Poster For Jim Sheridan’s ‘Brothers’

Here’s your first look at the minimalist and austere poster for Jim Sheridan’s “Brothers” starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman and Tobey Maguire.

The film is a remake of the haunting 2004 Danish film, “Brødre” by Susanna Bier (“Things We Lost In The Fire,” “After The Wedding,” the 2002 Dogme film, “Open Hearts”) which starred Connie Nielsen (the character Portman will play) as the veritable lead in a love triangle between two brothers (Ulrich Thomsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas).

Having read most of the “Brothers” script by David Benioff (“X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” “The 25th Hour,” the still unproduced Kurt Cobain biopic), it seems the screenwriter stuck very closely to the original film and you can understand why. It’s near perfect, which bodes the question, why a remake in the first place, but filmmakers, even an Irish one like Jim Sheridan are always looking to tap and reach that larger North American audience.

The story is essentially about a military husband (Maguire) who leaves his wife (Portman) when he his assigned a mission in Afghanistan. Just as this is happening, his black sheep brother (Gyllenhaal) is released from prison stemming from a fairly brutal assault charge. During his mission, Maguire’s character’s helicopter is shot down and he is presumed dead. Gyllenhaal’s fuck-up character tries to do right by his seemingly deceased brother by trying to care for his wife and children, but when the traumatized brother is found alive and returns home, all hell breaks loose, to put it simply.

Here’s the trailer for “Brothers” which you can compare with the original trailer for “Brodre” below. Everyone should see the original, but if you haven’t at this point, you might just want to wait until after this remake hits, because the devastating picture is a lot to live up to. Another great reason to see it other than the fantastic performances and urgent direction of Bier is the excellent score by Johan Söderqvist, who also wrote the music for “Let The Right one In.” The score to this new version was written by Thomas Newman, known for his work on “Wall-E” and every Sam Mendes film (in particular “American Beauty,” a sound that people still ape today). U2 have written an original song or two and are featured in the trailer as well.

“Brothers” is due in theaters on December 4. Since it’s hitting during Oscar season, it’s conceivable if it’s strong enough, it could take one of the 6-10 Oscar slots open now that Academy Awards is taking ten nominations for Best Picture. One would assume if it’s even half as good as the original as nomination should happen, but who knows. [poster via Cinematical]