It’s been over 40 years since Peter Weir’s Australian cult classic Picnic at Hanging Rock was first released. The 1975 thriller about schoolgirls who go missing on a field trip, based on Joan Lindsay’s 1967 novel, has made a particularly indelible mark on the fashion landscape. Alexander McQueen used Picnic as his main source of inspiration for spring/summer 05, turning us on to the film’s menswear as well as its lithe Edwardian gowns. Gia Coppola channeled the field trip from hell in a shoot for Gucci last year. And Weir’s film has been a longstanding source of inspo for aunty Sofia, who looked to Picnic as inspiration for both The Virgin Suicides and The Beguiled.
Now the film is getting yet another remake courtesy of Amazon Prime. The six-part mini-series is actually based on Lindsay’s novel, but will still have all the visual allure of Weir’s film. Ruffled lace gowns! Barefoot running! An extravagantly bouffanted headmistresses! Mrs. Appleyard is now being embodied by Game of Thrones’s Natalie Dormer, who appears younger than the original actress, but no less terrifying in her quest to recover the missing schoolgirls.
Also starring in the series is Orange is the New Black‘s Yael Stone as Miss Dora Lumley, while rising Aussie actresses will play the ill-fated yet painfully stylish students. Lily Sullivan will play Miranda Reid, and Madeleine Madden from Ready For This (Australia’s first Indigenous teen drama) steps into the role of Marian Quade. The series hits Prime on May 25.