Set against the shadows of World War II, The Narrow Road to the Deep North tells the epic story of Lieutenant-Colonel Dorrigo Evans (Jacob Elordi and Ciaran Hinds) and how his all-too-brief love affair with Amy Mulvaney (Odessa Young) shaped his life. The story is told over multiple time periods. We journey from Evans’ childhood to his experience as a prisoner-of-war on the Thailand-Burma Railway as a young man, and later in life, as a respected surgeon and Australian war hero.
The Narrow Road to the Deep North is a love story to sustain audiences through the darkest of times, an intimate character study illustrating the strength of the human spirit in the face of adversity, and an investigation into a marriage and an unforgettable love affair. This new five-part drama series, based on Richard Flanagan’s Booker Prize winning novel, has been adapted by writer Shaun Grant and directed by Justin Kurzel.
As the series prepares to release on Prime Video on April 18, Nick L’Barrow spoke with the shows writer, Shaun Grant, and producer, Jo Porter, about when the novel first came to them, and the personal connections they both shared with the story.
Nick: The show is truly incredible! And it’s been adapted from Richard Flanagan’s award-winning novel. I’m curious to know when the book first came into both of your lives?
Jo Porter: I read it over Christmas back in 2016, and I couldn’t put it down. I was reading it for pleasure, and he writes in such a beautiful, visual way. Not all books make themselves suitable for adaptation, but this one had such a beautiful, descriptive way of telling the story.
I couldn’t believe that the rights were actually available. It’s a long journey to get where we are. It’s been about eight years. First, we had to convince Richard to entrust this precious novel unto us, and we’re incredible grateful that he did. And when it came to who I thought might like to join the process, it was about finding who could be that brilliant voice to sort of find something in it and really make it their own. And I was fortunate to already know Shaun’s incredible body of work, and he responded to the material.
Shaun Grant: Yeah, I’m a huge Richard Flanagan fan. I had already read it, and I was a fan of the book. Then when Jo approached me for it, I mean, I was nervous. You don’t want to screw it up. But I was also very excited to be a part of it, as was Justin [Kurzel, director]. It was a lot of hard work, but it was so worth it.
Nick: Shaun, I believe there is an interesting connection between your grandfather, and Richard’s father, who were both prisoners of war during World War II. Something about nicknames…
Shaun Grant: Well done [laughs]. You’ve done your research! When I came aboard, what I normally like to do is write two drafts before meeting whoever is responsible for the source material. But, because Richard was so inspiring to me, I agreed to meet him before I’d even written a word.
I spent some time with Richard in Tasmania, and I talked about how my grandfather was a prisoner of war on the Burma Railway. So, the story is very close to me, and I wrote the script with his medallions on my desk.
And I remember saying to Richard, there’s a character in the book, I believe his nickname was Big Fella. My grandad’s nickname was Nugget. So, I asked if I could just swap it in honour of him. And actually, that scene got cut anyway [laughs]! But we did get to film it!
But Richard looked at me, a little shocked, and asked, “Why Nugget?” And I explained how it was my grandfather’s nickname on the railway line. Richard then told me that his father, who was in a completely different camp, his nickname was also Nugget. I’m a big believer in fate, and signs showing you projects you should do. And that was the moment I knew this was one I was supposed to do.
Nick: That’s an incredible story and connection. Jo, you’ve produced some amazing Australian television like Wentworth and Picnic at Hanging Rock, and Shaun, your film work – a lot with Justin Kurzel – like Snowtown and Nitram is phenomenal. So, I’m curious to know – was The Narrow Road to the Deep North always intended to be a mini-series?
Jo Porter: I think just the scale of the story, and the length itself lends to the mini-series format. It was obviously up to Shaun to find how many episodes it would be, and it turned out to be five. But I think when we first started talking about it, Justin and Shaun’s work has this pacing, and scale, and intensity that they are renowned for, so it was thrilling to have filmmakers approach the mini-series format and bring all that brilliance.
Shaun Grant: Yeah, we didn’t approach it any differently than we have compared to any film we’ve made. The development was the same. I knew I had to break up the script into five episodes, but it wasn’t dissimilar to any of our films.
What’s been really pleasing in the reviews, is that people are saying that it’s not your atypical television. And that was something we said we were going to do – to make it in the same way we’ve made everything else.
As a writer, almost everything I do is a character piece. That’s what I really sunk my teeth into, and I had ultimately five hours to tell this man’s whole life story. And that was an exciting part of sort of stepping into the television world.
Thank you so much to Jo and Shaun for their time, and to Prime Video and AACTA for organising the interview. The Narrow Road to the Deep North premieres on Prime Video in Australia on April 18.
