Film Movement has snagged all U.S. rights to Rachel Perkins’ “Jasper Jones,” an Australian coming-of-age drama toplined by Toni Collette. The film is based on a 2009 novel of the same name which has been described as Australia’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Deadline reports that the big-screen adaptation will be released this winter.
Set in 1969, “Jasper Jones” follows Charlie Bucktin (Levi Miller, “Pan”) a bookish 14-year-old boy who lives in a small town in Western Australia. One night in the summer he “is awoken by local part-Aboriginal outcast Jasper Jones (Aaron L. McGrath, ‘Around the Block’) who leads him deep into the forest and shows him something that will change his life forever, setting them both on a dangerous journey to solve a mystery that will consume the entire community,” Deadline summarizes.
Collette plays Charlie’s mother. The Oscar-nominated actress recently nabbed the rights to Graeme Simsion’s novel and screenplay for “The Best of Adam Sharp.” The romance marks Collette’s first project under her newly-launched production company with Jen Turner, Vocab Films. The “United States of Tara” alumna will next be seen in Alethea Jones’ “Fun Mom Dinner,” a female-led ensemble comedy set to bow August 4. The film made its world premiere at Sundance this January.
Perkins’ previous credits include the 2014 doc “Black Panther Woman” and the 2009 musical “Bran Nue Dae.”