Mysteriously not mentioned during the multiple fall film festival title unveilings, Anton Corbijn’s third directing gig, his most mainstream to date has found a North American home at Lionsgate Films (this was one of the final markets that hadn’t been sold). Pegged with a mid November release date by its U.K outfitter Momentum Pictures, the earliest fest showing for A Most Wanted Man might be October’s London BFI Film Fest. Deadline reports that they’ve not yet set a release date, and if they do settle on a fall date – they’d probably want to reserve a space some three to four weeks before releasing November 22nd’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
Gist: Starring stellar cast in Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright and Willem Dafoe, this is based on John le Carre’s novel of the same name that sees a half-Chechen, half-Russian, tortured half-to-death immigrant turns up in Hamburg’s Islamic community, laying claim to his father’s ill gotten fortune, both German and US security agencies take a close interest: as the clock ticks down and the stakes rise, the race is on to establish this most wanted man’s true identity – oppressed victim or destruction-bent extremist?
Worth Noting: Distinctly fashionable, another le Carré novel is being readied for the big screen: Our Kind of Traitor will star Ewan McGregor, Ralph Fiennes, Mads Mikkelsen and be released in 2014.
Do We Care?: Solid ensemble cast, paired with Andrew Bovell (his best work remains the murky Lantana) and a Corbijn who has yet to disappoint (Control was a solid rock biopic and The American is an under-appreciated, Euro-flavored and meditative hitman thriller) makes this a must see thriller much in the vein of le Carré’s other book to screen adaptations: The Constant Gardener and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
