At this point American moviegoers will know Daniel Espinosa as the director of the box-office hit Safe House. Television viewers will know Joel Kinnaman as the lead in AMC’s “The Killing” or perhaps for his small role as Christer Malm in David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. But for anyone that read my review of Safe House you will remember I mentioned a film called Snabba Cash (Easy Money), which Espinosa directed and I reviewed at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.
That film featured Kinnaman in the lead role and it was quickly snatched up by the Weinstein Co. and with the success of both the director and its star, they have something to bank on as the Weinstein’s are bringing Easy Money to theaters on July 27. On top of that, Warner Bros. has already secured the remake rights and has Zac Efron attached to star, though that seems as if it may be in the far off future.
Easy Money, as it will most likely be referred to upon its Stateside release, is based on the 2006 bestselling Swedish novel by Jens Lapidus and centers on JW (Kinnaman), a starving business student who wants nothing but the best. He spends his free time hob-nobbing with Stockholm elite while hiding the fact he works as a taxi driver. As it turns out, in order to attain the life he wants he’s going to have to make some tough moral choices.
The film is quite good though I had a few issues with the pacing, which you can read about in my full review right here, but as the original makes way for theaters in the States, the sequel directed by Babak Najafi is set to hit Swedish theaters at the end of August, which would make it a good candidate for Toronto this year.
Today (via The Playlist) we have a first look at Easy Money 2 as a Swedish trailer with English subtitles has arrived and I really like where it’s heading. It looks like Najafi has managed to take the energy from the first one and use a little of what made A Prophet so great in following JW’s evolving story even further. However, to watch the trailer will spoil what happens at the end of the first film, so I leave the decision on whether you want to watch it up to you.
I have included the international trailers for both films if you’d like to only watch one or watch them both if you want. But I will say this, if you thought Safe House was good you really should make sure and watch Easy Money this July as it is damn near a hundred times better.
