Eastern Promises is getting the gala treatment when it comes to TIFF!
It's definitely here. Gala Presentations here at the TIFF are usually Oscar predictions.
Cronenberg thriller opens London film fest
Wed Aug 1, 2007 5:48AM EDT
LONDON (Hollywood Reporter) - David Cronenberg's London-set thriller "Eastern Promises" will open the 51st annual London Film Festival on October 17, organisers said Tuesday.
The movie, written by Steven Knight ("Dirty Pretty Things"), reunites the Canadian filmmaker with his "History of Violence" star Viggo Mortensen. Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel and Armin Mueller-Stahl round out the cast.
The plot centres on mysterious and ruthless Nikolai (Mortensen), who is tied to one of London's most notorious organized Russian crime families.
Pathe will release the film in the U.K. in the fall.
Cronenberg gangsters to open London festival
Staff and agencies
Wednesday August 1, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
The David Cronenberg thriller Eastern Promises will open the 51st annual London film festival, organisers said yesterday.
The film stars Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassel, and is set in London's crime underworld. Mortensen, who reunites with the director of A History of Violence on the project, plays the ruthless Russian gangster Nickolai Luzhin. Watts stars as innocent midwife Anna Khitrova, who accidentally uncovers a damaging secret about Luzhin's "family", setting off a murderous chain of events.
Cronenberg said: "I can't wait to be there. Eastern Promises is the first film I've ever shot entirely away from my home in Canada, and it makes perfect sense that it is set in London, home of so many of my most potent film influences."
Festival director Sandra Hebron said: "It's hugely exciting that a director who has consistently thrilled and challenged us throughout his career has made a film in our city. This gripping, powerfully directed and acted story of lives colliding in contemporary London is the perfect opener."
The movie is Cronenberg's first since 2005's Violence. It's written by Steven Knight of Dirty Pretty Things fame and will hit cinemas here in the autumn. Mortensen is currently filming the Nazi drama Good, which is due out in 2008.
Eastern Promises will screen on October 17, kicking off the festival, which will run until November 1. The full line-up will be announced on September 13.
Even the NY Times is reporting it!
Latest Cronenberg Film to Open London Festival
A David Cronenberg thriller set in London is scheduled to open the London Film Festival on Oct. 17. The film, “Eastern Promises,” reuniting Mr. Cronenberg with Viggo Mortensen, right, the star of his “History of Violence,” centers on a mysterious, ruthless man tied to a Russian organized-crime family who crosses paths with an innocent midwife (Naomi Watts) who is trying to right a wrong she has accidentally uncovered. The screenplay was written by Steven Knight (“Dirty Pretty Things”).