It may not have lived up to expectations at the Oscars, taking just one gong (for best original soundtrack) out of a possible seven, but Atonement seems to have elevated director Joe Wright from Brit costume drama ingenue to bonafide Hollywood player. At the very least, he's now capable of attracting the likes of Robert Downey Jr and Jamie Foxx, both of whom star in The Soloist, the first trailer for which we've posted above.
The film looks to be an old-fashioned "based on a true story" tear-jerker about a formerly brilliant violin and cello student, Nathaniel Ayers (Foxx), who through mental illness found himself living down and out on the streets of LA. Downey Jr plays Steve Lopez, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times who wrote about Ayers' plight and became his friend. The rather excellent cast also includes Into the Wild's Catherine Keener.
I'll pretty much watch Downey Jr in anything right now, and this would look to be a very different movie to the type of fare he's been signing on for lately (Iron Man, Tropic Thunder), where his comedic talent has been very much to the fore. Could it be a bid to upgrade that pitiful single Oscar nomination, for 1992's Chaplin? Or is your money on Foxx to repeat his 2004 triumph for Ray?
