'True History Of The Kelly Gang': George MacKay and Russell Crowe star in new UK trailer for Ned Kelly drama

Yahoo Movies UK

Australian outlaw Ned Kelly was the subject of the world’s first feature-length film – 1906’s The Story of the Kelly Gang – and now the iron-clad antihero returns to our screens once again in Justin Kurzel’s True History Of The Kelly Gang on 28 February.

In the title role, played in other films by Heath Ledger and Mick Jagger, is 1917’s George MacKay and he’s supported by an all-star cast that includes Russell Crowe, Essie Davis, Nicholas Hoult, Charlie Hunnam and Thomas McKenzie.

We’re thrilled to share the new UK trailer for the film, which can be watch in full above. It gives a glimpse of the iconic Ned Kelly moment – his armour-clad last stand – showcasing the film’s grungey stylings.

George McKay as Ned Kelly. (Picturehouse Entertainment)
George MacKay as Ned Kelly. (Picturehouse Entertainment)

The film premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival where this new punk-inspired film was met with critical approval.

It’s been heralded as a return to form for Kurzel whose Assassin’s Creed film saw him taking a disappointing detour into blockbuster territory after the superbly atmospheric Snowton, The Turning and Macbeth.

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Produced by Hal Vogel (Endgame) and Liz Watts (The King), with Paul Ranford (Mad Max: Fury Road) and Justin Kurzel, the film is adapted from Peter Carey’s Booker Prize‐winning novel by previous Kurzel collaborator Shaun Grant (Snowtown) and co-financed by Film4.

The body armour of outlaw Ned Kelly is on display at the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne, March 13, 2008. Kelly, immortalised for using home-made armour in a final shoot-out with police, became a folk hero of Australia's colonial past with his gang's daring bank robberies and escapes. Kelly was hanged at the Melbourne Gaol in 1880. Australian archaeologists believe they have found the grave of Kelly on the site of an abandoned prison. REUTERS/Mick Tsikas (AUSTRALIA)
The body armour of outlaw Ned Kelly is on display at the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne, March 13, 2008. (REUTERS/Mick Tsikas)

Synopsis: Kurzel’s film shatters the mythology of the notorious icon to reveal the essence behind the life of Ned Kelly and in doing so will take audiences on a mesmerising journey into the ashes of this brutal period in history.

Orlando Schwerdt and Essie Davis as a young Ned Kelly and his mother Ellen Kelly. (Picturehouse Entertainment)
Orlando Schwerdt and Essie Davis as a young Ned Kelly and his mother Ellen Kelly. (Picturehouse Entertainment)

Spanning the younger years of Kelly’s life and the events leading up to his death, the film explores the motivations for the demise of this legendary figure. Youth and tragedy collide in the Kelly Gang, and at the beating heart of this tale is the fractured and powerful love story between a mother and a son.

True History Of The Kelly Gang is in UK cinemas from 28 February.

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