Ryan Corr To Lead Australian Family Comedy ‘Kangaroo’ From Studiocanal’s Cultivator Films, Bunya Productions & Brindle Films

Cameras are rolling on Kangaroo, an Australian family comedy inspired by the true story of an Alice Springs animal sanctuary.

Ryan Corr (House of the Dragon, Catching Dust, Holding the Man) will stars as ex-TV weather presenter Chris Masterman, who becomes stranded in an Outback town after a car accident and forms an unlikely friendship with an 11-year-old Indigenous girl, Charlie, played by newcomer Lily Whiteley. They work together to rescue and rehabilitate orphaned joeys in a remote but stunning Outback community, an endeavour that proves to be life-changing for them both.

The ensemble cast also comprises Deborah Mailman (Total Control, The New Boy, The Sapphires), Wayne Blair (The New Boy, Mystery Road), Trisha Morton-Thomas (High Country, Occupation: Native, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, Ten Pound Poms), Rachel House (Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Thor: Ragnarok), Brooke Satchwell (Poker Face, The Twelve), Ernie Dingo (Bran Nue Dae, The Great Outdoors), Genevieve Lemon (Population 11 , The Power of the Dog), Clarence Ryan (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, The Moogai), Rarriwuy Hick (True Colours, Wentworth), Roy Billing (Jack Irish, Underbelly), Rick Donald (Population 11, Roast Night), Emily Taheny (Bay of Fires, Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell), Bondi Lifeguard Ryan Clark (Bondi Rescue) and Australian TV presenter Grant Denyer.

The film is based on the story of Chris Barns, aka ‘Brolga’, who founded the Kangaroo Sanctuary in 2005 and as the subject of 2013 BBC doc series Kangaroo Dundee. It is being filmed on location in the Australian Red Centre town of Alice Springs, on Arrernte Country, where the real Kangaroo Sanctuary is based, with further shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on the traditional land and the waters of the Bidjigal, Birrabirragal and Gadigal peoples.

Studiocanal’s Cultivator Films Australia is producing Kangaroo as its debut feature film in partnership with Bunya Productions and Brindle Films. Kate Woods (The Umbrella Academy, The Good Lord Bird) is directing and Harry Cripps (The Dry, Penguin Bloom) is writing with additional writing from Melina Marchetta (Looking for Alibrandi) and additional material from Danielle MacLean and Peta-Lee Cole-Manolis. Producers are David Jowsey, Greer Simpkin and Angela Littlejohn for Mystery Road maker Bunya Productions, and Rachel Clements and Trisha Morton-Thomas for Brindle Films, which is behind the likes ofMaveriX and Finke: There and Back.

Louise Smith and Marian McGowan are exec producers alongside Studiocanal’s Anna Marsh, Ron Halpern, Elizabeth Trotman and Marcus Gillezeau. Screen Australian has provided major production investment in association with Screen Territory, with support from Screen NSW’s Made in NSW Fund.