Sydney Writers' Festival Session with AFTRS
- Sunday May 20 (4:00 pm - 5:30 pm)
- Pier 2/3 Club Stage, Hickson Road, Walsh Bay
- Craig Pearce, Michael Petroni, Ross Grayson Bell (facilitator)
With more Australian screenwriters and filmmakers tackling
adaptations of literary classics, what are the dangers and rewards
of re-interpreting the classics?
Australian screenwriter Craig Peace, co-writer
with Baz Luhrmann of the adaptations of The Great Gatsby
and Romeo + Juliet, joins Michael
Petroni, adaptor of the third instalment of the Narnia
Chronciles: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and the current
head of screenwriting at AFTRS and producer of Fight Club,
Ross Grayson Bell, to discuss honouring literary
classics in a screen medium.
Stay with us following the session as AFTRS provides refreshments
and an opportunity for an informal discussion.
For more information go the SWF website >
Panelist's Bios
Craig Pearce (Australian)
Craig Pearce co-wrote with Baz Luhrmann Strictly
Ballroom, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, and
Moulin Rouge. These films have won countless accolades
including an AFI Award for Best Screenplay (Strictly
Ballroom), a BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
(Romeo + Juliet) and eight Academy Award nominations,
including Best Film (Moulin Rouge). In 2010 Universal
Studios released Craig's adaptation of Charlie St. Cloud
starring Zac Efron. Craig's latest collaboration with Baz Luhrmann
is The Great Gatsby starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey
Mulligan.
Michael Petroni (Australian)
Michael Petroni is a graduate of the American Film Institute.
While at AFI he wrote his award-winning directorial debut, Till
Human Voices Wake Us. Michaelʼs recently produced work
includes the supernatural horror/thriller The Rite and the
third instalment in The Chronicles of Narnia franchise, Voyage
of the Dawn Treader. His current studio projects include
Afterlife and The Book Thief. Most recently
Michael wrote the sequel to 20th Century Fox's Master and
Commander.
Ross Grayson Bell (Australian)
Ross Grayson Bell spent 20 years in Los Angeles where he produced
Fight Club and executive produced Under
Suspicion. As a screenwriter, his adaptation of Tom
Spanbauer's novel, The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon,
landed him on the British list of Best Unproduced Screenplays. He
adapted Mark Leech's autobiography, A Product of the
System and the story of Barry Cox, I'd Like to Teach
the World to Sing in Perfect Cantonese. He is currently adapting
Susan Duncan's national bestseller, Salvation Creek, as
well as heading the screenwriting department at AFTRS.
