Tomorrow When The War Began Ellie

The Tomorrow When The War Began movie stars 20-year-old Aussie actress, Caitlin Stasey playing the lead female role of Ellie Linton. Stasey who starred in the popular Australian television soapie Neighbours, was thrilled to have been given the part, saying that she had a lot of respect for Ellie’s character and felt privileged to be playing such an inspirational young female role.
 
Stuart Beattie who wrote the screen play as well as directed the movie said  “Caitlin captured the perfect balance of intelligence, vulnerability and strength that is essential to this character.” Read more »

Tomorrow When The War Began Fi

Fi, Tomorrow When The War Began “princess“,  is played by 21 year old Australian actress Phoebe Tonkin. Phoebe is best known for her role as the mermaid Cleo in the Australian teen television series H2O: Just Add Water, for which she was nominated for an AFI award for “Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama.”

She has also appeared in the Aussie TV series “Packed to the Rafters”, does modelling, and was involved in theatre productions and dance when she was younger. She has just recently appeared in the popular teenage soapie “Home and Away”.

When casting her for the role of Fi Maxwell in the Tomorrow When The War Began movie, director Stuart Beattie said “Phoebe is an extraordinarily talented young actress with an ethereal presence and effortless grace, much like her character, Fiona”. Read more »

Tomorrow When The War Began Homer

The larrikin of the Tomorrow movie is Homer Yannos who is played by 21 year old Australian actor Deniz Akdeniz. He is best friends with Ellie – they grew up together in neighbouring properties and both have a deep admiration and respect for each other, though they are both very competitive and try to outdo each other in just about everything whenever they get a chance.

For all his joking around, when the group has to come to terms with the country being invaded, Homer steps up to the task in a big way and shows a maturity and strength beyond his years that helps to organise the group into a cohesive guerrilla force to be reckoned with. Read more »

Tomorrow When The War Began Corrie

The role of Corrie McKenzie in the Tomorrow Movie is played by 20 year old British actress Rachel Hurd-Wood. Corrie is Ellie’s good friend and Kevin’s girlfriend. Rachel is no stranger to working on movies in Australia; she worked on the Gold Coast when filming the movie Peter Pan where she played the part of Wendy. She has also appeared in various other movies including Dorian Gray and Perfume.

After watching Rachel’s screen test, Stuart Beattie knew she would be perfect to play the role of Corrie. Rachel deferred her university study of Linguistics to be able to play the part and spent 3 months in Australia working on the movie. She loved the books when she read them and thought the film script was amazing. Read more »

Tomorrow When The War Began Robyn

The noble character of Robyn Mathers in the “Tomorrow” books is based on the author, John Marsden’s real life sister. He also dedicated the first book in the series to her, writing; “To my dear sister Robin Farran: so much admired”. Marsden also says that the Robyn portrayed in the movie is more nerdy than the Robyn in the book.

The character of the quiet, responsible and ‘churchy’ Robyn Mathers is played by 17 year old Ashleigh Cummings. Though she’s the youngest of the main cast of teens, Ashleigh is no stranger to acting. Read more »

Tomorrow When The War Began Lee

The introverted character of Lee Takkam in the Tomorrow Movie is played by Australian actor Chris Pang. Chris trained with The Australian Film and Television Academy for two years, and has appeared in a number of film and television roles including the TV series Real Stories and Tangle. His film credits include roles in Home Song Stories, the short film Y, the Last Afro and Citizen Jia Li. Chris has also been involved with traditional martial arts training for 12 years.

Chris had read a few of the Tomorrow books while he was in High School and loved them. He couldn’t attend the audition process in person because he was overseas in Hong Kong so he sent off an audition tape instead. That proved to be a stroke of genius because he was asked to fly to Sydney and ended up getting the role of Lee. Chris doesn’t play piano in real life; he had to learn it for the role which he did at the Conservatory of Music in Sydney. Read more »

Tomorrow When The War Began Kevin

The character of the emotionally immature Kevin Holmes in the Tomorrow when The War Began movie is played by 22 year old Australian actor Lincoln Lewis. Lincoln is best remembered for his role as Geoff Campbell in the Australian teenage soapie Home and Away.

Lincoln’s first taste of the Tomorrow Movie was him supporting his girlfriend for an audition she was doing for the film. Once he found out the audition was for the film adaption of the book he loved to read as a teenager; Tomorrow When The War Began, he phoned up his agent and begged him to get Lincoln an audition for the movie. To say he was thrilled when he got to audition two days later is an understatement. Needless to say he got the part of Kevin in the movie and has loved being part of the making of the action movie. Read more »

Chris Lang Tomorrow When The War Began

The character of the ‘naughty boy’ of the Tomorrow movie, Chris Lang, is played by young Australian actor Andy Ryan. Andy played the role of Zac Green in the pay-TV Australian comedy series, the Jesters in 2009. He has also had guest appearances in other TV shows including All Saints.

Chris isn’t able to go away with the group when they go camping at the beginning of the movie because his parents are away and he has to house-sit. However he meets up with the seven teens later in the movie and joins them in their guerrilla fight against the enemy forces. He doesn’t share the same passion the others of of saving their families because his are overseas, and that could-care-less attitude causes tension among the group of teens. Read more »

Here is a video of Stuart Beattie talking about the Tomorrow  Movie.

Stuart Beattie is an Australian screenwriter who originally comes from Sydney, and has resided in LA since the late 90′s. He has written screenplays for popular films like “Pirates of the Caribbean; the Curse of the Black Pearl”, “Collateral” and “Australia” to name a few.

Now he is directing his first film, one that he also wrote the screenplay for; the Tomorrow When The War Began movie, which is based on the novel of the same name and originally written by Australian author John Marsden. Beattie said he chose to write the script and then direct theTomorrow Movie because it has a great story, great characters and is a well known title.

In Australia of course it is a very well known book title because it is not only written by an Australian, but it is required reading in most high schools for the subject of English. The New South Wales Board of Studies recommends it as a text to be studied by students in Years 9 and 10. Read more »

Here is a video of John Marsden reading an excerpt from Chapter 8 of Tomorrow When The War Began

John Marsden is the author of Tomorrow When The War Began. This book, along with the 6 others in the Tomorrow series, has been described as one of the most popular for teenagers in Australia. The epic novel has now been turned into a movie that his teenage audience can’t wait to see if forums and fan sites are anything to go by.

Marsden, who is highly regarded in Australia as ‘the’ bestselling author of books for young adults, was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1950. He attended various primary schools when he was young and loved to read. Encouraged to write by his grade 4 and 6 teachers, John decided at the tender age of nine that he was going to become an author.

After finishing high school Marsden entered the University of Sydney to study law but dropped out because he thought a law career would be quite boring.

Marsden then spent 2 months in a psychiatric hospital because he was clinically depressed and this experience gave him plenty of time for introspection. This opportunity for self reflection and what he learned there about feelings, relationships and communication gave him a different perspective on life and enabled him to build a new life for himself. Read more »