‘Curious' Winton approves of script for newly announced Riders film

Sydney Morning Herald

04-05-2025

If there's a way to describe Tim Winton's reaction to the news his 30-year-old book The Riders will be filmed starring Brad Pitt, it's cautiously optimistic.
'I've been around so long I'm very unlikely to get excited about these things,' the famed West Australian novelist says.
'But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious.'
It was revealed last week production company A24 had won a bidding war over the script adapting Winton's 1994 Booker Prize-shortlisted novel.
It will be directed by Edward Berger (Conclave, All Quiet on the Western Front) with Ridley Scott among producers, with shooting starting across Europe in early 2026.
The uncanny story of an Australian man searching for his missing wife and child across Western Europe was written when Winton returned home after a period living in Ireland, France and Greece.
Winton tells WAtoday it was optioned for film within days of publication, so the quest to bring it to film has now taken three decades, with three directors previously named, and actors involved at times including Sam Worthington, Ronan Keating, Luke Hemsworth and Richard E. Grant.
He reflects that when he and his wife left Australia in their twenties for the period in question, they had in tow their first son who turned three on the day they left.