Robert Connolly has been trying to get Tim Winton’s 1997 novella, Blueback made into a movie for years. The oceanic children’s story follows the life of a young marine biologist as he returns home to care for his dying activist mother. The tale flashes between the past and present, focusing on their time together fighting against developers over their land and the time the boy spent diving with a groper named Blueback.
When I sat down with Connolly and actress Radha Mitchell in a busy Sundance bar, he explained to me why he switched the boy character to a girl he named Abby and why now was the time for this story. Like many of us, he is in awe of the younger generations’ passion for preventing climate change, something that also resonated with Mitchell, who explained her own efforts as a young girl in Australia.
Listen to my interview with both Robert Connolly and Radha Mitchell of Blueback.
