The first trailer for Russell Crowe’s directorial debut, The Water Diviner, has landed online. Set in the aftermath of WWII, the film has already garnered positive early reviews and looks quite promising.
Starring Crowe in the lead role as an Australian farmer, the story follows his journey to Turkey four years after the war. His mission is to track down the bodies of his three sons who were killed there during the Battle of Gallipoli.
The actor has enlisted a slew of rising talent to supporting his character’s journey into the emotional abyss. Olga Kurylenko, Yilmaz Erdogan, Cem Yilmaz, Jai Courtney, Steve Bastoni, Isabel Lucas, Ryan Corr, Dan Wyllie, Damon Herriman, Jacqueline McKenzie, Michael Dorman, Megan Gale, and Dylan Georgiades all appear in what’s so far been a relatively low-key flick.
The first trailer sets up the backstory, with Crowe’s voiceover narrating a tale as he shelters his young sons during a storm. Cutting to his lonely life following the war, he ventures to track down his lost sons and bring them home for a proper burial.
Unfortunately, there’s a lot of spoilers here, which are always annoying, but it looks like a carefully-crafted pic that’s sure to be worth a watch once it hits theatres.
The Water Diviner opens in Australia on December 26th. No U.S. release date has been set, but we’ll let you know once we hear of one.
The film is set four years after the devastating battle of Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I. Australian farmer Connor (Crowe) travels to Istanbul to discover the fate of his sons, reported missing in action, where he forges a relationship with the beautiful Turkish woman (Kurylenko) who owns the hotel in which he stays. Holding on to hope, and with the help of a Turkish officer, Connor embarks on a journey across the country to find the truth about the fate of his sons.