeman, and Kate then works hard at aiding the gang in their efforts to elude police. The part required Condon to return to horse riding, which she did with little difficulty. "My dad used to have horses when we were younger, but they were really mental horses so I learnt really bad habits," she says with a laugh. "So when I started riding here, they were telling me that I had really bad habits. I had to iron all them out and really get rid of them. It was kind of easy, but I did have to ride really fast for one scene. My legs started bleeding, which I was really proud of - I was suffering for my art."   Heath Ledger brought in Gerry Grennell, whom he previously worked with, as dialect coach to help with the Irish, Welsh, Scottish and English accents   Kerry Condon (Kate Kelly) talks about her role on set   Kate Kelly (Kerry Condon, left) talks to her mother Ellen (Kris McQuade)