‘Water’ reaches the beach
Oscar-winning actor Russell Crowe makes his directorial debut with “The Water Diviner,” a World War I drama set to open this year’s Newport Beach Film Festival on Thursday evening at the Lido Live theater.
The film stars Crowe as an Australian farmer who, four years after the Battle of Gallipoli, risks his life to search for his three missing sons, who never returned home from war. Such anguish that drove his wife to suicide has him making a graveside promise to her that he’ll go to the battlefield to try to retrieve the bones of their sons and have them buried beside her. His character embarks on a dangerous journey across the Turkish landscape in search of truth and peace.
Although Crowe is not scheduled to attend the red-carpet opening, the Australian consul-general in Los Angeles, Karen Lanyon, and about 12 Australian military personnel are expected, according to the Australian consulate-general office.
“Russell Crowe’s ‘The Water Diviner’ pays homage to that defining moment in our nation’s history, and we are thrilled that the Newport Beach Film Festival has chosen the film for opening night,” Lanyon said in a statement.
Another festival screening of Crowe’s film made it a prime candidate for Newport’s opening night.
“One of our lead programmers was invited to the world premiere of ‘The Water Diviner’ at the Dubai Film Festival and said that we needed to start talking to Warner Bros. about having it shown in Newport,” said Gregg Schwenk, the Newport festival’s CEO and co-founder. “It’s exceptionally well-crafted, especially moving and well-reflective of a father’s love for his sons.”
Crowe, who was born in New Zealand and raised in Australia, has received Best Actor awards from the American Film Institute and the Australian Film Critics. “The Water Diviner” recently won three Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, including Best Picture. Crowe also received the group’s nomination for Best Lead Actor and won the Best Actor award from the Film Critics Circle of Australia.
The film commemorates the 100th anniversary of Anzac Day, observed every year on April 25 to mark the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during World War I.
Producer Andrew Mason said in the film’s press materials that although it may appear odd to commemorate what was ultimately a defeat, it is important to remember Australians who served and died in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations.
“That is why Gallipoli is revered in the way it is, because the fighting was fierce and it was a killing field; thousands of young Australians and New Zealanders lost their lives in that place,” Crowe said in the film’s production notes. “And every year on the 25th of April — the anniversary of the landing — we memorialize their sacrifice on Anzac Day. It is a cornerstone of our cultural identity.”
Crowe acknowledged that the film provided him a view of Gallipoli that he hadn’t considered in the past.
“Reading the script, I came to the realization that I’d never given a minute’s consideration to the other side of the story,” Crowe said in the notes. “Not once did I think about it from the Turkish standpoint. What we call Gallipoli, they call Canakkale, and they lost exponentially more men than we did.”
Though most of the filming for “The Water Diviner” was accomplished in the Australian Outback, portions were also shot on location in Turkey. The film was the first international motion picture ever given permission to be shot inside Instanbul’s Blue Mosque.
Schwenk said he and festival personnel were delighted to have the opportunity to show the film to an audience on opening night.
“We’re tremendously excited,” Schwenk said. “We are honored to play a major role in the celebration of the centennial of Anzac Day.”
If You Go
What: “The Water Diviner”
When: 8 p.m. Thursday
Where: Lido Live theater, 3459 Via Lido, Newport Beach
For more information or to purchase tickets, call (949) 253-2880 or visit newportbeachfilmfest.com