Four years ago Juan Jose Campanella's Argentinian thriller The Secret In Their Eyes took home the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film, and it was richly deserved. The heavily thematic, haunting film combined elements of romance, mystery, and politics to make for an unforgettable experience, and so it was no surprise when word surface that Billy Ray (Shattered Glass, Breach) was planning to remake it. Other than Denzel Washington briefly flirting with the lead role some three years ago nothing ever came of it, but the project is very much alive and with two big stars coming aboard.
Oscar winners Chiwetel Ejiofor and and Gwyneth Paltrow are set to star in the film, with Billy Ray still writing and directing. The original story followed a judicial agent and a judge as they attempt to unearth the truth about a long-unsolved murder case. The new film will tweak the formula a little bit by having Ejiofor as an MI-5 agent who goes to work for the Boston FBI to solve the murder, discovering a shocking truth that sheds new light on the past.
The project is being shopped at Cannes and with those stars aboard it should have no problem lining up buyers. Here's hoping they can somehow replicate the intense soccer stadium scene from the first film. [THR]
