British director Kevin Macdonald has made some truly extraordinary documentary films, (“One Day In September,” “Touching The Void”) but his two fictional films to date, “The Last King of Scotland” and “State of Play,” haven’t quite hit those heights, despite being well-crafted and featuring some excellent performances: Forrest Whitaker obviously picked up the Oscar for the former, while the latter featured Russell Crowe’s best performance in nearly a decade.
The helmer’s currently putting the finishing touches on Roman centurion adventure “The Eagle of the Ninth,” set for release in September, and he’s just lined up his next project; he’ll direct the Hitchcockian thriller “Murder Mystery,” from a script by “Zodiac” scribe James Vanderbilt. The plot follows an American couple on honeymoon in Europe, who have to go on the run after witnessing a murder, and are drawn into a web of international intrigue.
Producer A.J. Dix says that the film is “pure entertainment. It’s exciting, suspenseful and romantic.” Dix and partner William Shiveley were behind the likes of “Lucky Number Slevin” and the upcoming “The Rum Diary.” The plot sounds kind of generic, but in the hands of this talent, we’re cautiously optimistic. Macdonald’s due to knock one out the park, and this sounds like the kind of smart, adult thriller that he specializes in, and that we get all too rarely these days. But man, we really hope that “Murder Mystery” is a working title.