Bright Star: a southern star shines up north

Jane Campion and Jan Chapman re-teamed to tell the story of a poet and his muse in Bright Star. Chapman told Miguel Gonzalez how this quintessentially British tale has an Australian heart.

The romantic poet John Keats died in Rome in 1820, aged 25. His work would achieve posthumous recognition but, until today, the source of inspiration for his most famous poems had been largely ignored.

Inspiration for Bright Star came to Campion through Andrew Morton’s biography of the poet, which documented his love story with 18 year-old neighbour Fanny Brawne. Campion mentioned her new found