We’ve known for a while that a movie based on Paul Kelly’s quietly devastating Christmas song, How To Make Gravy, was in the works.
In terms of the song’s original characters, the trailer stars Australian actor Daniel Henshall as the newly-imprisoned Joe, who expects to be home by July, his wife Rita (portrayed by French actress Agathe Rousselle, making her English-language film debut), and as their son, Angus, is played by Jona Wren Phillips. Meanwhile, Rose Statham and Izzy Westlake play the couple’s twin children, Frank and Dolly.
As for who mentions gravy in the movie trailer, that’s the one and only Hugo Weaving (The Lord Of The Rings, The Matrix, The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert), who happens to be making some gravy for his fellow prisonmates.
After his Boy Swallows Universe appearances, Adam Briggs will also star in the film – you can spot him making a cameo in the trailer below.
How To Make Gravy will air on BINGE on Sunday, 1 December (it really should air on the 21st).
Don’t miss a beat with our FREE daily newsletter
The announcement that How to Make Gravy would become a film was shared in May 2022. The track was originally released and written by Paul Kelly in 1996 and tells the now-iconic story of Joe, a prisoner who writes a letter to his brother about missing his family at Christmas.
To Kelly’s delight, nearly 30 years later, the treasured Australian song and narrative will be transformed into a feature film.
When the film was announced, he stated, “Dan and Joe and Rita and Angus and Dolly and all the others have been stuck inside that song so long, I’m glad they’re going to get a chance to live life a different way!”
