The story starts with a bang. A priest in his white and purple robes strides out of a country-town church with a rifle – yes, a priest with a rifle – and starts shooting parishioners, leaving five of them dead. Father Byron Swift is then himself shot dead in self-defence by the local copper. Thus begins the saga of Scrublands, a new mini-series set in regional Australia – and obviously there’s no mystery about whodunit.
In fact, at first there’s no mystery about anything at all. The priest had recently been accused of paedophilia, and the official explanation is that he got himself killed rather than face up to the crime. But then, a year later, burnt-out Sydney Morning Herald journalist Martin Scarsden arrives in town to write a perfunctory story about how the town is faring 12 months on, and starts to smell a rat.
Based on former journalist Chris Hammer’s best-selling novel of the same name and produced by Easy Tiger (whose credits include Jack Irish and The Twelve), Scrublands is a thriller set in a remote country town, Riversend, which has been battered by years of drought, fire and flood, is reeling from a terrible act of violence, and harbours a profound distrust of outsiders generally, and anyone in the media specifically.
Producer David Redman, whose credits include Charlie & Boots and Strange Bedfellows, says distilling the novel, a whydunit rather than a whodunit, into a four-part series is no mean feat. “It’s amazing how much story you can tell in four episodes,” he says. “It’s pacy. No one’s going to fall asleep in this one, particularly not after the opening scene. It’s such an iconic and unusual way to start, as far as making sure you have an engaged, attentive audience.”
Writer Felicity Packard (Underbelly, Janet King) agrees. “The opening scene is pretty much what takes place in the novel. That’s a really powerful way to start. You’re not hiding your light under a bushel, it’s right up there in episode one, scene one.”
Director Greg McLean has form when it comes to filming Australian crime drama. His CV includes the legendary outback horror flick Wolf Creek. Packard enthuses about his vision. “He has such a strong idea of what he’s doing. He’s already got the edit in his head, so he know what he’s shooting for. He doesn’t just shoot the shit out of things, he knows what he wants.”
The story revolves around two men, the charismatic and dedicated but mysterious priest Byron, played by Jay Ryan (The Creamerie, Jane Campion’s Top of the Lake) and the jaded, frustrated journalist Martin, played by Luke Arnold (Michael Hutchence in INXS biopic Never Tear Us Apart). Linking the two is Mandy Bond, played by Bella Heathcote (The Man in the High Castle, Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows), the beguiling owner of the local bookstore-cafe who has a few secrets of her own.
It was McLean who introduced Heathcote to the project. “I’d worked with him on Bloom [with Bryan Brown and Jacki Weaver] a couple of years ago and he and I were going to do another project together and that didn’t happen sadly, and he said, ‘I’ve got this other great project.’ He sent me the first two episodes, and I was hooked, I wanted to know what happened next.”
Heathcote’s character, who had studied at uni in Melbourne before returning to look after her dying mother, fascinated the actor. “Mandy just seems so tough and cool. No bullshit, the way she carries herself through life, the way she interacts with people in the town. I just really admired her. So often she has those quips I wish I had in any given situation!”