2017
Craig Silvey News 2017.
*****
January 16, 2017.
In preparation for Jasper Jones returning to Belvoir St Theatre's stage later this month, step behind the scenes of this much-loved production with this podcast by for Belvoir by Zoe Ferguson. (Archive.)
*****
February 5, 2017.
After successfully performing Jasper Jones in early 2016, Belvoir St Theatre put on a return performance of the play in January and February, 2017. (Source, archive 1, archive 2.)
Read Alana Kaye's review in Talking Arts of the 2017 Belvoir production (archive).
*****
February 13, 2017.
Craig Silvey and director Rachel Perkins are developing a contemporary western that will be set in Western Australia. Read about it in Harry Windsor's article. Titled The Prospector, the movie will be about "a woman [that] risks everything to find her missing husband." (Archive 1, archive 2.)
Above: Rachel Perkins and Craig Silvey. Photo source (archive 1, archive 2).
*****
February 18, 2017.
Craig Silvey discusses writing novels and screenplays in The Sydney Morning Herald, "Jasper Jones creator: 'I starved for 10 years to get to this point'," by Linda Morris. (Archive 1, archive 2.)
Above: Levi Miller (as Charlie Bucktin) and Kevin Long (as Jeffrey Lu) in Jasper Jones.
Above: Jasper Jones cast and crew at the Sydney Premiere of the film, at the St. George Open Air Cinema, February 2017. Left to right: David Jowsey (producer), Dan Wyllie (Wes Bucktin), Rachel Perkins (director), Kevin Long (Jeffrey Lu), Angourie Rice (Eliza Wishart), Craig Silvey (author/screenwriter), Aaron McGrath (Jasper Jones), Hugo Weaving (Mad Jack Lionel), and Vincent Sheehan (producer). (Photo source; archive.)
*****
February 19, 2017.
Shane Adam Bassett talks with director Rachel Perkins and author Craig Silvey about their Jasper Jones film. (The curator of this Craig Silvey website can only find one Tweet about this particular news item. If you can find a video or text copy of this conversation between Bassett, Perkins, and Silvey, please share it with the curator of this website via this form or via curator@craigsilvey.com.)
*****
February 20, 2017.
Booktopia interviews Craig Silvey. You can also watch this interview on Twitter.
*****
February 22, 2017.
Craig Silvey appears on the ABC Radio Perth show, "Mornings with Geoff Hutchison." Listen to the segment, "Who are You?" on MixCloud. In this interview, Silvey talks about attending a pioneer school, author Glynn Parry's massive influence on his career, why Jeffrey Lu's subplot was not extraneous to the movie adaptation of Jasper Jones, being on-set with director Rachel Perkins, working on The Prospector with Perkins, and many other things.
*****
February 23, 2017.
Check out Screen Australia's video, featuring short interviews with cast and crew of the Jasper Jones film. The following are some screenshots of the video.
*****
February 23, 2017.
Jon Faine and Ranjana Srivastava talk with filmmaker Rachel Perkins and author Criag Silvey. (Direct link to the 39 minute long audio file. Archive of the audio file.)
*****
February 27, 2017.
Craig Silvey visits Dymocks bookstore in Busselton in Western Australia to sign copies of Jasper Jones.
*****
February 28, 2017.
Matthew Eeles interviews Craig Silvey and director Rachel Perkins for Cinema Australia. (Archive 1, archive 2.)
*****
February 28, 2017.
Maxim Boon writes about Craig Silvey adapting his novel for the screen. (Archive.)
In the following extract from this article, Craig Silvey says the following about Jasper Jones and To Kill A Mocking Bird: "Both these stories are about compassion. They both deal with learning to walk in someone else's shoes, understanding someone else's story, disassembling predetermined notions about what other people are, what their cultures are, where they come from, and most importantly, what their intentions are. And that's a simple, but very universal subtext: the importance of empathy in learning the truth about people, and how absolutely necessary that is to living harmoniously."
Above: Levi Miller (left) and Craig Silvey on the set of Jasper Jones.
*****
March 1, 2017.
Matthew Toomey discusses Jasper Jones with Rachel Perkins and Craig Silvey. Read the interview on The Film Pie (archive 1, archive 2). You can also listen to the interview.
Above: Craig Silvey, Matthew Toomey, and Rachel Perkins.
*****
March 1, 2017.
Carrie Cox talks extensively with Rachel Perkins and Craig Silvey. Read about it in "Fremantle Author Craig Silvey Shares Beloved Book Jasper Jones’ Journey to the Big Screen," The West Australian (archive). Carrie Cox's article is also on Red FM's website (archive).
Above: Rachel Perkins, Craig Silvey, and a colleague on the set of Jasper Jones. Photo source (archive 1, archive 2).
*****
March 2, 2017.
For Film Ink, Travis Johnson interviews Rachel Perkins, Craig Silvey, and Aaron McGrath on bringing Jasper Jones to the screen. (Archive 1, archive 2.)
*****
March 4, 2017.
Monique Mulligan interviews Craig Silvey. (Archive 1, archive 2.)
Above: Craig Silvey at Little Lefroy's café in Fremantle, West Australia. Photo credit: Monique Mulligan.
*****
March, 2017.
The Queensland Courier-Mail talks with Rachel and Craig. (Archive.)
Above: Jasper Jones director Rachel Perkins with author Craig Silvey in Brisbane. Photo credit: Mark Cranitch. (Photo source; archive 1.)
*****
March 7, 2017.
Zac Platt of the Reel World talks with Craig Silvey about the Jasper Jones movie, fighting to include the Jeffrey-playing-cricket scene in the movie, and how sport can bring communities together. (Archive.)
*****
March 9, 2017.
For fans of Jasper Jones, check out today's Facebook post by Craig Silvey:
Would you rather… wear a hat made of spiders, or have penises for fingers? Forever have something stuck in your teeth, or be constantly harassed by a single immortal mosquito? Would you rather every book you read have the last page missing, or listen to every song backwards? Sneeze strong adhesive or cry tears comprised of hot sauce?
As you can see, like Jeffrey Lu, I am partial to a hypothetical inquiry. And now, you can be amply rewarded for making your own! Just head to this here site, conjure a conundrum, share it with the hashtag #JasperJones, and you can win some hefty swag. Good luck!
*****
March 13, 2017.
Craig Silvey talks with Harry Window of Inside Film about adapting his novel for the screen. (Archive 1, archive 2.)
Above: Craig Silvey on the set of Jasper Jones with Levi Miller and Angourie Rice.
*****
March 17, 2017.
Craig Silvey talks with Elizabeth Tien An Flux for Kill Your Darlings about the challenges of adapting Jasper Jones into a movie. (Archive 1, archive 2.)
Flux asked Silvey about the difficulty of re-working his story. Silvey said: "I was really ready for that challenge. I had ten years to sit with this story in a static way, and the curious thing about being a novelist is that you never quite feel like you’ve finished a manuscript. You always want to change things – you have fresh insights about your characters, you want to improve it, and so writing the screenplay for me was an opportunity to do that."
Flux also asked Silvey if different incarnations of Jasper Jones had changed his original view and intentions for the characters and story. He responded: "Yes and no. I think for the most part, seeing the stage production particularly, enabled me to kind of emotionally access the story in a way that I hadn’t previously. As an author, you tend to be a little bit too close to the joke for it to be funny, and so having the opportunity to spectate and absorb the story via a different method was actually an opportunity for me to emotionally connect to it in a more powerful way. And I think it ultimately strengthened my relationship with it."
*****
June 1, 2017.
International release dates for the Jasper Jones movie have been announced.
The UK release will be June 30, 2017. (Source: "Oz Film festival announces dates for debut annual festival," Film News (UK); archive.)
The North American release will be July 2, 2017. (Source: "Film Movement Acquires U.S. Rights to Jasper Jones," Variety; archive 1, archive 2.)
*****
July 29, 2017.
Craig Silvey has finished revising the first draft of his latest work, a screenplay titled The Prospector. Read the comments he wrote that are attached to a photo he posted on Facebook. Just in case in the future that photo gets moved or removed, here's a backup of a brief Q&A that happened in the comments section.
Yvette Cherry posted the following:
Exciting!! Is 'Revised First Draft' the next step on from 'Shitty First Draft'? Just curious (because I'm attempting my first novel and I'm still at SFD) how much did you have to change/ how long did you spend between first draft and revised first draft?
This is a feature film script, so the development process has been a little different to crafting a novel. For ‘The Prospector’, I assembled extensive notes into a Treatment (essentially a detailed story map) which I then used as a reference point for creating the first draft. So by this stage, I’d had a few opportunities to winnow out the inevitable shitty-bits. From here, there will be a number of drafts and a host of amendments and alterations before we arrive at what will ultimately be our shooting script; and even once you’re on set, a script undergoes further refinements.
In terms of developing your novel, there’s no prescribed method that is guaranteed to work. Every story is different. Sometimes you’ll have to breathe deep, go back, and completely reconsider structure or avenues of plot. On other occasions the fundamentals might be working well, but you’ll need to tweak dialogue and language to make it really function. The most important thing any writer can do is continue to show up, be as honest about your own work as you would be about any other art you might ingest, be critical but not disheartened, determined but not stubborn, and listen to advice as broadly as you can.
Best of luck!
*****
August 2017.
Sky Pony Press has come out with a new edition of The Amber Amulet. In the US, get your copy from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, and Sky Pony Press.
*****
September 2017
Tickets are now on sale for the Brisbane-based production of Jasper Jones. The Queensland Theatre performances will be from July 28 to August 18, 2018. (Archive 1, Archive 2.)
This will be the fourth production of Craig Silvey's iconic novel. The first stage production was performed in Perth, in 2014. The second stage production was performed in Sydney, in 2016 (and again—back by popular demand—in 2017). The third stage production was performed in Melbourne, in 2016.
*****
November 4, 2017.
The Jasper Jones film has been nominated for six Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts awards (archive 1, archive 2). The AACTA awards will be presented by the Australian Film Institute in early December.
AACTA Award for Best Film — Vincent Sheehan, David Jowsey — Jasper Jones.
AACTA Award for Best Supporting Actor — Hugo Weaving — Jasper Jones.
AACTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay — Shaun Grant, Craig Silvey — Jasper Jones.
AACTA Award for Best Sound — Liam Egan, Trevor Hope, Robert Sullivan, Yulia Akerholt, James Andrews, Les Fiddess — Jasper Jones.
AACTA Award for Best Production Design — Herbert Pinter — Jasper Jones.
AACTA Award for Best Costume Design — Margot Wilson — Jasper Jones.
*****
November 27, 2017.
In this Goodreads quiz about Jasper Jones, how many out of ten can you get correct? As of today, this quiz has been taken 961 times. So far, the average score is 7.037 (out of 10).
*****
November 30, 2017.
Readers of Jasper Jones in Chicago:
Source of above image: James Klise (archive 1; archive 2).