The very nature of Angelina Jolie's performance in the upcoming A Mighty Heart makes it a magnet for media frenzy and awards buzz. Her portrayal of the widowed Mariane Pearl (wife of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl) has been 2007's most talked about performance for months now sight unseen, but there is finally a trailer available to showcase some of Jolie's work in the transformative role (oft critiqued even before footage became available for what some consider to be a borderline racist darkening of the Academy Award Winner's skin to play the biracial Pearl). Writer/director Michael Winterbottom adapted the story from Pearl's own book about her experiences investigating the disappearance of her husband and most of the filming was done on location in the very places Pearl visited during his final days (a fact that has fostered numerous tabloid stories about bad behavior on the part of the film crew in these very un-Hollywood locales). Fears of exploitation still abound, but Winterbottom is one of the most gifted, eclectic, and vigilant contemporary filmmakers, which gives me hope that this has the potential to stir up more than just blunt sympathy (i.e. be more like United 93 than World Trade Center). Dan Futterman (a screenplay Oscar nominee for Capote) takes on the daunting task of playing Daniel Pearl. However, it's been said that the role does not feature prominently into the onscreen narrative as the movie portrays Mariane's responses to the situation much more than any sort of point by point account of the events of this tragedy. A Mighty Heart will hit theaters June 22nd.Trailer:
0 comments:
Post a Comment