Project Detail

The Proposition

Synopsis

Set in Australia in the 1880s, the film opens in the middle of a frenzied gunfight between the police and a gang of outlaws. Charlie Burns (Guy Pearce) and his brother Mikey are captured by Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone). Together with their psychopathic brother Arthur (Danny Huston), they are wanted for a brutal crime. Stanley makes Charlie a seemingly impossible proposition in an attempt to bring an end to the cycle of bloody violence.

Emily Watson plays Stanley’s wife Martha Stanley; John Hurt plays the bounty hunter Jellon Lamb and David Wenham plays Eden Fletcher, the powerful local landowner.

Details

Year
2005
Type of project
Features
Format
35mm
Director
John Hillcoat
Producer
Cat Villiers, Chiara Menage, Chris Brown, Jackie O' Sullivan
Editor
Jon Gregory
Screenwriter
Nick Cave
Director of Photography
Benoit Delhomme
Composer
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis
Principal cast
Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, John Hurt, David Wenham and Emily Watson
Sound Recordist
Craig Walmsley
Sound Supervisor
Paul Davies

Categories

Production Status

Production Company

Co-produced by Autonomous (UK) and Jackie O Productions (Australia) for SureFire Films

Sales Company

The Works

4 Great Portland Street
Portland House
London W1W 8QJ
UK

T+44 (0)20 7612 1080

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

See also

You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

The protagonist, Mary, covering her ears and screaming into the curtains This Case

Director: Kemi-Bo Miller Jacobs

Year: 2026

Mary, a young mixed-race librarian, becomes convinced that a neighbour’s St George’s Cross is connected to her growing anxiety and disrupted sleep. As her unease intensifies, she struggles to distinguish reality from perception and must find the courage to speak up before she begins to unravel.

Children walking through rubble of city. Gaza Year Zero

Director: Mohammed Sawwaf, Michael Winterbottom

Year: 2027

GAZA YEAR ZERO tells the story of 13 year old Aboud and his family as they struggle to survive in Gaza during the war.

Jack Slack and Rhino Fight Bedlam

Director: Jon Shaikh

Year: 2027

1750, Bedlam The worst place on Earth. Jack Slack, a bare knuckle carnival boxer, consumed with rage, fights his way in to the pits of hell to rescue his sister, Sarah from a lifetime of incarceration. Soon trapped and imprisoned himself, his rage and skill at fighting are noticed and he is singled out by the masters of the hospital for a special course of treatment. Meanwhile, Jack still has a plan, if he can only keep the madness at bay.