We Cant Wait! #12 "The Dressmaker"
Tuesday, March 10, 2015 at 9:30AM Team Experience is counting down our 15 most anticipated for 2015. Here's abstew...
Who & What: Writer/Director Jocelyn Moorhouse adapts Rosalie Ham's 2000 novel about a 1950s Australian dressmaker named Myrtle "Tilly" Dunnage (Oscar winner Kate Winslet) who returns to her rural Outback home to care for her ailing mother (Oscar nominee Judy Davis). Tilly has not been home since she was 10 years old and forced to leave when she was accused of murder. With her return, she plans to bring the power of haute couture to the village...and seek revenge against those that wronged her.
Moorhouse has described the film as "Unforgiven with a sewing machine" and in addition to Winslet and Davis, stars an impressive Australian cast that includes Liam Hemsworth as Tilly's love interest, Hugo Weaving as the town's police officer, and Sarah Snook and Sacha Horler in supporting roles originally cast with Isla Fisher and Elizabeth Debicki. Creating the film's '50s fashions are Emmy nominated costume designer Marion Boyce with Margot Wilson in charge of Tilly's clothes and 2 custom-made gowns by French designer Sophie Theallet.
This is apparently what she wears to a rugby game...DIVAWhy We're Excited About It: We love Kate Winslet here at TFE, but just last year I wrote about how Winslet was in need of a career comeback. Divergent was a hit with its built-in YA popular novel source material, but it was hardly her involvement in the project that made it so. (Can you even remember anything she did in it?) This year, on paper, is looking much more promising: the Divergent sequel is a likely hit; she has a supporting role in the all-star cop drama Triple Nine; and then there's a potential awards-buzzy role in Aaron Sorkin's Steve Jobs (directed by Oscar winner Danny Boyle). Her lead role in this film is most intriguing and will hopefully be a return to form for Winslet who hasn't received an Oscar nomination since her win.
What If It All Goes Wrong? The fact that director Jocelyn Moorhouse hasn't directed a film since 1997's failed awards contender A Thousand Acres doesn't seem like a good sign. And she never really lived up to her exciting breakthrough with 1991's Australian film Proof. And it could be a tough balancing act tonally as a comedic revenge drama (those seem like 3 different genres). But at least one thing is certain - the clothes will be to die for!
When: The film finished shooting back in late 2014 and this past February had footage shown to potential European distributors at the Berlin Film Festival. No US date is confirmed yet, but Universal Pictures International has already confirmed an October 1st release date for Australia. If buzz is strong, expect it at fall film festivals in time for awards season.
Previously...
#13 The Hateful Eight
#14 Knight of Cups
#15 Arabian Nights
Intro Pick a Blockbuster
Reader Comments (25)
This is one I'm excited to see. Just looking at that cast is enough but then that picture of Kate in the killer red dress and I am so in.
No one ever looked that fab holding a chair.
If this is GOOD? I'm thinking it could be an Oscar threat.
I'm also HEAVILY sceptical of Steve Jobs as a major Oscar player, though. If the Social Network had won (indicating a majority portion of the Academy's membership had genuine interest in tech history stories) AND this wasn't from Danny Boyle? I'd be more confident. As for now, though, I'm placing more stock in Snowden as a potential threat than I am Steve Jobs.
Moorehouse is a negative element here. She pretty much botched How to Make an American Quilt and A Thousand Acres, even though the cast did heavy lifting and made them watchable. And then taking an 18-year break--hmmm. Not good.
This doesn't necessarily sound like it'll turn out well, but if nothing else, I'm glad we'll be getting a break from Winslet's terrible American accent. I love Kate, she's one of my very favorite actresses, but that American accent... So bad. Worse than Ewan McGregor's even, which is really going some...
I'm tentatively excited for this. Anything that brings Davis back to the screen is worth a look and Australia is so under used, at least here in the States.
However, what if is comes off more as Heavenly Creatures 2?
And then there is Liam Hemsworth--cradle robbing Kate? (Although it will be a nice switch to see the woman as the older partner.)
I have no interest in a Steve Jobs movie. Unless they expose him as a secret furry, is there really anything to tell that we don't already know?
Oh, but the photos of Kate look gorgeous! And I'm hoping for a comeback and a successful film from a female director. (Speaking of which, when is Anne Marie's series going to start?)
Pam -- Anne Marie's series is every Thursday (she's already done Ava Duvernay and she just started Ida Lupino
Can we please make a Judy Davis comeback happen...
Yes! Fabulous clothes, Australian scenery, Judy Davis, Australian actors, women exacting revenge. I want to dress up to go see it with a gaggle of girlfriends.
I'm also curious to have a first look at Sarah Snook.
Judy Davis + Kate Winslet are enough to make me interested. Throw in some nice dresses, an interesting location, and a great supporting cast and I am very intrigued. But it will all come down to the screenplay, it doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be above average with that cast.
I too am curious to have a look at Sarah Snook, who shall always be known as the woman who beat Essie Davis out of an Australian Oscar. She must be the second coming to have done that.
Wow, with Titanic and this movie, maybe Kate is as talented a hat wearer as Audrey Hepburn?
Anything with Judy that gets even halfway decent reviews, I'm in. Kate is an added bonus.
re: Sarah Snook beating Davis for the Aussie award. I can see why that happened. In "Predestination," she plays the same character as male and female, and does it with great aplomb. My vote would still have gone to Davis, but Snook did an amazing job in a complex and engaging film. Definitely one to watch.
LadyEdith, Snook also just beat Davis to a Film Critics Circle of Australia award for the same role. She's very good in PREDESTINATION. I'm excited for people to finally know who she is with the Steve Jobs movie and (hopefully) this one. I am excited for it because PROOF is one of my absolute favourite movies, Australian for otherwise, and the premise sounds so deliciously wonderful.
The movies—and actressexuals—are in dire need of a Kate Winslet comeback. Let's hope this is it.
If it is quirky and layerd as i expect it to be, i will love it, but this film will need critical support to make it. Alas critics in the US don't like films from a female perspective
I don't know if the movie itself will be a big Oscar player. It sounds too quirky for the Academy's taste, but it also sounds interesting enough to garner some critical support. However if Kate delivers a powerhouse performance, which is likely of course, she could go far with it, especially with her star power to boot. Tilly Dunnage is the juiciest, most complex character she's taken on since Mildred Pierce, so I can't wait.
She's playing a very layered character in Steve Jobs as well, so if The Dressmaker doesn't go anywhere, she has that. She said Steve Jobs isn't a biopic, so we'll see how it turns out. She also gets to flex her Shakespearian muscles with a supporting Lady Macbeth-like character in Triple Nine. Kate is full of surprises this year. :) I'm happy she's back, and on paper, it seems like she'll be back with a vengeance!
Roark - No one's American Accent is as bad as Ewan McGregor's. No one's, lol... Anyway, the film sounds interesting and I like Winslet, so give me a solid trailer and I'm there.
Kate Winslet.... when is she never gorgeous?
Sounds promising! I agree that the tone sounds tough to nail. Revenge, romance, comedy... those are all difficult even by themselves, let alone together! But I hope it does well enough for Kate to get some Oscar attention. It's always a bit awkward when an actor is ignored after winning... it's like, "finally, we're done with them!"
Here's hoping Moorhouse has the chops! At least Kate is pretty reliable, even when she finds herself in DOA films.
Judy deserves a third nomination for simply being Judy Davis. Blanchett has openly discussed her worship of Judy Davis. A seventh nomination for Winslet would be nice to silence all of those who assume she's done now that she has an overdue Oscar win.
"Judy" and "Davis" are the only two words I need to hear to be completely sold. I think Winslet as her daughter is killer casting and I'm hoping Hugo Weaving's presence will bring out the Moorhouse who first impressed me with "Proof".
i already consider it a good sign for this film that i had a tough time deciding between posting that pic of kate in red or liam hemsworth all sweaty and sexy in his rugby uniform. but my actressexuality won out over my homosexuality this time...
Thanks for this wonderful article and continue sharing more topics like this.
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