David Michod, director of the critically acclaimed ANIMAL KINGDOM is set to return with his next effort, THE ROVER, starring Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson later this year and today we have our first look at the actors from the Australia-set film, which is set in the near future after a apocalyptic-like financial meltdown that sends people to the mines of the Outback to find a new life. Pearce’s character is one of those people, but is pushed too far when all he has is stolen from him by local gangs.
“The basic story is really quite elemental,” says Michôd. “You’ve got a really dark, dangerous, murderous person in Guy’s character, and in Rob’s character you have a quite troubled and damaged, but beautiful and naïve, soul.”
Michod, who co-wrote the film with none other than Joel Edgerton, says that comparisons to MAD MAX are likely, due to the Australian desert setting, but feels that his film is in a different vein, saying:
“You put cars in the desert in Australia and people are going to think of Mad Max,” says Michôd. “And with all due respect to that film — and I stress that — I think The Rover is going to be way more chillingly authentic and menacing.”
That’s a bold statement, but I can see it. MAD MAX is great, but it’s always been more tongue-in-cheek then something you take seriously. With the next film in that franchise set to debut this year as well, it’ll be interesting to see how the two compare at the box office.
Here’s the synopsis:
The Rover is set in the Australian desert in a dangerous and dysfunctional near future. Eric has left everything and every semblance of human kindness behind him. When his last possession, his car, is stolen by a gang of dangerous criminals, Eric sets off to track them down and is forced along the way to enlist the help of Reynolds, the naive member of the gang left behind in the bloody chaos of the gang’s most recent escape
THE ROVER is set for release sometime in 2013.