The Boys Are Back will be the first film directed in SA by Hicks since his Academy Award winning film Shine.

The production will star Clive Owen and is expected to be filmed over 10 weeks next month.

Owen plays a journalist tragically thrust into single parenthood.

Determined to reunite his family with two sons from different marriages, he devises a Peter Pan-like strategy of no rules, only to find he has a lot to learn about fatherhood and about himself.

The film was originally planned to be shot interstate.

"It gives me enormous pleasure to bring The Boys Are Back to shoot in South Australia, thanks to the enthusiastic support of Mike Rann and the South Australian Film Corporation," Mr Hicks said.

"I'm looking forward to showing the splendour of the Fleurieu to the wider world, in the context of this powerful and emotional drama."

Mr Hicks and his wife, Kerry Heysen, of the pioneering Fleurieu Peninsula family, have grown grapes at Yacca Paddock near Kuitpo since about 2000.

He also is a regular visitor to the region.