First Warrior | Warwick Thornton

[Cremildo]

Warwick Thornton, one of Australia’s leading filmmakers, is confirmed to direct “First Warrior,” an epic about Aboriginal resistance fighter Pemulwuy. The creative, on-screen and producing teams are equally stellar.

Australia was colonized in the late 1700s. Pemulwuy, a man of the Bidjigal tribes — from the region that is today modern-day Sydney — led a 12-year resistance against British settlers moving into his people’s traditional lands.

The film’s core creators are an all-Indigenous team including Thornton, writer Jon Bell (“The Moogai,” “Cleverman”) and writer-producer Andrew Dillon (“Le Champion,” “Outliers”).

Dillon, who is a direct descendent of both the Dharug and Gomeroi people, will produce through his That’s-A-Wrap Productions company. No sales agent is yet attached.

Stuart Beattie, the Oscar-winning screenwriter with credits including “Collateral” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,” has also come on board alongside Phillip Noyce (“Rabbit-Proof Fence,” “Salt”) and Shana Levine (“The Portable Door,” “Charlie & Boots”). +