Trailer: David Ondaatje’s The Lodger

I often complain about Hollywood’s lack of original ideas and my lack of enthusiasm for remakes – which in the majority of the cases is: lazy studio producers essentially taking a blue print and re-pitching an old idea to audiences that weren’t yet born when the previous original film was released. You won’t find me complaining about David Ondaatje‘s take on a film (and novel) from nearly a century ago — The Lodger first appeared in 1927 and was Hitch’s first film. 

Sony’s newly introduced Stage 6 label is potentially going to pan out in a couple of years to be an a division that caters to smaller, projects that are genre fair and really don’t fit in the SPC paradigm. Just prior to filming, we had the chance to feature Ondaatje as part of our In the Pipeline series and the release of the trailer (click here or on the poster below) means that the thriller is not only in the can, but we might be looking forward to a late 08 or first half of 2009 theatrical release. 

Adaptation of the bestselling novel, The Lodger, by Marie Belloc Lowndes – the trailer features two converging plotlines – a detective in Alfred Molina who becomes enthralled with a set of murders that remind of Jack The Ripper, while the Hope Davis and Simon Baker duet shows what suspicions may be drawn with a mysterious lodger. Let’s just say that the fun is in the surprise elements – I think we can expect a twist or two.