Photo courtesy of IFC Films. An IFC Films release.
In Nitram, director Justin Kurzel puts the audience in the footsteps of a dangerous individual who had no business stepping into a gun store, purchasing a weapon without a license and then using it on a group of people. When Kurzel received Shaun Grant’s screenplay of Nitram, which tells this story, he was a bit taken aback.
Nitram was unexpected and revealing in its honesty, while also reflecting a genuine desire to understand and ask questions about one of the darkest chapters in Australian history. Yet, the story behind Grant’s journey to writing the script had its origins in Los Angeles where Grant lives.
“He’d been in L.A. and had some close calls with shootings, and those close calls made him think again about one of the most seismic events in Australia that changed the gun laws forever,” Kurzel said. “He discovered that those laws were being contested and weakened. And with his experience in Los Angeles, he wanted to take the audience into the footsteps of an individual who becomes unbelievably dangerous—who at the point they are their most dangerous, walks into a gun store and buys the weaponry without a license.”
Grant’s story unpeeled the titular character and dared the audience to consider how an individual could evolve into someone who could commit such a heinous crime.
“Since my first film, Snowtown, I have been interested in why these young men search for answers in such extreme violence,” Kurzel said. “Is there a cultural void, which starves these men of a tribe, an absence of belonging? When there is no church, no sense of origin, no connection to land and country, what becomes their compass, what corrupts them towards this apathetic and senseless need to destroy life?”
Starring Caleb Landry Jones, Judy Davis and Anthony LaPaglia, Nitram is the story of a young man who lives with his parents in suburban Australia in the 1990s. Nitram is somewhat of a social outsider living a life of isolation and frustration. One day, he finds an unexpected friend in a reclusive heiress, but when that relationship meets a tragic end, Nitram’s loneliness and anger grow ultimately leading to disaster.
“There was something so recognizable and familiar about it,” Kurzel says of the main characters in the film. “It felt like a family that was living down the street. The character was someone a lot of people saw – there were common sightings of him and he was well known. I was intrigued how someone like that, who we walk past every day, starts to go down into that descent. The impact on the family and our responsibility as a community when you’re walking past that type of person.”
Kurzel wonders if there was something that could have been done or were they just watching the train wreck.
Authenticity in retelling a historical event
“It’s a real balance,” Kurzel explained. “The research needs to be authentic, and it needs to reflect the spirit of what happened.”
Kurzel found it importance to be aware of what you’re trying to write and know the point of view. Real event stories like Nitram are often adjusted with a shorter timeline. People around your main character you feel don’t add to their story are also removed or condensed into a single character. What’s important is getting to the truth of the story and not making things up that have no connection.
“Whenever you’re doing research or reading about a historical event it always feels distant,” he said. “A lot of it is based on facts, dates and third-person accounts. I think the biggest leap you have to make is finding the humanity in it.”
He believed in finding who the character is and how they’re going to make everyone think they can recognize that person in their everyday life. That’s the biggest test. How do you get an audience whose lives aren’t as controversial, crazy, horrific or extraordinary connecting to the main character?
Kurzel’s approach to writers and writing
For Kurzel, the first script he received for Nitram was solid, so the initial conversation he had with Grant focused on the point of view of the character and how to tell their story. Each subsequent draft evolved closer toward the story, editing out anything that didn’t add to it
From there, the other realities of production changed the script. Budget constraints meant condensing a 120-page script into 95 pages.
“That’s when you start getting rid of your babies,” Kurzel lamented. At that point you have to ask yourself if those 95 pages are still the movie you want to make and if the story you want to tell is still there. “If it is, then you make it.”
His approach is different when it comes to adapting a book.
“There’s usually a wall full of cards and we’ll keep the scenes in the book that really stand out,” Kurzel said. “It’s not even the POV or understanding what the film is you’re trying to tell. It’s really going through and finding the scenes or detail you like. You have 300 cards on the wall and you’re starting to see if there’s a pattern there.”
Telling the story most want to look past
Historical events will sometimes focus on events that people would rather look past.
“Forgetting helps us survive but freedom comes from memory. I have tried to reach into the darkness to find a truth and to understand the unimaginable,” Kurzel said. “There are no answers, but the legacy of this event is part of our history, and it warns the future of its perils.”
Nitram is the winner of eight Australian Academy Awards including Best Film and is in theaters, on digital rental and streaming on AMC+ on March 30, 2022.