Jacob Elordi And director Justin Kurzel talked about making their new series, ”The narrow road to Deep North“At a preview in Melbourne, Australia.
Adapted from Richard Flanagan’s man Booker -Prize -winning novel, “The Smrart Road to Deep North” draws on his father’s experience as a prisoner of war in Burma during the Second World War. Director Justin Kurzel and screenwriter Shaun Grant adapted the novel to an emotionally charged five -part series for Amazon Prime Video in Australia. (Read IndieWire’s review here When we wait for distribution in North America.)
Given three decades, the story follows the Army surgeon Dorigo Evans through a beloved youth, brutal captivity in a Japanese POW camp and the long shadow of memory in old age. Evans is played by Elordi in the 1940s and by Ciarán Hinds in the 1980s, which the older man expects the defining experiences from his youth.
“Justin created an installation that made it feel completely real”, “”Euphoria“And”Salt burn“Star told a preview and answer.” There is a common facade in filmmaking where you shoot out of order; The end, beginning and then the middle, say. We did not shoot it chronologically but when it comes to memory – when it comes to history. So I had to shoot for a few weeks before the war, in the summer of love, like the young Dorigo, and I had to build all these memories and experiences on the set, so that when I went into the camps for the other part, I had very real memories from filming. ”
After a special gala premiere on Berlinale in January, where it emerged as one of the highlights of the festival, “The Smrart Road to Deep North” has gradually built word-to-mouth-buzz for its powerful story, atmospheric physics and Kurzel’s dice balance of brutality, love and fragile camaraderie.
The series co -stars Simon Baker, Thomas Weatherall, Olivia Dejonge, Odessa Young and Kurzel’s wife, Essie Davis, the star of Horror Classic ”Babadook“ and Noah Hawley’s upcoming FX series ”Alien: Earth. “While the early episodes explore romance and promise, the series shifts dramatically when Dorrigo and his comrades are captured, where they fight against starvation, illness and despair as they grow more and more emaciated.
Kurzel praised the role of his commitment to physically transform for the roles and noted that the process was carefully handled by a dietician. “You can’t just starve yourself,” he said. “It must be done safely.” The actors followed a carefully designed plan that balanced significant weight loss with maintaining their health, a process that involved both strict nutrition and intensive physical exercise. For Elordi, this was one of the most challenging and rewarding parts of production.
“I was lucky to be surrounded by an incredible role of young actors in the jungle, Aussie boys,” he said. “The Camaraderie Just Came immedialy with the set that justin provided. It was like a live theater experience. There was no stopping for lighting setups or anything like that. We had two weekly of the thermy. HAD A SIX-Week Break Where We All Cut The Weight Together. There’s Something That Happens When You Lose That Weight and When You’re Working Towards A Common Artistic Goal Together.
It is in creating and emotional stress testing of this masculine environment that Grant and Kurzel really stand out, and where many of the series’ most moving scenes can be found. With movies like ”The order“Makbeth“Nitram“And”The true history of the Kelly gang“Kurzel established itself as one of the most stylish explorers of the worried male psyche.” The narrow path to Deep North “shows him by this trait through the psychological and physical apocalypse of war, to its transcendent conclusion in a story that differs from Flanagan’s novel.
“I think it’s an extraordinary love story, this book and it has an intimacy that is extremely special,” Kurzel told the audience. “I felt that it could be adapted as a series that really interested me with regard to the structure and DNAs in terms of these different timelines in a man’s life, which means that we can dig deeper into the different stages. Usually with these kinds of war stories, the lens is very broad. It is about memory and soul and body and love.”
The series’ edition finds Kurzel in a phase of unmatched productivity. In the last 12 months he has not only delivered the “order” and the documentary “Ellish park“But he has also shot the last two episodes of Jason Bateman’s upcoming Netflix series” Black Rabbit. “The eight-shared New York set Thrillen sees Kurzel Re-Team with its producer from” The Order “, Zach Baylin, as well as its star, Jude Law and” The Smart to Deep North’s “Odessa Young.
While Kurzel said he is no longer associated with Laura Dern and Benedict Cumberbatch Sci-Fi-Drama “Morning”, he is about to start production on another adaptation. Kurzel has replaced “room” Director Lenny Abrahamson to Helm Cory Finley’s adaptation of “Burning Rainbow Farm: How a Stoner Utopia went up in smoke”, journalist Dean Kuiper’s story about a five-day distance between Marijuana advocates and FBI. As an indication of the consideration he is held by actors, Kurzel was brought to the project by his star Sebastic townA gesture that speaks to the cooperative spirit he promotes on set.
By drawing on predetermined relationships as he moves between projects, Kurzel creates a production environment based on mutual respect and creative freedom, which makes his actor space fully explore his characters. Flanagan noted this when he visited Kurzel’s set.
“This is very a role -powered show,” said Flanagan. “They discovered aspects of themselves in this and did something extraordinary. Because no one knows what makes a good movie or good TV. But what makes a bad movie or bad TV destroys the director’s freedom. The great creative action in filmmaking is the director, and it is not a ridiculous French theory that escaped the left bank. It is the reality of making movies or making TV. When Justin kindly agreed to do this, what I told him: ‘I don’t want to be allegiance to the novel. I want you to find what is about you in my book. Make your own work of art out of it and make it your own way. “”
“The Smrart Road to Deep North” premiered at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival. Amazon Prime Video will distribute the series in Australia, Canada and New Zealand, with Sony Pictures currently seeking an American distributor.
