Production begins next week in the U.K. on Focus Features and Working Title's latest collaboration: an untitled suspense thriller that stars Eric Bana, Rebecca Hall and Jim Broadbent. And there's plenty of reason to pay attention, apart from the boutique studios with discerning film taste and these three stars.
Directed by John Crowley ("Is Anybody There"), the filmmaker was arguably the first person to give Andrew Garfield a lead role in 2008's underappreciated drama "Boy A" (before then all he had done was British TV) so that's still a feather in his cap years later, especially considering how far Garfield has come. Featuring an original screenplay by Steven Knight (Academy Award nominee for "Dirty Pretty Things," "Eastern Promises"), a rich crop of talent has just been added to the cast, including Ciarán Hinds ("Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy," "The Debt"), Julia Stiles ("Dexter," the "Bourne" franchise), Riz Ahmed ("Four Lions"), Kenneth Cranham ("An Inspector Calls") and Anne-Marie Duff ("Nowhere Boy").
Centering on two ex-lovers, in this untitled thriller Martin (Bana) and Claudia (Hall), find their loyalties tested and their lives at risk when they are joined together on the defense team in a terrorism trial. Adriano Goldman ("Jane Eyre") is the feature’s cinematographer and Focus, who holds worldwide rights to the feature, will begin overseas sales at the 2012 Cannes International Film Festival in May. Something to keep an eye on for potential awards consideration in 2013 to be sure.
Bana and Hall in a thriller? HELL FUCKING YES