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After previously working together on the 2019 breakout hit The Assistant, Australian writer-director Kitty Green will reunite with two-time Emmy Award winner Julia Garner (Ozark, Inventing Anna) in her upcoming thriller The Royal Hotel.
The film will be Green’s first feature shot in Australia and includes stars Jessica Henwick (Knives Out 2, The Matrix Resurrections), as well as Australian Academy of Cinema and Television (AACTA) award winner Hugo Weaving (The Matrix, Oranges and Sunshine).
Screen Australia’s head of content Grainne Brunsdon said the funding body was “delighted to support Green’s first feature at home in Australia”.
See-Saw Films – which was behind Oscar-winning The Power of Dog - will oversee the film’s production. The project has received major production investment from Screen Australia in association with South Australian Film Corporation, financed with support from Screen NSW.
“Together with the exceptional team at See-Saw, talented co-writer Oscar Redding and an outstanding cast, Green is poised to make a big splash and we’re confident this film will enthral audiences here and around the world,” Brunsdon said.
Inspired by true events, The Royal Hotel follows the lives of Hanna (Garner) and Liv (Henwick) who are best friends backpacking in the Outback. When the duo run out of money, Liv convinces Hanna to take on a temporary live-in job at a pub named ‘The Royal Hotel’ in a remote mining town.
The bar’s owner Billy (Weaving) and a host of locals give the girls a rowdy introduction to the drinking culture Down Under, but the situation quickly takes a turn for the worse when their behaviour and jokes cross the line. Soon after, Hanna and Liv find themselves trapped in an unnerving situation that quickly spirals out of their control.
The film will be distributed in Northern America by US-based film production and distribution company NEON, which has acquired the rights to the film.
“We are very happy to be working with NEON again on the release of The Royal Hotel,” See-Saw Films producers Emile Sherman and Iain Canning said.
“NEON has an undeniable history of supporting both emerging and established filmmakers, and putting together innovative and provocative campaigns,”
“We know that they are the right home to bring this film to US theatres."
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