First Official Look: ‘Never Let Me Go,’ Plus Rachel Portman Will Likely Score The Film

Director Mark Romanek’s decision to walk off “The Wolfman,” only a few weeks before shooting, was vindicated when that film was released a month ago — a spectacular mess of studio interference and miscasting, it looked like Romanek got out at just the right time. The fact that the film he went on to shoot, the Kazuo Ishiguro adaptation “Never Let Me Go,” looks so promising only affirms this.

The new issue of Empire has the first official image from the film, showing stars Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield, all looking typically attractive. It’s not the most earth-shattering image in film history, but a nice tidbit from one of our most anticipated films of the year.

It’s also interesting to note, while Keira Knightley is the name brand star here, it’s Carey Mulligan who is the star of the picture. “Obviously having Keira on board helped raise finances a little,” Romanek told the magazine, “But we had to have Carey in the lead role.” And this was even before she broke out during Sundance 2009 with “An Education.” Regardless, when he and the producers saw the picture in Utah, they knew they had made the right choice. “We saw [An Education] early at Sundance and after seeing Carey on screen, we knew she was a serious move star in the making.”

Mulligan describes the film as having sci-fi-ish and horror tendencies, but is actually not a genre picture in the least and cannot (and should not) be described as a traditional picture in those veins at all. In fact, it’s quite a low-key and melancholy drama/relationship triangle set in rural England, but with a secret (which you’ll already know if you’ve read any synopsis for the book). “It’s a fascinating story,” Mulligan said. “It doesn’t deal massive emotional blows in an obvious way. But it’s shattering when you realize how terribly wrong our characters’ situation is. It’s great having Mark in control and it’s such a wonderful book. In fact, it is one of those books I wish I had never read, so I could read it now for the first time. When you read the last page you are gutted.”

In related news that slipped through our net, some nice detective work over at Slashfilm uncovered that composer Rachel Portman, who won an Oscar for her work on “Emma,” as well as scoring the likes of “Ratcatcher,” “Chocolat” and “The Duchess,” had appeared in a picture posted to Romanek’s Posterous feed, so it seems safe to assume that she’ll be scoring the film. We’d been hoping for someone a little more… adventurous, but that’s not to say she won’t do a good job. The script divided the staff of The Playlist slightly [ed. great story, the script is just a little too low-key), but this writer was a big fan, and we can’t wait to see the finished product. As ever, pick up the new Empire (and you should really have a subscription at this point…) for more on the film, and plenty more goodness.