Roman Polanski’s next film, and his latest since 2005’s Oliver Twist, has flown pretty much under the radar until a website and teaser emerged late this week. Scripted by Robert Harris, and based off his novel of the same name, “The Ghost” is about a writer who is selected to ghost-write the memoirs of a British Prime Minister but uncovers some dark secrets along the way. Robert Harris is probably best known for his novels “Enigma” and “Archangel,” which were both adapted into early starring vehicles for Rachel Weisz and Daniel Craig respectively.
Based on the extraordinarily brief footage provided on the film’s website, “The Ghost” feels like a fairly standard contemporary political thriller, but it’s still too early to tell if Polanski’s stamp will be on this. That said, he is working with one helluva cast including Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Kim Cattrall, Eli Wallach, Tom Wilkinson, Olivia Williams and James Belushi (yeah, the “According To Jim” guy whose whose last film credit was voicing a character in this).
“The Ghost” is slated for 2010 release from Summit Entertainment though no release date has been specified at this time. Robert Harris also wrote the novel and scripted “Pompeii” which Polanski was originally attached to direct with Orlando Bloom and Scarlett Johansson in the leads, but fell apart due to the writer’s strike.