Damn, this is what we call a rewrite and maybe even a major overhaul. As discussed several times now Seth Lochhead’s first draft of the teenage assassin picture “Hanna” wasn’t perfect, needed much more character context and background, but damn if it wasn’t a tremendously captivating read, and an immensely quick-moving page turner. The action was sharp, the writing itself was excellent and there was definitely the genesis of a movie here. Lochhead can write and definitely knows the screenplay tenet of arriving at the scene late and leaving early (i.e. arrive at the party late, leave early, leave the audience with just the crucial stuff only).
But it certainly needed more weight and depth to it and we hoped that the final version, revised by David Farr would give the dynamic and engrossing read an emotional core.
Our prayers were answered and then some when his latest version hit our inbox yesterday and then some. We were wildly impressed with how Farr significantly retooled and jettisoned major parts of the story, created a rich emotional back story, while never sacrificing an ounce of its lightning energy. The ending is much more satisfying (and a complete 180 from the previous one) and Farr does a tremendous job of creating moving themes that were barely examined in the original, fleshing out the interconnected character histories and really dimensionalizing what now feels like a lean, far-too-spartan script in comparison (though it was always an intensely enjoyable reading experience which can’t be understated). Another key change, the villain in the film now has a central role and new characters have also emerged.
To back up if you’re here reading about “Hanna” for the first time. It’s a project that will be directed by Joe Wright ( “Atonement,” “Pride & Prejudice”) and will star Saoirse Ronan as the young girl Hanna, Eric Bana will play her father, an ex-CIA agent gone AWOL for 15 years and raised the girl to be a killer and Cate Blanchett will play Marisa Wiegler, a 45-year-old frosty CIA agent on the hunt for both of them.
Yes, as mentioned often, it’s very “La Femme Nikita” and very ‘Bourne’ franchise. It does not re-invent the wheel, but the script is just so damn entertaining, we don’t really care. We just want to see this movie. Another major plaudit for the script? It’s so well-written you can visualize it every single step of the way. It’s all on the page and really, any monkey should be able to make a decent film out of the material, so with someone as talented as Joe Wright, we should receive something interesting at the very least.
As mentioned there’s some new characters. CIA character known as “The American” in the original version is gone (spoiler that’s now not in the final version, he betrayed her). The Turkish family in the script that Hanna befriends is now a French one and their role in the picture is significantly expanded (they could end up being French names , someone like Anne Consigny comes to mind for the role of Rachel the mother, maybe Melvil Poupaud for the father Emil?). The picture takes place all over Europe with locations in Morocco, London, Sweden, France, Spain, Denmark and even a few scenes in the U.S. (yes, very ‘Bourne’ in that respect).
Eric Bana’s character’s screentime is seemingly reduced, but the character is no less important. Another key new role is Michael Isaacs, a mid-fifties Englishman, seemingly ex-CIA now doing undercover operations on his own, hired by Marisa to help her track down Hanna using less above-board methods. A Tom Wilkinson-type character comes to mind, but it might be someone slightly younger and someone with a more physical sense of menace about them (not that Wilkinson can’t be scary as shit when he wants to be).
We won’t give away too much more, but it’s a picture about identity and belonging as much as it is a super taut, on-the-run thriller, so we’re very happy to report “Hanna” not only has adrenaline and a quickened pulse, but a heart and soul as well (or at least on the page it does). We can’t wait.