The Legend of Ben Hall

The Legend of Ben Hall

Theatrical film poster
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
Jordan Fraser-Trumble
Music by Ronnie Minder
Cinematography Peter Szilveszter
Edited by Caitlin Spiller
Production
company
RLC Motion Picture Entertainment
Two Tone Pictures
Emu Creek Pictures
Running Panda Films
Odin's Eye Productions
SunJive Studios
Palmarium LLC
Distributed by Pinnacle Films (Australia/NZ)
Release dates
 1st December 2016 (Australia)
Running time
 134 mins
Country Australia
Language English

The Legend of Ben Hall is an Australian historical drama action film based on the true story of the Australian bushranger, Ben Hall. It has been written, produced 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 will be released in Australia on 1st December 2016.

The script for The Legend of Ben Hall was written to be an historically accurate portrayal of the story. 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 within the gang, as well as the people of the period, and recounts many of their real life robberies and clashes with the police.

The Legend of Ben Hall also explores the details surrounding Ben Hall's betrayal and his 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]

It will be the second feature film by director Matthew Holmes, who wrote, directed and produced Twin Rivers in 2007.[2]

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, with 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. [3] [4]

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 the man she eloped with many years earlier. 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. [5]

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.[6]

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.[7]

The film's post production was completed in Melbourne on May 5, 2016, which coincided with the 151 year anniversary of shooting of Ben Hall at Billabong Creek on May 5, 1865.[8]

Basis on the true story

Writer-director Matthew Holmes made a determined effort to make the film as historically accurate as possible.[9]

Holmes worked closely with New South Wales historian and author Peter Bradley since 2007, 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.[10]

The film's story is based on real life events that occurred between August 1864 and May 1865.

Cast members were chosen to physically resemble their historical counterparts, with their personalities, wardrobe and hair 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.

Short film origin

The Legend of Ben Hall started as Kickstarter [11] crowd-funded 40-minute short film,[12] which exceeded its target production goal of $75,000.[13]

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.[14] 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.[15]

The project was picked up by Fox Studios Australia based producer Russell Cunningham from RLC Motion Picture Entertainment and Michael Favelle from Odin's Eye Entertainment, who came on board to develop the project as a full-length feature.[16]

The script was expanded with new characters and events so that the scenes already shot for the short film could be integrated into the feature.[17] All of the short film cast reprised their roles, as did most of the film crew.

Ben Hall in Film and Television

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

The first screen portrayal of Ben Hall was a 33-minute silent film Ben Hall and his Gang [18] 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.

Cast

References

  1. ↑ "The Australian Jesse James". True West. 26 October 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  2. ↑ "Old School Outlaws". FilmInk. 25 January 2016. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
  3. ↑ "Bushranger Movie Starts Shooting". IF. 30 March 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  4. ↑ "Wolf Creek Director Joins Ben Hall Biopic". Moss Film. 20 February 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  5. ↑ "Local Properties Transformed Into Movie Sets". Hepburn Advocate. 1 May 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  6. ↑ Twin Town Times. 30 July 2014 http://twintowntimes.com.au/_/2014/07/the-legend-of-ben-hall-movie/. Retrieved 23 May 2016. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. ↑ "Emerging Filmmakers Update". Docklands Studios. 21 July 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  8. ↑ "Ben Hall's story ready for release". Forbes Advocate. 9 May 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  9. ↑ "Film reveals true story of Ben Hall". Goulburn Post. 1 June 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  10. ↑ "Family urges new Ben Hall inquest". The Age. 31 March 2007. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
  11. ↑ "The Legend of Ben Hall - an Australian Bushranger film". Kickstarter. 30 May 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  12. ↑ "The Legend of Ben Hall: KICKSTARTING AUSSIE HISTORY ONTO THE BIG SCREEN". if.com.au. 6 February 2014. Retrieved 2016-05-18.
  13. ↑ "Ben Hall will be bigger, bolder: $100,000 in crowd funding for film". Forbes Advocate. 10 July 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  14. ↑ "Filming of The Legend of Ben Hall happened in Forbes this week". Forbes Advocate. 11 September 2014. Retrieved 2016-05-18.
  15. ↑ "Ben Hall will be bigger, bolder: $100,000 in crowd funding for film". Forbes Advocate. 10 July 2014. Retrieved 2016-05-18.
  16. ↑ "Odin's Eye boards bushranger feature". IF. 11 November 2014. Retrieved 2016-05-18.
  17. ↑ "Hall's gang keeps growing". Forbes Advocate. 10 April 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  18. ↑ "Ben Hall and his gang". IMDB. 1 Jan 1911. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
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