They're not Korea or Iran or anything, but there's been some fairly impressive films coming out of Argentina in the last few years. The nation's always had a strong film culture (they're the only Latin American country to have won the Foreign Language Oscar, and have done so twice), but in the first decade of the 21st century, films like "Nine Queens," "The Aura," "Son Of The Bride" and, most of all, "The Secret In Their Eyes," have all made serious impressions over the last few years. And one of the most exciting talents the country has right now is director Pablo Trapero.
The 41-year-old filmmaker's been working for nearly two decades, but has found serious international recognition in the last few years with films like "Carancho," official Cannes selection "Lion's Den," and this year's "White Elephant" (read our review of the latter from TIFF here — Strand Releasing will release it in the U.S. next year), and it looks like he's set to make his English-language debut by teaming up with the people behind a number of massive international hits from the last few years.
Screen Daily report that Trapero is attached to direct "Six Suspects," an India-set thriller based on the novel of the same name by Vikas Swarup, who's best known to Western audiences as having penned "Q&A," the book which formed the subject matter of "Slumdog Millionaire." Revolving around the murder of the son of an Indian cabinet minister, of which six dinner party guests are suspected, the book's been adapted by writer John Hodge ("Trainspotting," the upcoming "Trance"), and is set up at Working Title Films, the company behind "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," "Anna Karenina," "Les Misérables" and countless others.
The company are teaming up with producer Paul Raphael ("Rogue Trader") and BBC Films for the project, which is set to get underway next fall in India. There's at least one part for a Western actor in the film (an American tourist in love with an Indian woman), but expect the cast to be predominately made up of Indian talent. The set up sounds like it could be any other Agatha Christie-ish murder mystery, but with Hodge and especially Trapero involved, they've certainly got our attention. Assuming the fall shoot still holds, it sounds like we could see "Six Suspects" in theaters by the end of 2014.