The Script Lab Podcast: Jennifer Kent — Writer/Director/Producer of THE NIGHTINGALE, Known for THE BABADOOK

Australian filmmaker Jennifer Kent, whom you may know for her award-winning horror film The Babadook (2014) infuses her new film The Nightingale with fear, a woman’s rage, and brutal redemption set against the gorgeous backdrop of Tasmania. 

Set in 1825, Clare (Aisling Franciosi), a young Irish convict woman, chases a British officer (Sam Claflin) through the rugged Tasmanian wilderness, bent on revenge for a terrible act of violence he committed against her family. On the way, she enlists the services of an Aboriginal tracker named Billy, played by Bakali Ganambarr, who is also marked by trauma from his own violence-filled past.

In the podcast, I speak to Jennifer about revenge, writing a monstrous villain and what she learned from filmmaker Lars von Trier on his film Dogville (2003). 

The Nightingale is currently playing in limited release and on various streaming platforms. 

Listen to the podcast below.

Shanee Edwards graduated from UCLA Film School with an MFA in Screenwriting and is currently the film critic for SheKnows.com. She recently won the Next MacGyver television writing competition to create a TV show about a female engineer. Her pilot, Ada and the Machine, is currently in development with America Ferrera’s Take Fountain Productions. You can follow her on Twitter: @ShaneeEdwards

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