“The story felt incredibly primal and mythic,” divulges “Lion” screenwriter Luke Davies during our recent webcam chat (watch above), “like this ancient fable about the unification with a lost mother.” Directed by Garth Davis, this Weinstein Company release tells the remarkable true story of a five-year-old Indian boy (Sunny Pawar) who gets lost in the streets of Calcutta, thousands of kilometers from home. He is eventually adopted by an Australian couple, and as an adult (Dev Patel) embarks on a journey to find his birth family.
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Davies adapted his screenplay from Saroo Brierley‘s memoir, and was fascinated by his use of Google Earth technology to locate his long-lost mother. “This story could never have happened in the history of human civilization until ten years ago,” he exclaims. The author was excited by the, “age old myth that probably goes back to the origins of human storytelling,” combined with, “this really exhilarating technological aspect.”
Related: Watch our interviews with Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman
“Lion” was recently nominated for Best Picture (Drama), Best Supporting Actor (Patel), Best Supporting Actress (Nicole Kidman), and Best Original Score at the Golden Globes. On Wednesday, both Patel and Kidman also reaped SAG bids. Davies, whose previous writing credits include “Candy” (2006) and “Life” (2015), recently contended at the Critics Choice Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay. Is his first Oscar nomination next?
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