Fox Searchlight has released a batch of new production photos for Mark Romanek‘s big screen adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro‘s novel Never Let Me Go. The book was named one of TIME’s 100 Best Novels (from 1923 to the Present), featured on many top ten books of 2005 lists, and a finalist in the National Book Critic Circle Award. For those interested, you can buy the softcover for only $11.20 on Amazon.
Beach author and 28 Days Later/Sunshine screenwriter Alex Garland penned the adaptation for the dramatic thriller, about a group of children who spent their childhood at a seemingly idyllic English boarding school, who as they “grow into young adults, they find that they have to come to terms with the strength of the love they feel for each other, while preparing themselves for the haunting reality that awaits them.” The film stars Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, Andrew Garfield, Charlotte Rampling, Sally Hawkins, Nathalie Richard, and Andrea Riseborough. Watch the trailer here. Hit the jump to see the new photos.
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Briefly: The BFI London Film Festival is getting a little bigger every year. Last year it was given a push when Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox debuted at the fest. This year, the festival will open on October 13 with the European premiere of Mark Romanek‘s new film Never Let Me Go, which adapts the novel of the same name by Kazuo Ishiguro.
That isn’t the film’s world premiere, as it will first bow at the Toronto International Film Festival, but it’s a good booking for the London fest regardless. Doesn’t hurt that there’s a lot of British talent on board, among them screenwriter Alex Garland and cast Andrew Garfield, Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley. (The film will already be open in the US by the time of this showing; it hits Stateside screens on September 15, right after the TIFF premiere.)
There’s a solid if low-key buzz on the film, which looks like a lush, smart take on Ishiguro’s novel, even if some of the marketing might be trying to trick us into thinking it’s a bit more overtly sci-fi than the film likely is. Regardless, can’t wait to see this one; check out the trailer if you haven’t already.
I hadn’t seen a proper projection of the trailer for Mark Romanek‘s new film, Never Let Me Go, until I sat through the Trailer Park exhibition in Hall H at the San Diego Comic Con. Talk about weird — Romanek’s very quiet movie was sandwiched in between a lot of big-ticket films, and the contrast was pretty striking. (Plus, it was amusing to hear nearly the entire hall whisper ‘that’s the new Spider-Man,’ not when Andrew Garfield‘s face was shown, but when his credit was written on screen.)
Now there’s a new poster for the film, and the image captures some of the idea of hope and escape that permeates the latter half of the trailer. Read More »
Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: I celebrate all levels of trailers and hopefully this column will satisfactorily give you a baseline of what beta wave I’m operating on, because what better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? Some of the best authors will tell you that writing a short story is a lot harder than writing a long one, that you have to weigh every sentence. What better medium to see how this theory plays itself out beyond that than with movie trailers?
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The Sundance Institute announced today the addition of three world premieres which will screen out of competition at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival:
- It’s a Wonderful Afterlife: Bend it Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha and co-screenwriter Paul Mayeda Berges return to Sundance with a comedy centered on an Indian mother who discovers that finding the perfect son-in-law can be murder. Staring Shabana Azmi, Goldy Notay, Sendhil Ramamurthy, and Sally Hawkins.
- The Kids are Alright: Laurel Canyon director Lisa Cholodenko returns to Sundance with a soty of two children conceived by artificial insemination who bring their birth father into their family life. Written by Stuart Blumberg and Lisa Cholodenko, and starring Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson, Mark Ruffalo, and Annette Bening. Cholodenko received the 1998 Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at Sundance for High Art.
- The Romantics: Director and screenwriter Galt Niederhoffer returns to Sundance with an adaptation of her novel, The Romantics, a zeitgeist love story and generational comedy, takes place over the course of one night at a deluxe seaside wedding. The cast includes Katie Holmes, Josh Duhamel, Anna Paquin, Adam Brody, Malin Ackerman, Elijah Wood, Candice Bergen, Jeremy Strong, and Dianna Agron. Niederhoffer received the 2007 Sundance Audience Award for producing Grace is Gone. She also produced the Sundance Film Festival films Lonesome Jim, Dedication, Diminished Capacity, Birds of America, and Hurricane.
It’s casting notes time again! First up, Michael Fassbender, the British film critic lieutenant from Inglourious Basterds, has been cast in the thriller A Single Shot, working under director David Jacobson. He’s appearing alongside a great cast: William H. Macy, Thomas Haden Church and a newly slim Forest Whitaker. (Seriously, check out this pic of Whitaker in The Experiment. Give the guy a sandwich!) Fassbender will be a poacher on the run from killers — we don’t yet know the killers, but it’s not difficult to speculate that Church and Whitaker might be the guys.[Variety]
After the break, more William H. Macy news, with Juno Temple, and an on-the-nose vampiric turn from the guy who reminded us that Bela Lugosi is dead. Read More »
Shooting has this week started on Mark Romanek‘s Never Let Me Go, an eerie but tender science fiction drama adapted from the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. Already announced as starring were Keira Knightley, Andrew Garfield and Carey Mulligan, with Sally Hawkins, Nathalie Richard, Andrea Riseborough and Charlotte Rampling now named as members of the supporting cast by ScreenDaily.
Staggering stuff – Garfield, Mulligan, Hawkins and Riseborough are amongst the very best of this new generation of UK actors. To see them all lined up to contribute, and collaborate with Romanek, teases me cruelly with an almost absurd anticipation for the finished work.
More details, and images, after the break.
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They say that if you give out positive energy than you should receive positive energy in return. The person who coined that phrase never met Poppy. Dressed in bright colors and wearing big earrings, Poppy has a personality that is as obnoxiously perky as her wardrobe, if not more so.
Mike Leigh‘s latest film is a character study focusing on a 30-year-old primary school teacher with the attitude of a child, who has to deal with a series of problems ranging from her bicycle being stolen to a problem child at school, to her pregnant/married sister who lectures her about responsibility and settling down. She joins a dancing class with a co-worker and takes driving lessons from an angry racist.
If you’re looking for a story, there isn’t much of one. The film is purely about Poppy, and how the world reacts to her quirky upbeat attitude. Sally Hawkins delivers one hell of a performance, which you might only begin to realize late into the film when Poppy is forced to get serious. Happy-Go-Lucky is fun and endearing, but the character might be too in-your-face for easily annoyed viewers.
/Film Rating: 7 out of 10
