Well, we already know two films that will appear on our Most Anticipated Of 2011 list when we get around to drafting it later this year. Focus Features has set release dates for Cary Fukunaga’s “Jane Eyre” and Joe Wright’s “Hanna” for spring 2011.
Arriving first on March 11, 2011 will be Fukunaga’s take on the classic Charlotte Brontë tale of a young governess who falls in love with her employer, but discovers he harbors a dark secret. The project has lined up a solid cast that includes Mia Wasikowska as Jane and Michael Fassbender as her employer, Rochester. The project will reunite the “Sin Nombre” director with his cinematographer Adriano Goldman and he will be working from a script by Moira Buffini (“Tamara Drewe”) that will differ from previous iterations by focusing on the novel’s darker, Gothic sensibilities that have rarely been explored. We seriously can’t wait.
A month later on April 8, 2011, we will be treated to Joe Wright’s teenage assassin film, “Hanna.” Starring Eric Bana, Cate Blanchett, Saoirse Ronan and Olivia Williams, the “Bourne” meets “Le Femme Nikita” style thriller follows a teenage assassin as she journeys across Europe after being sent on a mission by her father, while eluding enemy agents. In our script review, we described it as a “super taut, on-the-run thriller that not only has adrenaline and a quickened pulse but a heart and soul as well.” Needless to say, we’re looking forward to this one too.
Also tenatively on the schedule for a third-quarter release from the studio is Lone Scherfig’s “An Education” followup, “One Day.” The romantic comedy currently has Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess set to star in the film about “a young woman and man who meet on the night of their graduation. The film tracks their lives over the ensuing 20 years.” No word yet on when that film is slated to start production, but we imagine it should be getting in front of cameras in the next few months.
And just as a reminder in case you missed it this morning, Focus Features has pushed Kevin MacDonald’s “The Eagle Of The Ninth” to a February 25, 2011 release.