Movies

Polanski’s Ghost Writer Gets a Poster

By  · Published on January 21st, 2010

In what will inevitably be initially confused as a big screen adaptation of the popular 90s kids’ show on PBS (their plots are almost identical), Roman Polanski’s newest thriller Ghost Writer (or, The Ghost Writer depending on your source) gets a poster alluding to the literary intrigue of the film’s plot.

Check it out below:

While the poster doesn’t reveal all that much, it certainly tells us more than the film’s unsatisfying, uninformative tease-free teaser (if you happen to know German, you may be able to tell us more about the film by watching this trailer). Basically, Ghost Writer is about a struggling nonfiction writer (Ewan McGregor) who thinks he’s landed the job of a lifetime when he gets a gig ghost-writing the memoir for former Prime Minister (Pierce Brosnan). But in the world of Polanski, nothing is ever that easy. We don’t know much yet about what happens, but this job could mean life and death for McGregor’s character.

If there’s anything Polanski is known for doing well (as a filmmaker I mean, get your mind out of the gutter), it’s suspense thrillers. Though Ghost Writer doesn’t involve a satanic baby or Catherine Deneuve going insane, the director has tackled political corruption before with Chinatown and conspiracy/intrigue with Frantic. And while the director’s personal life has been a mess of controversy this past year (if not throughout his entire career), it seems that people are able enough to separate the artist from the man. I for one think that The Pianist proved he’s still got the ability to be a master storyteller after all these years, so Ghost Writer has potential to bring Polanski back into his 60s and 70s element.

Now, if he directed a movie about American teens solving mysteries with their secret friend, I can see how that might be a problem.

On a final note, this could be a good role for Brosnan. He’s had trouble cementing an identity in his post-Bond career beyond playing quasi-Bond (After the Sunset), parodying that same persona (The Matador), or just embarrassing himself (Mamma Mia!), so a former Prime Minister seems like a role that fits well with his charming, suave gravitas while giving us something we haven’t seen before.

Ghost Writer also stars Olivia Williams, Kim Cattrall, Timothy Hutton, and Tom Wilkinson. It opens in limited release February 19.