The Legend of Ben Hall

The Legend of Ben Hall
Directed by Matthew Holmes
Produced by Russell Cunningham
Michael Favelle
Matthew Holmes
Jessica Pearce
Written by Matthew Holmes
Based on Ben Hall
Starring Jack Martin
Jamie Coffa
William Lee
Joanne Dobbin
Adam Willson
Callan McAuliffe
Music by Ronnie Minder
Cinematography Peter Szilveszter
Edited by Caitlin Spiller
Production
company
Odin's Eye Entertainment
RLC Motion Picture Entertainment
Two Tone Pictures
Emu Creek Pictures
Running Panda Films
SunJive Studios
Palmarium LLC
Release dates
 2016
Running time
 137 mins
Country Australia
Language English

The Legend of Ben Hall is an upcoming Australian historical period drama film based on the true story of the Australian bushranger, Ben Hall. It has been written and directed by Matthew Holmes and stars Jack Martin in the title role of Ben Hall, a legendary bushranger in Central West New South Wales. He is considered one of Australia's most notorious bushrangers and has become a significant part of Australian folklore. The Legend of Ben Hall also stars Jamie Coffa as John Gilbert, and William Lee as John Dunn.

The film focuses on the last nine months of Ben Hall's life, when he was a well-established bushranger and was riding with gang members John Gilbert and John Dunn. It explores the relationships they had with various people in this time period, as well as their various robberies and clashes with the police. The Legend of Ben Hall also explores the circumstances surrounding Ben Hall's controversial death at the hands of the police on 5 May 1865. Ben Hall has been compared to American outlaws such as Jesse James.[1]

The script for The Legend of Ben Hall was written to be an historically accurate portrayal of the story. It will be the second feature film by director Matthew Holmes, who wrote, directed and produced Twin Rivers in 2007, an Australian period drama set in Depression-Era New South Wales.

The Legend of Ben Hall is produced by Two Tone Pictures and Running Panda Films with Odin's Eye Entertainment, RLC Motion Picture Entertainment, Emu Creek Pictures and SunJive Studios, in support from Film Victoria and Palmarium LLC.

Greg McLean, director of Wolf Creek and Wolf Creek 2, joined the production as Executive Producer in early 2015.[2][3]

Plot

After two years on the road and with the law closing in around him, Ben Hall has gone in hiding and is considering surrender. However, he is drawn back into bushranging by the reappearance of his old friend and gang member, John Gilbert. Reforming the gang with a new recruit John Dunn, the trio soon become the most wanted men in Australian history after a series of robberies that result in the death of two policemen. Ben Hall also struggles to reconcile himself with his estranged son now living with his ex-wife and her lover. When the Government moves to declare the gang outlaws, the gang make plans to flee the colony, but they are sold out by a trusted friend.

Production

Production for The Legend of Ben Hall began in Melbourne in February 2015. Principal photography started on 29 March in Lauriston in regional Victoria and continued for over four weeks.[4] Other locations included Nulla Vale, Spring Hill, Trentham and Maldon. Because the story in set in New South Wales, locations were selected to accurately represent various regions in New South Wales connected to the Ben Hall story, such as Forbes, Jugiong, Binalong and the Araluen Valley. Some scenes were filmed in New South Wales around Forbes and Jugiong.

Outdoor sets were constructed around the Lauriston area by Production Designer Das Patterson. The production also recycled existing film sets from previous film productions, such as The Man From Snowy River, which was also used in the American western television series Ponderosa. The now defunct Porcupine Historical Village at Maldon was also used for various indoor and outdoor scenes. Filming moved to the Melbourne Docklands Studios in May for another two weeks.[5]

Basis on the true story

Writer-director Matthew Holmes made a determined effort to make the film as historically accurate as possible.[6]

When writing the script and representing the characters, historical accounts were always referred to. Since 2007, Holmes worked closely with New South Wales historian and author Peter Bradley, who acted as an historical advisor on the script, to ensure the film's accurate portrayal of events. Peter Bradley is a descendant of Ben Hall's younger brother, Henry Hall.

The film's story is based on real life events that occurred between August 1864 and May 1865. Newspapers, journals and biographies of the period were the primary resources for the writer-director, along with various books on the subject. There are no fictitious characters or events within the film, although some events have been combined and/or slightly altered for dramatic purposes. The film does not set out to glorify or present a white-washed view of Ben Hall and his gang, nor does it set out to demonize the police as many bushranger films in the past have done. Instead, The Legend of Ben Hall aims to present the facts and show the characters as they really were, for better or worse.

Cast members were chosen to physically resemble their historical counterparts, with their wardrobe and hair also based on descriptions or photographs of the real person.

Much of the dialogue used by Ben Hall, John Gilbert and John Dunn within the film comes directly from newspaper articles and eye-witness accounts.

The screenplay for The Legend of Ben Hall was adapted from the third act of a much longer screenplay entitled Ben Hall by Matthew Holmes, completed in 2009. At 180 pages, the original screenplay encompassed the entire Ben Hall story, from his origins as a simple cattleman right through to his controversial death three years later. Because of Ben Hall's vast and complex story, it was decided that The Legend of Ben Hall would only focus on the last few months of Hall's career before he died. As such, characters such a Sir Frederick Pottinger, Frank Gardiner, John O'Meally, John Vane, Mickey Burke and other historical characters do not appear in the film, though sometimes they are mentioned.

Short film origin

The Legend of Ben Hall started as Kickstarter[7] crowd-funded 50-minute short film,[8] which exceeded its target production goal of $75,000.[9] American production company Palmarium LLC joined the project as producers, as did filmmaker Jessica Pearce, who stepped up from Production Manager to Producer as the film geared up for filming. Victorian financier Ross Angelo also joined as a Producer. The production filmed for three weeks in August–September 2014. Locations included Lauriston, Trentham and Spring Hill in Victoria, as well as Jugoing and Forbes in New South Wales.[10] The short film was financially supported by the Forbes Shire Council who believed in the film's potential to boost and promote tourism in the Forbes area due to its affiliation with Ben Hall history.[11]

With a few scenes still left to complete, director Matthew Holmes released a teaser trailer in late 2014 to raise extra completion funds. However, the project was picked up by Sydney-based producers Russell Cunningham and Michael Favelle, who decided to develop the film into a full-length feature.

The short film script was greatly expanded with new characters and events so that the scenes already shot for the short film could be integrated into the feature.[12] All of the short film cast reprised their roles, as did most of the film crew.

The short film has been renamed The Last Days of Ben Hall and will be released after the feature film.

Ben Hall in Film and Television

The Legend of Ben Hall will be the first feature-length film based on Ben Hall.

The first onscreen portrayal of Ben Hall was a 33-minute silent film Ben Hall and his Gang [13] directed by John Gavin, which was made in 1911. It is now considered a lost film.

Ben Hall's story was also portrayed in the 1975 ABC-BBC-20th Century Fox television series Ben Hall, which starred Jon Finch as Ben Hall, John Castle as Frank Gardiner and John Orcsik as John Gilbert. Although the series was based on the bushranger's life and his descent into crime, its portrayal of many events and characters are historically erroneous.

Cast

References

External links

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