Neon Buys Kitty Green Social Thriller ‘Royal Hotel,’ Starring Julia Garner, Hugo Weaving, Jessica Henwick

variety.com:

Manori Ravindran International EditorNeon has snapped up the North American rights to “The Royal Hotel,” directed by “The Assistant” helmer Kitty Green and “Power of the Dog” producer See-Saw Films.Billed as social thriller, the film stars two-time Emmy Award winner Julia Garner (“Inventing Anna,” “Ozark”), AFI winner Hugo Weaving (“Patrick Melrose,” “The Matrix”) and Jessica Henwick (“The Matrix Resurrections,” “Knives Out 2”).“The Royal Hotel” reunites Green with her “The Assistant” star Garner. “The Assistant” dealt with the broken culture at a film production company, where women are regularly sexually harassed by higher-ups.

The film premiered at the 2019 Telluride Film Festival and earned Garner an Independent Spirit Award nomination. Inspired by true events, “The Royal Hotel” follows Hanna (Garner) and Liv (Henwick) who are best friends backpacking in Australia.

After they run out of money, Liv, looking for an adventure, convinces Hanna to take a temporary live-in job behind the bar of a pub called ‘The Royal Hotel’ in a remote Outback mining town.Bar owner Billy (Weaving) and a host of locals give the girls a riotous introduction to Down Under drinking culture but things turn nasty when their jokes and behaviour cross the line.

Soon Hanna and Liv find themselves trapped in an unnerving situation that grows rapidly out of their control.See-Saw’s Emile Sherman and Iain Canning said of the project: “We are very happy to be working with Neon again on the release of ‘The Royal Hotel.’ Neon have an undeniable history of supporting both emerging and established filmmakers, and putting together innovative and provocative campaigns.