A Most Wanted Man
Director: Anton Corbijn
Writer(s): Andrew Bovell
Producer(s): Andrea Calderwood, Simon Cornwell, Stephen Cornwell, Gail Egan, Solveig Fina, Malte Grunert, Helge Sasse
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available
Cast: Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Willem Dafoe, Daniel Brühl, Martin Wuttke, Nina Hoss, Kostja Ullmann, Rainer Bock
If I’m a betting man I’m thinking John Le Carré novels play out extremely well for the big screen (last two items were The Constant Gardener, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and that former video helmer Anton Corbijn has transitioned so well into feature film with the two films in his fiche: unconventional biopic Control (2007) and a Euro art-house thriller that we don’t get to see enough of with, The American (2010). A Most Wanted Man has an incredible cast in Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Willem Dafoe, not to mention the German actors also on board.
Gist: Adapted from the John Le Carré novel, A Most Wanted Man takes place in present day Hamburg, Germany where a mysterious, tortured and near-dead half-Chechen, half-Russian man on the run arrives in the city’s Islamic community desperate for help and looking to recover his late Russian father’s ill-gotten fortune. Nothing about this young man seems to add up; is he a victim or a thief or, worse still, an extremist intent on destruction? Drawn into this web of intrigue is a private British banker and a young female lawyer determined to defend the defenseless. All the while, they are being watched by the brilliant, roguish chief of a covert German spy unit (Hoffman), who fights to put the pieces together as the clock ticks.
Release Date: A premium, unsold title that will want a fest debut, a pair of Scandinavian countries have the film listed as a late November release, but I’m guessing Corbijn could easily take this to Cannes or wait it out until the fall festival season.
