| Wills & Burke | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover | |
| Directed by | Bob Weis |
| Written by | Philip Dalkin |
| Based on | Burke and Wills expedition |
| Produced by | Bob Weis Margot McDonald |
| Starring | Garry McDonald Kim Gyngell Nicole Kidman |
| Cinematography | Nino Gaetano Martinetti |
| Edited by | Edward McQueen-Mason |
| Music by | Red Symonds Paul Gabrowsky |
Production company | Stony Desert Productions |
| Distributed by | Greater Union Film Distributors |
Release date |
|
Running time | 101 minutes |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Budget | A$1.75 million[1] |
| Box office | A$54,000 (Australia)[2] |
Wills & Burke (also known asThe Wacky World of Wills & Burke andWills & Burke: The Untold Story) is a 1985 Australianblack comedy film about theBurke and Wills expedition. It opened a week beforeBurke & Wills, a serious drama about the expedition.[3]
In 1860, Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills are chosen to explore the Australian continent from south to north and back again. Just before the expedition departs, Burke proposes to young actress Julia Matthews, who has trouble remembering who he is.
John Macadam tries to sustain public interest by staging a musical play about the expedition. Julia demands the lead role and grows a beard to prove she can play Burke. The play opens around the time Burke and Wills die in the desert. John King survives the expedition and is found by a search party in 1861.
Philip Dalkin first wrote the story as a stage play, which Bob Weis read in 1978. He enjoyed it and at one stage thought of making it as a television miniseries before deciding on turning it into a feature film. It was shot over six weeks in and around Melbourne on a budget of $1.7 million.[4]
After the release dates forBurke & Wills were set,Greater Union Film Distributors decided to release the film before it, opening it two weeks before in Melbourne and one week before in Sydney.[5]
The film received negative reviews and was not a success at the box office, closing after just three weeks with a gross of A$54,000 in Australia[5][6][7]on a A$1.75 million budget.[8]
Due to opening in advance ofBurke & Wills, some critics believed that the film was a parody ofBurke & Wills but Weis claimed that this was not his intention.[5]
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