Netflix starts production on series adaptation of My Brilliant Career
Netflix is adapting Miles Franklin's seminal novel into a streaming series, with production beginning in Adelaide.
The series will star Philippa Northeast as Sybylla, Franklin's free-spirited heroine who chafes against expectations of a rural life with dreams of a more extraordinary life.
When she leaves to live with her well-off grandmother, she meets two men, the wealthy Harry and a jackaroo named Frank.
Franklin wrote the book in the 19th century when she was still a teenager and it was published in 1901 after she contacted Henry Lawson. It is considered one of the most iconic works of Australian literature.
The new series will span six episodes and will also star British actor Christopher Chung, best known for his role in spy drama Slow Horses, Four Weddings and a Funeral's Anna Chancellor, Andor's Genevieve O'Reilly, Jake Dunn, Kate Mulvaney, Sherry-Lee Watson, Miah Madden, and Alexander England.
The adaptation was created by Liz Doran, who worked on Please Like Me and Barons, with Alyssa McClelland and Anne Renton to direct. Jungle Entertainment is the production company.
Doran said in a statement, 'It's been a privilege to work with so many incredible creatives on this reimagining of Miles Franklin's rollicking tale of a young woman's quest to determine her own life.'
My Brilliant Career had previously been adapted as a 1979 movie by Gillian Armstrong and is one of the best regarded films of the Australian New Wave, a period of artistic excellence that also birthed the likes of Picnic at Hanging Rock, Mad Max, Wake in Fright and Gallipoli.
The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival where is was in competition for a Palme d'Or, and Judy Davis won a BAFTA for her performance as Sybylla. The film also starred Sam Neill, Wendy Hughes and Robert Grubb.
Last year, the Melbourne Theatre Company mounted a musical stage production of the title.
Franklin was born in 1879 and grew up on a property in the Brindabella Valley in NSW. After the publication of My Brilliant Career, Franklin lived in the US and the UK, returning to Australia in 1932.
She was active in literary circles and encouraged other young female writers. Her other works include All That Swagger, My Career Goes Bung, Bring the Monkey and Old Blastus of Bandicoot.
She established the Miles Franklin literary prize with a bequest in her will. Since its first year in 1957, winners have included Patrick White, Thomas Kenneally, Ruth Park, David Malouf, Helen Demidenko, Peter Carey and Anna Funder.
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So we were in Sydney area for almost a year, and we made lots of friends. Fitz: [ Painfully persisting ] So never in that year, two young English athletes a long way from home, did you exchange smouldering looks over your Vegemite on toast ... Torvill: No, our main focus was getting the work done. You know, we had just turned professional, and for us, it was an exciting time in that we weren't competing anymore and we didn't have any rules and regulations of competition. So, in fact, you know, we were free to be more creative, which is something that we've always enjoyed. Fitz: What about blues then? There must have come a time over the last 45 years when you two were dancing, when Chris lifted you up, Jayne, so you could do a twirly gig and the booger didn't catch you properly? Surely, there must have been times where, to use the Australian expression, you came an absolute cropper, occasioning strong words? Torvill: No. Lucky for us, we never did have any major falls in competition, which is what counts. Falls in training, you accept. But we trained so hard that to be ready for anything, that we didn't really make any mistakes. So, no 'blues'. Fitz: Moving on! By some reckoning, the pop group ABBA was said to be a bigger success in Australia, even than in Sweden. There was something about ABBA that Australia, more than pretty much any other country, loved. Is it possible that the same applies to you two, that Australia loves Torvill and Dean more than even Britain loves Torvill and Dean, and that we loved you more than anywhere else on Earth. Dean: Maybe. When we first came to Australia, it was such a surprise for us to be so welcomed. The Australian promoter had pre-booked the Russian Olympic figure-skating team, thinking that they would win everything at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics, and they didn't. We did. And so the promoter said, 'We've got to get those bloody Poms down here.' 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Dean: They were very much a part of our viewing and we took a lot from them in their style and the movement and their performance quality. Yeah, absolutely, they were our idols. Fitz: You mentioned that you two have been doing it for 50 years. That means – dot three, carry one, subtract two – you must have started in the mid-70s. How much have your physical abilities waned? Are there many things you used to be able to do, that you simply cannot do now? Torvill: There are things that have got harder as we got older, and we're no longer 25, but we still feel that we can put on a show that we're happy with. And we've put it together with some amazing [younger] skaters from around the world. So we're really excited by the show, and the show itself tells a story, our story, right from the beginning, up until now. Loading Fitz: When Mick Jagger was 23 years old, he said, 'I hope I'm not still singing Can't Get No Satisfaction when I'm 30.' 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