MTV scored big yesterday with a collection of photos from the fall film season. They had an exclusive new image from Jason Reitman’s “Up In The Air,” starring George Clooney and Anna Kendrick, (pictured here) and now a few more images have begun to surface (the film also co-stars Vera Farmiga and Jason Bateman).
IESB has a few more including a larger version of an image first revealed by EW.
The film is essentially about a man (Clooney) who fires people for a living, but the tone of the film started to shift from comedy to drama once the recession began to hit shortly before the film shot last December. “I had originally written the firing scenes satirically,” Reitman told EW in the fall preview that is still not online). “When we started shooting, I realized that wasn’t funny anymore and the film took on more dramatic tones.” Apparently Clooney responded to the material immediately (and hell yes, when you read the script it feels like he was born to play this role). “He connected with the material for obvious reasons. He loves his work and feels deeply fortunate to do it,” Reitman added, also calling him a “Superman” who never leaves the set.
The official synopsis over at TIFF is this:
Based on the novel by Walter Kirn (who also wrote Thumbsucker), Up in the Air offers darkly humorous insights into corporate America and male mid-life crisis. Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) is a “career transition consultant” – essentially someone who fires people for a living. Hired by downsizing firms to make the personal, well, impersonal, Ryan, in his perfectly tailored suits and professionally remote manner, aces the task. Ryan’s one real emotional investment is in his mastery of business travel. His goal is to reach that elite echelon of travelers who have achieved the ten-million-mile mark.
One day Ryan’s boss, Craig Gregory (Jason Bateman), introduces him to their newest colleague, the aptly named Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick), who wants to revolutionize the transition industry by using video conferencing out of corporate headquarters. Ryan is horrified, not only because this signals a trivialization of his skills, but also because his travel will stop. He offers to take Natalie on a road trip to show her how to “transition” face to face. As he mentors his new co-worker, he simultaneously juggles rendezvouses with Alex (Vera Farmiga), another business traveler who can match him club card for club card. What begins as a series of hotel hookups with Alex soon develops into something approaching a real relationship, and these emotional stirrings prompt Ryan to view the subjects of his firings in a new light.
Oscar talk is starting to bubble up around the film and the excellent script we reviewed earlier this year showed a ton of promise, but we’ll admit it sort of put us off at first. We wrote:
Reitman heads back into corporate America territory again (obviously), and the opening employs an animated credits sequence (hello, “Juno”) and that smarmy and affected voice-over tone, this time fetishizing frequent-flyer culture via “Fight Club”s “single-serving friend” dialogue only more contrived. Still, the sharply-written script has undeniable humor. It’s too pleased-with-itself cleverness threatens to annoy initially, but much like “Juno,” once the world is established and the story finds its rhythm, it eases into a soulful and very human place.
It really ended up being one of the better screenplays we read this year and we’re really looking forward to it. Positive early word only fuels the interest of course. The film itself will of course premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival before unveiling what should be a December release date, though recent rumblings and rumors have suggested that time could get bumped up.