“The Stranger” will have a global premiere on Netflix in October.
The film, starring Joel Edgerton, premiered in Australia at the Melbourne International Film Festival and will have a theatrical release locally.
It was written and directed by Thomas M. Wright and produced by See-Saw Films, Anonymous Content and Blue Tongue Films.
The story, based on real-life events, revolves around two strangers who strike up a conversation on a long journey. One is a suspect in an unsolved missing person’s case, and the other is an undercover operative on his trail.
Wright said he couldn’t be more proud of the film and to be partnering with Netflix to release it to an international audience.
“With “The Stranger”, I wanted to make a psychological crime film that took audiences into a place that is hidden — a film that was authentic and realistic in its detail, but also immersive and cinematic. A film that demanded attention and investment. A film that an audience could lean into — and fall into,” he said.
“I centred the film on people who didn’t know the victim, but who devoted years of their lives – and their mental and physical health – to them; because though violence is the reason for this film, it is not its subject. Its subject is the connections between people. That means that, for me, this is a film defined by empathy.
“The ‘Stranger’ of the title could stand for the person responsible for this crime, the victim, those affected by their loss, or the central character in the film — whose name we never learn; or it could stand for the nameless individuals who, in the end, resolve the film.
“For an independent Australian film to premiere in the Official Selection in Cannes, and then be brought to the largest audience anywhere as a Netflix film, is unprecedented,” he added.
