Cate Blanchett, Mia Wasikowska, and David Wenham are set to make their directing debut alongside 14 other directors in the adaptation of Tim Winton's collection of short stories, The Turning.  The three actors will be joined by directors Benedict Andrews, Jonathan auf der Heide, Tony Ayres, Shaun Gladwell, Rhys Graham, Justin Kurzel Ian Meadows, Yaron Lifschitz, Claire McCarthy, Ashlee Page and Stephen Page.  Each of the 17 directors will handle a separate chapter of the book.  Per THR, "The linking and overlapping stories, while self contained, explore the extraordinary turning points in seemingly disparate but connected people’s lives."  I hope the film's theme isn't "We are all connected," because it's meaningless when done in a fiction.  Characters can be connected by a writer, but connections between real people usually illicit nothing more than a, "Huh.  Small world," and then they move on with the rest of their day.

This is the second Australian anthology film to move into production.  As we previously reported, Russell Crowe, Alex Proyas, Toni Collette, and eight other directors will helm Sydney Unplugged, which is in the vein of New York, I Love You and Paris, je t'aime.  Hit the jump for a synopsis of Winton's novel.

Here's the official synopsis for Tim Winton's The Turning:

Set on a coastal stretch of Western Australia, Tim Winton's stunning collection of connected stories is about turnings of all kinds -- changes of heart, slow awakenings, nasty surprises and accidents, sudden detours, resolves made or broken. Brothers cease speaking to each other, husbands abandon wives and children, grown men are haunted by childhood fears. People struggle against the weight of their own history and try to reconcile themselves to their place in the world. With extraordinary insight and tenderness, Winton explores the demons and frailties of ordinary people whose lives are not what they had hoped. [Amazon]

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