The Dry 2's Deborra-Lee Furness reveals 'big plans' after split from Hugh Jackman

Four years after the release of The Dry, its sequel Force of Nature: The Dry 2 is finally releasing following a slight delay thanks to the SAG-AFTRA strike late last year.

Eric Bana returns as Aaron Falk, with Deborra-Lee Furness joining him for the sequel, which is also based on the series of books by Jane Harper. The pair spoke to Yahoo Lifestyle about the film, with Deborra-Lee spilling all on her plans following her shock split from husband Hugh Jackman after 27 years of marriage.

The pair initially revealed the split in a statement shared with People Magazine, saying: "We have been blessed to share almost three decades together as husband and wife in a wonderful, loving marriage. Our journey now is shifting and we have decided to separate to pursue our individual growth."

Force of Nature marks a return to the big screen for Deborra-Lee, whose last film was released in 2010, and she doesn't plan on stopping here.

The film sees five women, including Deborra-Lee's character Jill Bailey, go on a retreat in dense bushland, and only four of them come out, with federal agents Aaron Falk and Carmen Cooper trying to find the missing woman before it's too late.

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Deborra-Lee shared her "big plans" for the future, telling us, "I've got a few [projects] up my sleeve, I'm working on a script with Rebecca Rigg, which I want to direct and act in."

She also hinted that her character in The Dry 2 might return in the third film in the series, saying, "And who knows there might be a reprisal from the character I play [in Force of Nature]. Hey, maybe another sequel from a character I played many years ago in Shame."

When asked if she had a list of people she's keen to work with, Eric cleared his throat, joking, "I'll look away, I'll look away!"

"You'll have to audition, Eric!" Deborra-Lee quipped.

"Thank you, I'll audition!" he responded.

"Of course, I've got a great buffet of great actors to choose from in Australia," the actress added, sharing she'd love to do more work in Australia. "I'd love to come back here."

She added that the film she is creating with Rebecca will be set in Australia, so she's excited to begin work on that, but couldn't share more details.

'Felt like a bit of a cheat'

For Eric, Force of Nature is the first time he's been able to reprise a character, with the star telling us, "It felt amazing, I had never had the opportunity to reprise a role before. It's a pretty rare thing, particularly in Australia, so I felt like a bit of a cheat. I felt like I had a bit of a head start. But no, it was a lot of fun."

The film is set in the Victorian mountain ranges, where it rains quite a lot, leading to a pretty tough shoot for the stars.

"Look, it was hard!" Deborra-Lee shared. "There's rain and there's trees that are hitting you in the face and you're falling over, and it's freezing and [there are] leeches. So, yeah, it was challenging. But then, you know, you didn't have to act, it was handed to you on a platter."

Speaking of the leeches, the star added, "Everyone was pulling leeches off everyone's head and out of the ears, so yeah, that was the highlight of the film."

'A huge challenge'

Speaking about fans of the book, Eric said, "I hope that they love [the films], we try to be really true to the books, particularly the essence of the books. It's a huge challenge to try and depict them visually and try and do justice to all the characters.

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"But it's not an accident if it works, we work really hard on those elements. But we just hope that we give the best cinematic version of what they've directed in their head, and that they're also a little bit surprised to the little tweaks that we make along the way."

He added, "There's always got to be a few little tweaks."

Force of Nature: The Dry 2 is in cinemas on 8th February 2024.

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