The Boys Are Back

STARRING Clive Owen, Nicholas McAnulty, George MacKay
WRITTEN BY Allan Cubitt
DIRECTED BY Scott Hicks

Twelve years after directing the Oscar-winning drama Shine, Scott Hicks returns to his native Australia with a drama about a sports journalist (Clive Owen) raising two sons after his wife succumbs to cancer. One kid is a sweet moppet (Nicholas McAnulty), the other is a moody teen (George MacKay). Both crave attention from their father, whose initial approach to single parenthood is: Anything goes! The script (based on Simon Carr’s 2001 memoir) appealed to Hicks, who is the father of two sons. Even more enticing was the chance to cast Owen against brooding, badass type as the grieving dad. ”He does have this tough persona — he’s a man’s man,” says Hicks. Could the tender, domestic side Owen displays here change that image? Laughs Hicks: ”The image of Clive taking in the laundry is an abiding one.” Does he do windows too?