Given the near universal acclaim that met Juan José Campanella’s 2009 thriller The Secret in Their Eyes, initial reaction to news of a remake was less than enthused.
But with a stellar cast and Billy Ray, the director of Shattered Glass and Breach, on board, it might not be the disaster that many expected. The first trailer for the remake has landed and has Chiwetel Ejiofor and Julia Roberts as FBI investigators working with their DA supervisor, played by Nicole Kidman.
But after the daughter of Roberts’ character gets killed, their lives are torn apart. Like the original, there’s a narrative that alternates between past and present, 13 years after the murder, as the three still try to find justice.
It could provide a well-needed boost for the three stars, who have had mixed success of late. Since his Oscar-nominated role in 12 Years a Slave, Ejiofor starred in the muted Half of a Yellow Sun and has Z for Zachariah on the way, which received varied reviews at Sundance. Roberts might have scored an Oscar nomination for August: Osage County, but the film was seen as underwhelming by most. Kidman scored a hit with Paddington, but most of her other recent efforts (Before I Go to Sleep, Grace of Monaco, The Railway Man) have fallen by the wayside.
The film has a 23 October release in the US, suggesting an awards push, but won’t be seen by UK audiences until 4 March, 2016.
