One of Australia’s favourite bits of historical trivia is now a movie.
When is The Emu War being released in Australia?
The Emu War is in Australian cinemas from June 21, before hitting VOD on July 8.
The Emu War
What is The Emu War about?
Mankind’s arrogance.
But more specifically, The Emu War is a knockabout comedy based on a real event. Back in 1932, a plague of emus descended on the Western Australian wheatbelt, prompting the government to send in the military to deal with the problem. Long story short: we lost.
Comedy collective Hot Dad Productions have gone for an absurdist take (yes, more absurd than the actual events), with their film following real-life Major Meredith and his platoon on a mission of revenge against the bloodthirsty Emu Queen. Historical accuracy appears to be pretty far down the list of priorities here.
The cast of The Emu War
The Merger‘s Damian Callinan is Major Meredith; Lisa Fineberg is his daughter, Mary-Sue; comedians Aaron Gocs and Dane Simpson round out the squad; and Ethan Marrell (aka Ozzy Man), Luke McGregor (Rosehaven), Lena Moon, and Jonathan Schuster are also on hand. John Campbell, Lisa Fineberg, and Jay Morrissey write, produce, and direct, which seems like a case of “too many cooks” but makes more sense when you realise that this thing was conceived as a seven-part web series before being reconceptualised as a short (a lean 72 minutes, in fact) feature.
The Emu War trailer
Why we’re excited about The Emu War
By our count this is one of three Emu War projects currently in varying states of development and/or production, so top marks for getting released first. Looking at the trailer, it’s either a future cult classic or an unwatchable mess, and sometimes you just have to roll the dice in order to find out which. Nice puppets, though.
