Actor/director Kenneth Branagh is directing a remake of the thriller/mystery movie Sleuth. This is an actor and a director best known for Shakespearian movies and period pieces such as Much Ado About Nothing, Love’s Labors Lost, Hamlet and Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. But apparently he wants to shake things up. The people over at movieweb.com give us this
:Kenneth Branagh has signed on as director of the mystery/thriller, Sleuth.
He’ll be taking the helm with stars Jude Law and Michael Caine in the remake of the original 1972 flick; Jude Law will also serve as producer. The film is an adaptation of the Anthony Shaffer play, written by Harold Pinter. Variety says Caine will play a brilliant thriller writer and social fixture who’s so upset at losing his wife to a young hairdresser (Law) that he hatches a complex revenge plan. Coincidentally, Caine played the hairdresser i the original, while Laurence Olivier played the writer. Sleuth will begin shooting in January at Twickenham Studios in London.
Before I give my opinion on this I also want to give the plot outline on the original Sleuth: A man who loves games and theater invites his wife’s lover to meet him, setting up a battle of wits with potentially deadly results. I just like this description a little better. Ok moving on.
Now this is a change of pace as of late for Branagh but I am looking forward to see how it goes. Earlier on in his career he directed and starred in a fantastic mystery thriller called Dead Again. It is one of the few VHS movies I still own and he created such tension and mystery in it that I am sure he is up for this movie.
Also it will be very interesting to see how Michael Caine plays the betrayed husband after being the other man in the original film. As an actress I can imagine how much fun Caine could have in this situation.
PLUS: Watching Jude Law play the other man is kind of funny in light of all his philandering scandals over the last few years. How does well he play the other man? Because he’s a master at making a girl play the other woman.
A good director with great actors in a film with an interesting plot? Hum…It’s not my birthday.
