Stan is set to release a new movie covering the events leading up to the 1996 Port Arthur massacre.
The film will focus on the events prior to the massacre which saw Martin Bryant murder 35 people in and around Tasmania’s Port Arthur historical site.
NITRAM (Martin spelled backwards) will star American actor Caleb Landry Jones as Bryant.
Landry Jones has previously appeared in a number of Oscar-nominated films, including Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri and Get Out.
Joining Landry Jones will be iconic Aussie actors Judy Davis, Anthony LaPaglia and Essie Davis.
The film is set to be directed by Justin Kurzel and written by Shaun Grant, who previously helmed 2011’s Snowtown, which was also based on a harrowing crime.
Most recently, Kurzel and Grant worked on True History of the Kelly Gang, which also premiered on Stan.
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As reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, filming is taking place in Victoria due to fears that the subject matter is still too raw to be made in Tasmania.
The film will not depict the shooting spree itself or refer to Bryant by name, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
In a statement (via news.com.au), Stan chief content officer Nick Forward revealed the film is set to be handled with “sensitivity and respect.”
“Stan is pleased to again collaborate with Justin Kurzel and Shaun Grant and we have complete faith in the NITRAM team’s creative vision and ability to handle the film’s subject matter with sensitivity and respect,” he said.
Meanwhile, Stan revealed that the film “looks at the events leading up to one of the darkest chapters in Australian history in an attempt to understand why and how this atrocity occurred.”
NITRAM will premiere at next year’s Melbourne International Film Festival, before a limited theatrical run and its streaming launch on Stan.
