Imprisoned filmmaker (or at least in house arrest now) Roman Polanski has been in the news quite a bit this week. A hearing in L.A. is set for January 22nd, and the director has been asked to be sentenced in absentia, while the justice ministry of Switzerland said today that they would probably decide this month or next whether to grant a request by the United States to extradite the filmmaker.
His legal issues are obviously ongoing, but in news that has nothing to do with his trial, Summit Entertainment announced that his upcoming political thriller, “The Ghost Writer” starring Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan will receive a February 19 limited release date in the U.S. The film will expand into bigger markets on March 5 and again on March 19. The date makes sense as ‘Ghost Writer’ is also set to premiere at the Berlin Film Festival which starts February 11.
The film centers on a ghostwriter (McGregor) hired to complete the memoirs of a former British prime minister (Brosnan) and runs into trouble when he uncovers secrets that put his life in jeopardy (it’s apparently a fictionalized screed based on Tony Blair). Kim Cattrall, Olivia Williams, Timothy Hutton, Tom Wilkinson and James Belushi co-star.
Here’s the full-on synopsis btw:
When a successful British ghostwriter, THE GHOST, agrees to complete the memoirs of former British Prime Minister ADAM LANG, his agent assures him it’s the opportunity of a lifetime. But the project seems doomed from the start—not least because his predecessor on the project, Lang’s long-term aide, died in an unfortunate accident.
The Ghost flies out to work on the project, in the middle of winter, to an oceanfront house on an island off the U.S. Eastern seaboard. But the day after he arrives, a former British cabinet minister accuses Lang of authorizing the illegal seizure of suspected terrorists and handing them over for torture by the CIA—a war crime. The controversy brings reporters and protesters swarming to the island mansion where Lang is staying with his wife, RUTH, and his personal assistant (and mistress), AMELIA. As The Ghost works, he begins to uncover clues suggesting his predecessor may have stumbled on a dark secret linking Lang to the CIA—and that somehow this information is hidden in the manuscript he left behind. Was Lang in the service of the American intelligence agency while he was prime minister? And was The Ghost’s predecessor murdered because of the appalling truth he uncovered?
Resonating with topical themes, this atmospheric and suspenseful political thriller is a story of deceit and betrayal on every level— sexual, political and literary. In a world in which nothing, and no one, is as it seems, The Ghost quickly discovers that the past can be deadly—and that history is decided by whoever stays alive to write it.
Obviously it’ll be interesting to see how this plays given Polanski’s recent issues and or if it will matter. We’ll see. Update: Here’s an German-language version of the trailer and even a translation from the folks at Cinemablend.