The first trailer has been unveiled for Jerzy Skolimowski’s sure-to-be controversial terrorist thriller “Essential Killing” starring enigmatic actor-director Vincent Gallo in the lead role.
The film centers on Gallo’s Afghan protagonist and Taliban member, Mohammed, who is taken captive by the Americans after killing three American soldiers in Afghanistan and then transferred to Europe for interrogation only to escape from his captors on a continent he does not know. The likes of Zach Cohen, Yiftach Ofir and Emmanuelle Seigner also co-star.
Judging from the trailer, it looks like a dark and taut on-the-run thriller that’ll serve predominantly as a character study of the desperate terrorist played by Gallo. Sounds kinda amazing, right? Considering the topic at hand though we’re sure the film, which he co-scribed with Eva Piaskowska, will probably be greeted with with concern from certain quarters for putting a terrorist as the focal point of the story.
Shooting on “Essential Killing” took place earlier this year in Israel, Norway and Poland in a production which saw Gallo once again break his semi-retirement, this time time joining fellow comeback kid Skolimowski who recently ended his 17 year hiatus (since 1991’s “30 Door Key”) with “Four Nights With Anna.” The director, however, did act in the meantime and is probably best known for his role as the the Russian uncle of the Naomi Watts character in David Cronenberg’s “Eastern Promises.”
With its production seemingly completed or close being to, the film may very well end up on a festival run later this year.