Jean-Jacques Annaud‘s career is one defined by epic mediocrity, which is to say the man makes epics that are at once stunning to watch and stunningly easy to forget. Whether it be the monk whodunit The Name of the Rose, the “white man gets renewed life courtesy of foreign people” drama Seven Years In Tibet or the oddly-engaging WWII sniper thriller Enemy At The Gates, Annaud’s films slip through the cracks of cinematic canonization, thanks in large part to his immense lack of narrative risk-taking. His films seem to abide by some set of commercial rules that prevent any ambitious detours or memorable failures/successes from occurring. What does an Annaud film look like? It’s hard to say, even after all of these years.
Here are new images from his next film, Black Gold, starring Antonio Banderas, Mark Strong, Freida Pinto, Liya Kebede and Tahar Rahim, an adaptation of Hans Reusch’s 1957 novel The Great Thirst, or South of the Heart: A Novel of Modern Arabia or The Arab. Rahim (A Prophet) plays the lead, Prince Auda, who’s struggling between two worlds. One world has been taken away from him, that of his father Amar (Strong), ruler of Salmaah, who was forced to give up his two sons after losing a battle to Nessib (Banderas). Thrust into this other world, Auda finds love in Princess Lallah (Pinto), Nessib’s daughter [HeyUGuys].
Now that’s what I call epic. David Lean must be spinning in his grave.
Below are the three production stills available:
Warner Bros. will distribute the movie in the United Kingdom. Expect a domestic distribution announcement in the near future. Can Annaud become the great filmmaker he hints at in every, single one of his films?
What do you think? Can Annaud make a great film this late in the game?