I’m sorry to see Colin Firth decided to pass on South Korean helmer, Chan-wook Park’s English language debut, primarily because replacing him with Matthew Goode (Watchmen, Leap Year) is not exactly a step up, though I will admit Goode showed he had more talent than he had previously offered in a few brief scenes opposite Firth in A Single Man. Here’s to hoping he’s able to do the same for Park’s Stoker.
Goode joins Nicole Kidman and Mia Wasikowska (Jane Eyre) in the story telling of a girl (Wasikowska) and her mother (Kidman) who are visited by a mysterious uncle (Goode) after the girl’s father dies.
While the title alone makes you think of Dracula, the film is in fact an original screenplay penned by Wentworth Miller of “Prison Break” fame. Miller originally wrote Stoker as well as a prequel called Uncle Charlie under the pseudonym Ted Foulke. At one point the project has seen the likes of Carey Mulligan, Jodie Foster, James Franco, Michael Fassbender and Joel Edgerton all circling the lead roles.
Deadline sheds a little more light on the plot in their July 2010 story saying the prequel “explores another chapter in the history of an unusual family that has a knack for burying secrets, as well as bodies.”
Fox Searchlight Pictures will distribute Stoker with Tony and Ridley Scott producing through their Scott Free banner along with Michael Costigan.
