NG KIDS: How did you feel when you got the role?įL: We found out that I had been cast as Storm Boy a week before my 11th birthday, it was the best birthday present ever! We were elated and shocked and screaming and crying… jumping up and down in our lounge room. Why do you think you got the part?įL: I don’t know why, but I’m really glad Shawn Seet did! I’m the luckiest boy in Australia to land such an iconic role. NG KIDS: The director picked you from about 60 boys who auditioned for the part of Storm Boy. The character wasn’t in Thiele’s original novella, but this parallel relationship in the present day narrative triggers the need for Michael to tell the story of Storm Boy to Maddy, to heal and to give forward direction to them both.
Maddy, like Storm Boy, has also experienced profound personal loss, and the layers of grief under the surface of her aggression confront Michael. A fervent impulse to protect the natural landscape runs through her veins her grandfather, as Storm Boy, fought the hunters in this generation, Maddy fights her father. When we first meet Michael Kingley’s 16 year-old grandaughter Maddy, she’s a young woman filled with outrage, directed at her father Malcolm, who is engineering the mining lease of the Pilbara farming land. Through the process of telling the story, Michael experiences a connection to himself and the world around him that he hasn’t felt since leaving the Coorong to be ‘properly educated’. With his granddaughter Maddy in an agitated state over the pending decision and its environmental impact, Michael relates to her the story of Mr Percival and his own youthful incarnation as Storm Boy. Michael’s son-in-law Malcolm Downer thinks the decision will be a fait accompli. He returns from what he calls his ‘walkabout’ - ticking global destinations off his bucket list - and travels to Adelaide to vote in an important board decision to lease Pilbara land to a mining company. Michael Kingley, a year shy of 70, is one of four directors of King Pastoral Holdings. The two are quickly thrust together to rescue the orphaned pelican chicks. At first Storm Boy is cautious of the stranger, who he’s seen before at the water’s edge, but they meet and a bond begins to form. Hideaway Tom is a protective father to Storm Boy, driven by personal tragedy to live a pared back life in a humble, weather-beaten shack.įingerbone Bill lives alone at a campsite not far from Hideaway Tom’s shack. His experiences with the pelicans, particularly Mr Percival, will teach Storm Boy not just about the quality of love and true friendship, but hard truths about nature and an unforgiving side of how the world works. When Storm Boy meets Fingerbone Bill and takes charge of three orphaned pelicans, he begins to connect deeply with himself and with his environment. He’s at a crucial stage of his life, on the cusp between being a boy and approaching adolescence.
Storm Boy is a loner by necessity - his father Hideaway Tom has moved him to the remote Coorong, where they live a type of self-imposed exile. Storm Boy is a timeless story of an unusual and unconditional friendship. Their remarkable adventures and very special bond has a profound effect on all their lives. He recounts to his grand-daughter the story of how, as a boy, he rescued and raised an extraordinary orphaned pelican, Mr Percival. When Kingley starts to see images from his past that he can’t explain, he is forced to remember his long-forgotten childhood, growing up on an isolated coastline with his father. ‘Storm Boy’ has grown up to be Michael Kingley, a successful retired businessman and grandfather. Get set for adventures with this summer’s most unforgettable movie, Storm Boy, in cinemas 17 January! Based on the beloved book, Storm Boy is a timeless story of an unusual and unconditional friendship.
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