The list of Australian novels undergoing film production seems to be getting longer and longer. Susan Wyndham, in "The Age", provides an overview of the current scene and explains: "... Australian novels are in demand as both Hollywood and the local film industry bemoan a shortage of strong original screenplays." The article has been written as Elliot Perlman returns home to Melbourne for the premiere of the film adaptation of his first novel Three Dollars. And Wyndham goes on to detail some of the other Australian novels currently under consideration or treatment: Dirt Music by Tim Winton, Moral Hazzard by Kate Jennings, and The Drowner by Robert Drewe, being just some of them.
The problem is going to be, of course, that Australian stories need directors and writers attuned to the basic culture for the works to be successfully translated. Which is why I for one am glad to see Phillip Noyce directing the Winton and Jennings films. If world-class Australian directors return home to develop adaptations of these novels then the whole of the industry gains from the process. Which can only lead to an increased interest in the original source material. And that surely can't be a bad thing.
