It pays to be uber-producer Akiva Goldsman because you have no problem calling up a few friends to help out with your directorial debut. To his credit, Goldsman is taking on a film many considered to be unfilmmable, Mark Helprin's mystical, quasi-religious fantasy Winter's Tale. And now that the first trailer is here, it looks like all the hard work he's been putting into making this ambitious project happen has paid off.
Starring Colin Farrell, Jennifer Connelly, Jessica Brown-Findlay, and Russell Crowe, the time-hopping film follows Peter Lake, a petty thief who breaks into a rich man's Manhattan home, only to fall in love with his ailing daughter, Beverly Penn. While their relationship blossoms, Lake must also stay clear of the gangster Pearly Soames who wants to kill him. As suggested but not really spelled out in this beautiful but confusing trailer, there's a time jump of about 100 hundred years that takes place, along with other magical elements like a guardian angel in the form of a white horse. Surprisingly we don't get a chance to see Will Smith, who cameos as a judge integral to the story.
The film looks great, and like something that would probably play well during the holiday season. However we'll Winter's Tale arrive a couple of months later on Valentine's Day.
