Chances are you've never heard of director Ana Piterberg's Argentinian thriller, Everybody Has a Plan. Heck, neither had I until scrolling through TIFF's line-up a couple of weeks ago. On paper it sounds like just another throwaway Spanish crime flick, following a desperate man who takes on his twin brother's identity after he dies, as a means of starting life over again. Of course it has disastrous results, with his brother's criminal past coming back to haunt him, but all in all there's not much to set the story apart from any other. Until you realize that it stars Viggo Mortensen, and that he's playing dual roles requiring him to speak perfect Spanish.
The film recently screened in Toronto, and hopefully nobody who attended caught a look at this new trailer beforehand because it pretty much gives everything away. Few can play tortured individuals hiding murky pasts better than Mortensen, who pulled off much the same thing in A History of Violence, and he looks like the sole reason to get excited for this film. Unfortunately, Everybody Has a Plan doesn't have an American release date yet, and considering Will Ferrell couldn't make a Spanish-language film work earlier this year it's doubtful we'll ever get it.
