Writer, director and producer, Matthew Holmes, has announced that two more bushranger films are in the pipeline, to begin production in 2017.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Legend of Frank Gardiner and The legend of John Vane will form the Legends Trilogy, alongside his recent feature film The Legend of Ben Hall.
Holmes will once again bring Australian history to life, immaculately recreating untold bushranger stories for worldwide audiences.
“I’ve split the script, expanded each into an individual film, now we are hard at work developing the first two in the series,” he said.
Holmes’ new films will serve as prequels to his 2016 feature film, The Legend of Ben Hall, which educated viewers on the last nine months of Hall’s life.
“We have had, at every screening, people walk out in droves saying ‘We can’t wait for the next two,’” he said.
Holmes said bushranger Frank Gardiner was an obvious choice as he is said to be next to Ben Hall as one of the most prolific bushrangers.
He described Gardiner as “The godfather of bushrangers”.
With scripts written and ready to go, he plans to use funding from the release of his latest film to hunt for future investors.
“We’re going to start working on this as soon as they are financed,” he said.
The legend of John Vane, is based on bushranger, John Vane, the only member of the Frank Gardiner-Ben Hall gang to survive.
“We see the story of the gang in The legend of John Vane,” he said.
After the world premiere in Forbes on November 12, The Legend of Ben Hall tour officially finished on November 30 with a sell-out screening in South Australia.
“The tour was highly successful.
“We’ve had fantastic numbers and positive feedback on the movie,” Holmes said.
Dozens of The Legend of Ben Hall fans from WA, ACT, NT and QLD took to the official Facebook page asking why there were no signs of Holmes’ bushranger epic in cinemas near them.
“It’s because we are not a big American film.
“They have just ignored us, which is a shame because we know the demand is there.
“We get contacted on our Facebook page daily, asking where they can see it in NT, WA, ACT and QLD, but it’s not our decisions which cinemas take it,” he said.
The Legend of Ben Hall was released in cinemas on Thursday, December 1 and will be at Forbes Services Memorial Club Cinema on Thursday, December 8.
