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Speaker 1: Runt is in Cinema's September nineteen Next week. It is

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Speaker 1: Like All Good Things, based on the book by Craig

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Speaker 1: Sylvie and Craig is with us this morning.

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Speaker 2: Hello, good to talk to you.

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Speaker 3: Hello, great to be with you.

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Speaker 1: Tell us the premise of the story of runch Well.

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Speaker 3: Runt tells a story of eleven year old Annie Shearer,

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Speaker 3: who lives in the country town of Ups and Downs

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Speaker 3: on her parents sheep farm with her best and only friend,

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Speaker 3: who is a stray dog who she rescues called Runt,

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Speaker 3: and the two of them try to save their family

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Speaker 3: farm by entering the very prestigious Crumpets Dog Show in

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Speaker 3: London in the agility course Grand Championships. But there is

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Speaker 3: a bit of a catch that Runt will not move.

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Speaker 3: He won't obey any if anyone else is watching. It

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Speaker 3: has to be just a problem.

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Speaker 2: That is a major issue.

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Speaker 1: My dog Ziggy uses that excuse really and hers Greg,

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Speaker 1: What's how different is it writing young reader fiction to

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Speaker 1: writing something like Honeybee? You know, the.

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Speaker 3: Process is exactly the same. The only difference is that

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Speaker 3: leading the narrative is a younger person generally. But it's

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Speaker 3: just as challenging and sophisticated as anything else that I've written.

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Speaker 3: Front is really for everybody. It's a family feature film,

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Speaker 3: but it's also family fiction and readers of all ages

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Speaker 3: and audiences of all ages have really connected with the

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Speaker 3: story and so we're so delighted to share it with everyone.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, stella cast not including Jack Thompson and Joel Jackson

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Speaker 2: in there, and John Courtney of course everyonelment and well

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Speaker 2: but do you get to say from your particulate do

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Speaker 2: you get to a say on anything to do with casting?

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Speaker 3: Yeah. I was fortunate enough to produce this film as

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Speaker 3: well as write, so I've been writing amongst this and

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Speaker 3: been part of that consultation process. We have some iconic

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Speaker 3: names in this film, as you mentioned, Jack Thompson, Dead Mailman,

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Speaker 3: Courtney interesting, incredible and Matt Day as you've never seen

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Speaker 3: him before, playing the very villainous Fergus Fink, who is Yes,

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Speaker 3: he's a very vain and divisive figure in the agility

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Speaker 3: course circuit and he'll stop at nothing from preventing any

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Speaker 3: hero from taking the chocolates.

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Speaker 1: He's a lot of it in everything I've seen in

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Speaker 1: recent ye. He's a great character actor. The film was

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Speaker 1: shot in Perth, and York, which are You're on your

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Speaker 1: way to York this morning. What We've been talking a

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Speaker 1: lot about this lately about York and it's filming. What

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Speaker 1: makes it the perfect place for shooting a movie?

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Speaker 3: Do you think, oh, my goodness, for York is just

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Speaker 3: effortlessly cinematic. It's got those beautiful, wide open landscapes and

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Speaker 3: gorgeous blue skies, but the main street is like a

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Speaker 3: movie lot. The architecture is extraordinary. The community has preserved

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Speaker 3: it so well, and it's just a really welcoming, fantastic

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Speaker 3: place to film. We loved our time there and everyone

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Speaker 3: got behind it. I can't wait to head to York

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Speaker 3: today where ticket rare as Hen's teeth. People are clamoring

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Speaker 3: to the town hall to see their town transformed into

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Speaker 3: ups and downs. It's really great.

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Speaker 2: That's going to be so exciting.

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Speaker 1: Effortlessly cinematic is the most beautiful apt description I've heard. Now,

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Speaker 1: we talk about the cast like Jack Thobson, Matt Day,

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Speaker 1: Debra Melman, but can we talk about squidquen?

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Speaker 3: We talk about.

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Speaker 1: Squid plays runt Now, were you involved in the dog

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Speaker 1: audition process to find runt show?

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Speaker 3: Well, it was a big point of focus for our

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Speaker 3: casting team to res to rescue a stray dog, and

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Speaker 3: that's what we said about to do, and so our

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Speaker 3: amazing animal department scoured the nation and we found Squid

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Speaker 3: in a shelter in regional Victoria. You know, she didn't

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Speaker 3: have a home, and we adopted her and she responded

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Speaker 3: to training really well. And so eighteen months ago Squid

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Speaker 3: didn't have anywhere to live and anybody to love her.

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Speaker 2: Oh thanks to Richard's story.

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Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, Now she's the most famous dog in Australia

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Speaker 3: and she's got a home for life. And I hope

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Speaker 3: that everyone loves Squid as much as we do.

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Speaker 2: Please tell us Squid got her own trailer.

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Speaker 3: She hadoo trailers And I'm not even lying.

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Speaker 2: I love it.

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Speaker 1: Ready smacos the in the cator as ted Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, what's my motivation? I'm ready for my closer.

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Speaker 2: The last time we caught up, we talked about your

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Speaker 2: fans and how loyal they are and how much I

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Speaker 2: love you, including my wife when she was frothing on

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Speaker 2: the email about Honeybee once and you replied, She'll never

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Speaker 2: forget that. But do you get recognized a lot? You

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Speaker 2: know me when you haven't be it on set or

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Speaker 2: bookshops or whatever.

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Speaker 3: Oh look, I'm very very fortunate. I'm very grateful to

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Speaker 3: readers who go on such an intimate journey when they

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Speaker 3: read a novel, and they're very very kind in their

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Speaker 3: response to me, and it's the least I can do

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Speaker 3: is to be grateful and to thank them. And so

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Speaker 3: you know, I'm very appreciative of my cohort of readers

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Speaker 3: and audiences, and so I hope they all get out

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Speaker 3: and support Australian film. I'm September the nineteenth when Runt

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Speaker 3: hit screens nationwide. Our responses so far have just been extraordinary.

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Speaker 3: People just loving our film, so I'm really excited.

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Speaker 1: Well, us readers are very appreciative of you, Craig. You've

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Speaker 1: kept us so entertained. Look forward to Runt in cinemas

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Speaker 1: September nineteen, and look forward to talking to you next

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Speaker 1: about the adaptation of Honey Beet. Yes, we've just been

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Speaker 1: positive thinking it a place, you know, and hopefully Lee

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Speaker 1: Tiger Hallie could create the all now as well as

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Speaker 1: the cover. I don't know how much time has passed

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Speaker 1: and how busy he is now, but that he's incredible,

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Speaker 1: So good luck with runt. Thanks for chatting to us.

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Speaker 3: I appreciate it so much.

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Speaker 2: Lap it up, mate, It's gonna be a big guy.

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Speaker 2: That is unreal. And in September nineteen

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Speaker 1: I love the squid story is the rol My god,

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Speaker 1: I risk you