AustLit
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
Inspired in part by Melbourne's 1988 Walsh Street murders, Animal Kingdom is a story about the battle between Melbourne's underworld and the police. The story tracks seventeen-year-old Joshua 'J' Cody, a troubled teenager perilously caught between his own criminal family and Detective Leckie, a compromised cop who thinks that he can save 'J'. 'J' comes to realise that in order to survive, he must determine how the game is played. This involves not only writing his own rule book but also choosing his place in the cunning and brutal animal kingdom in which his family lives.
Adaptations
-
form
y
Animal Kingdom
( dir. John Wells
)
United States of America (USA)
:
John Wells Productions
Warner Horizon Television
,
2016
8781537
2016
series - publisher
film/TV
crime
'The story follows 17-year-old Joshua "J" Cody, who moves in with his wild, freewheeling relatives. As he is pulled into their life of indulgence and excess, he discovers it is being funded by criminal activities.'
Source: 'Ellen Barkin & Scott Speedman to Star in TNT’s "Animal Kingdom"', Variety, 29 July 2015.
Notes
-
For further information, see the official Animal Kindgom website: http://www.animalkingdommovie.com/
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Complicit Masculinity and the Serialization of Violence : Notes from Australian Cinema
2022
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Continuum : Journal of Media and Cultural Studies , vol. 36 no. 1 2022; (p. 64-83) -
Stranded in Suburbia : Women’s Violence in Australian Cinema
2019
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Australian Humanities Review , May no. 64 2019;Australian cinema has a long history of depicting violent men: from Wake in Fright (Ted Kotcheff, 1971), Mad Dog Morgan (Philippe Mora, 1976) and Mad Max (George Miller, 1979) in the 1970s, Romper Stomper (Geoffrey Wright, 1992), Blackrock (Steven Vidler, 1997) and The Boys (Rowan Woods, 1998) in the 1990s, to Wolf Creek (Greg McLean, 2005) and Snowtown (Justin Kurzel, 2011) in the 2000s. Throughout this period, Australian cinema has paid exclusive attention to men’s violence: vigilantes, petty criminals and troubled young men in the suburbs. Felicity Holland and Jane O’Sullivan declare that these ‘lethal larrikin’ films are in discussion with concepts of Australian masculinity, ‘questioning and subverting a number of almost iconic assumptions about power, powerlessness, and violence in Australian masculine culture’ (79). In recent years, however, there has been a small but impactful cluster of films that show women acting violently, too. Suburban Mayhem (Paul Goldman, 2006), Animal Kingdom (David Michôd, 2011) and Hounds of Love (Ben Young, 2016) all contain female characters who exhibit intensely violent behaviour, committing (or conspiring to commit) acts of homicide and murder. While critics have examined men’s brutality extensively, Australian women’s aggression has not been considered in the same way (Butterss; Heller-Nicholas; Holland and O’Sullivan; O’Brien; Villella). Female violence in Australian cinema is a new and unanswered question. (Introduction)
-
Getting Engaged with Australian Cinema : The Best Films of the Decade
2019
single work
column
— Appears in: FilmInk , 20 February 2019; -
Animal Kingdom Movie Adaption into US TV Series Should Learn from Fargo: New York Times
2016
single work
column
— Appears in: Brisbane Times , 14 June 2016;'When you're basing 10 episodes or more of television on a stand-alone two-hour movie, it might be best to heed the lesson of Fargo: Throw out the whole story and start over.'
'Animal Kingdom, the new TNT series based on the 2010 Australian movie about a Melbourne crime family, goes the opposite route. ...'
-
10 Best Australian Films Made by First-time Directors
2016
single work
column
— Appears in: The Guardian Australia , 2 March 2016;
-
Keeping It All in the Family
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 29 May 2010; (p. 21)
— Review of Animal Kingdom 2010 single work film/TV -
Inside the Unmanageable Beast
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: The Australian , 3 June 2010; (p. 16)
— Review of Animal Kingdom 2010 single work film/TV -
Mum's the Word
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 5-6 June 2010; (p. 17)
— Review of Animal Kingdom 2010 single work film/TV -
Spotlight
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 6 June 2010; (p. 22) The Sun-Herald , 6 June 2010; (p. 5)
— Review of Animal Kingdom 2010 single work film/TV -
Where the Wild Things Are
2010
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 5-6 June 2010; (p. 25)
— Review of Animal Kingdom 2010 single work film/TV -
Bright Star
2010
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 25 April 2010; (p. 8-9) -
A Wild Ride
2010
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 15-16 May 2010; (p. 6-7) -
Six Burning Questions for David Michod
2010
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 23 May 2010; (p. 6) -
Fight of His Life
2010
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 28 May 2010; (p. 8) -
Crime of His Life
2010
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 30 May 2010; (p. 8)
Awards
- 2011 nominated Beaune International Thriller Film Festival — Feature Film Competition
- 2010 winner AWGIE Awards — CAL Peer Recognition Prize
- 2010 nominated Inside Film Awards — Best Feature Film
- 2010 nominated Inside Film Awards — Best Script
- 2010 winner Australian Film Institute Awards — Best Original Screenplay
- Melbourne, Victoria,