No More Ticking Clocks; Lionsgate Saves Corbjin’s “A Most Wanted Man” From Deportation

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.