While initially a picture many hoped would land at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, Park Chan-wook's eagerly anticipated English language debut "Stoker" has been both heavily under wraps and long awaited, but now we're less than a year away from release and we're rolling the dice on a fall festival appearance.
Fox Searchlight has announced that "Stoker" has been given a March 1, 2013 release date and we're willing to bet that the likelihood of a fall premiere at Venice — where he won an award for "Sympathy For Lady Vengeance" in 2005 and served on the jury in 2006 — is looking stronger and stronger. So why are we so excited for this one? First there's the cast: Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska, Alden Ehrenreich, Jacki Weaver, Matthew Goode, Dermot Mulroney, Lucas Till and more. Then, there's the Hitchockian premise. Penned by Wentworth Miller — under the name Ted Foulke — the Black List script is described as a fantastical, fairy tale-like family drama that follows the story of an eccentric teen, India (Wasikowska), whose enigmatic and estranged uncle (Goode) returns to the family after the death of the girl’s father. People, however, start to go missing in her hometown at the same time and she soon discovers that her uncle may be the cause. Toss in a score by Clint Mansell, and we're in, hook, line and sinker.
For anyone who thought this might be an awards player, this release date rules that out, but given the logline, it seems more like a straight genre piece anyway. Now, how about a trailer? Okay, if not that, then some official stills already? [BoxOfficeMojo]
