Translating a foreign film to the world of Hollywood can be a tricky proposition. Few succeed while most fail, but when it comes to the re-do of Juan José Campanella‘s Oscar-winning drama The Secret in Their Eyes, the film at least has the talent pedigree to keep us curious. Coming from writer-director Billy Ray (Captain Phillips, Breach) with a cast including Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts, Dean Norris, and Michael Kelly, the first trailer has now arrived today.
Transitioning to the U.S., this story follows a team of FBI investigators who find out the daughter of one of their detectives is murdered. The suspect gets away with it, and now thirteen years later they track him down to enact revenge. It looks like a decent enough remake, with a few touches from the original (the tense elevator scene and a few glimpses at a stadium chase, although we’d be surprised if they pull off the single take again), but we’d highly recommend checking out Campanella’s version first. Ahead of an October release, check out the trailer below.
Written and directed by Academy Award® nominee Billy Ray (Captain Phillips, The Hunger Games), and produced by Academy Award® winner Mark Johnson (Rain Man, “Breaking Bad”), Secret In Their Eyes is an intense, powerful, haunting thriller starring Academy Award® nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Academy Award® winners Nicole Kidman and Julia Roberts.
A tight-knit team of rising FBI investigators – Ray (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Jess (Julia Roberts), along with their District Attorney supervisor Claire (Nicole Kidman) – is suddenly torn apart when they discover that Jess’s teenage daughter has been brutally and inexplicably murdered.
Now, thirteen years later, after obsessively searching every day for the elusive killer, Ray finally uncovers a new lead that he’s certain can permanently resolve the case, nail the vicious murderer, and bring long-desired closure to his team. No one is prepared, however, for the shocking, unspeakable secret that will reveal the enduring, destructive effects of personal vengeance on the human soul.
Interweaving past and present, this deeply layered mystery explores the murky boundaries between justice and revenge, and asks the question: how far would you go to right an unfathomable wrong?
The Secret in Their Eyes opens on October 23rd, 2015.