News

Exclusive: Boiling Point actor Ray Panthaki and producer Daniel Khalili have acquired rights to journalist Nick Pitt’s sports biography The Paddy & The Prince as they continue work on their previously announced biopic of former boxer Naseem Hamed.

The duo acquired the book through their new film company Le Bateau Lavoir. The biography charts the relationship between Hamed and his mentor, Brendan Ingle, in intimate detail from 1981 when a seven-year-old Hamed walked into Ingles’s gym, located in an old church hall in Sheffield. The book recounts their story, tracking their turbulent progress from that day on.

Panthaki and Khalili’s currently untitled film project will be scripted by veteran screenwriter Martin Stellman (Quadrophenia), with production scheduled to begin early next year. Hamed is said to have a buy-in on the film.

“Having Naz on board the project was one thing, but it became abundantly clear during the writing process...

Don Letts with music producer and 99 Records founder Ed Bahlman on Singers & Players War of Words (99-002 LP) and Adrian Sherwood’s label: “I mean all the early On-u stuff is absolutely essential.”

In There And Black Again: The Autobiography Of Don Letts (Omnibus Press) we learn the fate of a screenplay (“inspired by Linton Kwesi Johnson’s Five Nights of Bleeding”) bought by the adventurous producer Michael White (Gracie Otto’s The Last Impresario) and its connection to Franco Rosso’s Babylon, co-written with Martin Stellman, starring Brinsley Forde, and a soundtrack put together by Dennis Bovell (The Slits Cut producer). Martin Scorsese, The Punk Rock Movie, Robert De Niro, The King of Comedy, Jerry Lewis, and The Clash shows at Bonds also have a link to Don Letts.

Music producer and 99 Records founder Ed Bahlman met Don Letts at The Roxy 45 years ago and was invited by Bernie Rhodes...

Madrid-based international TV powerhouse The Mediapro Studio has sold banner series “The Head” to HBO Max for the U.S. as it powers into English-language production, partnering with John Turturro, “Casualty” writers Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, U.K. producer Big Talk and London-based director Guillem Morales.

The drive into U.S. and now most especially U.K. production marks the latest strategic growth in one of the fastest ramp-ups in drama series production in Europe, spearheaded by Laura Fernández Espeso, appointed The Mediapro corporate director in October 2019 and chief executive last month.

“We are making a large bet on fortifying our position in the U.S., U.K. and Latin America, and feature film production, and are proud to be working with a huge range of high-caliber partners,” Fernández-Espeso told Variety.

Underscoring her point, she noted four U.S. projects now in development; a production alliance with Erik Barmack,...

There’s something missing in “Yardie,” Idris Elba’s directorial debut, but I can’t quite place my finger on it. The acting is decent, the cinematography is well-executed, and the music is on point, but the delivery and the tone are completely mismatched. It feels as if the film itself is aching to say something more, but is ultimately muted by choices the freshman director withheld from making.

Based on the 1992 book by Victor Headley, the film opens in 1973 Kingston, Jamaica. There’s a gang war, and young D (Antwayne Eccleston) is being raised by his older brother, Jerry Dread while King Fox (Sheldon Shepherd) — a gang leader, don, and music producer — acts a sort of father figure to both. During a concert meant to unite rival gangs in Kingston, Jerry is gunned down, leaving D to be raised by King Fox.

Years later, adult D is working for...

A small-imprint–published slab of pulp fiction that became a huge literary sensation, Victor Headley’s 1992 novel Yardie drops readers into a London filled with ex-pat Jamaican kingpins, gang wars, alleyway assassinations and an antihero — “D.,” short for Dennis — who works his way up the underworld ladder. The writing was rough-and-ready straightforward, without the tough-guy stylistics of a Chandler or an Ellroy; the patois-heavy prose felt like it both represented Britain’s West Indian community and gave the rise-and-fall narrative a unique edge. An under-served demographic of readers found the...

Frank Rosso's Babylon (1980) is showing February 25 – March 26, 2019 on Mubi in the United Kingdom.Impressions of Franco Rosso’s Babylon (1980) extend past the boundaries of its 95-minute running time. Like the dub remixes its London characters’ lives revolve around, the movie plays with re-establishing identity and our experience of time. A narrative document of young, working class male Jamaican-British Londoners, Babylon doles out atmospheric city scenes of their place in the community: sons, brothers, boyfriends, small-time crooks, laborers, music lovers and producers. Privileging viewers with immersion into an insulated, under-documented immigrant community, the film provides a window into their daily lives. We are thrown into conversations and situations, intimately experiencing their patois their interactions with friends, their constant victimization by a dominantly racist white society, and the massive sound system parties they congregate to. A corrective to the British ignorance and fear of Jamaican immigrants, the film’s emphasis is on...

From time to time, it’s worth considering whether a director or a screenwriter has more influence over the final outcome of a film. Can a bad script undercut a good director? Is a good one able to hide the flaws of a bad filmmaker? The answer to both probably resides somewhere in between. The one thing I’m fairly certain of is this: a first time director can’t make do with a poor screenplay. Unfortunately for Idris Elba, the actor is making his directorial debut utilizing a script that’s lacking in juice. This makes Yardie, his first effort behind the camera, a step or two down from where it otherwise could have been. Elba shows some chops, but the material fails him throughout. He elevates it somewhat, but not enough to save the day. The film is a crime drama, with the sort of plot we’ve...

Music legends Dennis Bovell and Ed Bahlman unite before the preview of Franco Rosso's powerful Babylon with Brinsley Forde at BAMcinématek Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

When I arrived with Ed Bahlman (99 Records) at the Brooklyn Academy of Music for my conversations with Brinsley Forde and Dennis Bovell, two key figures for Franco Rosso's Babylon, co-written with Martin Stellman, produced by Gavrik Losey, and shot by two-time Oscar winner Chris Menges (for Roland Joffé's The Killing Fields and The Mission), Brinsley, Dennis, and Seventy-Seven founder Gabriele Caroti were standing in the lobby. Ed greeted Dennis and they immediately reconnected by sharing memories of The Slits, Viv Albertine's memoir, Chris Blackwell, Adrian Sherwood, Pop Group, Mark Stewart, Public Image Ltd, Bruce Smith, Neneh Cherry, Linton Kwesi Johnson, the Reggae Lounge, and of course, Ari Up and the making of Cut.

Brinsley Forde shines in Franco Rosso's Babylon Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze...

Director Franco Rosso’s “Babylon” was never released in America. It’s a 1980 film with subtitles and no big-name stars that centers on poor black male youths in London living among neighbors who shout, “Go back to your country!” from their bedroom windows on a regular basis. It’s about their daily resistance to hate and navigating a system that is rigged against them.

The characters speak in Jamaican patois, and there is no white savior. In many ways, it is the antithesis of what mainstream audiences in America were interested in watching at that time. But 39 years later, it finally sees the light of day in U.S. theaters.

Releasing “Babylon” today underscores its unfortunate relevance, though it also makes it vulnerable to criticism shaped by modern society and conversation. For instance, the screenplay by Rosso (who died in 2016) and co-writer Martin Stellman deserves acclaim for highlighting the stories...

Idris Elba’s directorial debut, a gang drama set in Jamaica called “Yardie,” has been acquired for U.S. rights by Rialto Pictures, the New York-based company announced Thursday.

“Yardie” will receive a theatrical release on March 15. The film originally premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018 in the world cinema – dramatic competition and was chosen as the opening night film at this year’s Caribbean Film Festival at Bam in New York City.

Directed and executive produced by Elba, “Yardie” was written by Brock Norman Brock and Martin Stellman based on Victor Headley’s novel.

Also Read: Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton Attached to Star in New George Miller Project

Set in ’70s Kingston and 1980s Hackney (a neighborhood in London with a large Jamaican community), “Yardie” (a term used for Jamaican gang members) centers around the intertwined worlds of the Jamaican narcotics syndicates and the music industry, following...

New York-based Rialto Pictures announced today the acquisition of Idris Elba's directorial debut Yardie for a U.S. theatrical release beginning March 15, 2019. The deal was negotiated with Anna Marsh, Evp International Distribution, at Studiocanal.

Set in 70s Kingston and 1980s Hackney (a neighborhood in London with a large Jamaican community), Yardie (patois for Jamaican gang members), based on the best-selling novel by Victor Headley, centers around the intertwined worlds of the Jamaican narcotics syndicates and the music industry, following a young courier named 'D' to London where he seeks revenge for his brother's murder and also reunites with his estranged girlfriend and child.

Yardie premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival in the world cinema - dramatic competition, played in Panorama at the 2018 Berlin Film Festival, received its UK premiere at Sundance's sister Festival in London in June 2018, and has been chosen as the opening night film at this year's...

Rialto Pictures has acquired rights to Yardie, the film that marks the directorial debut of Idris Elba. The company has set a March 15 theatrical release date for the 1970s- and ’80s-set crime drama that revolves around the intertwined worlds of the Jamaican narcotics syndicates and the music industry. The deal comes almost a year after the pic had its world premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.

Directed and executive produced by Elba and penned by Brock Norman Brock and Martin Stellman based on the Victor Headley novel of the same name, the pic follows a courier named ‘D’ (Aml Ameen) from Kingston to Hackney in London where he seeks revenge for his brother’s murder and also reunites with his estranged girlfriend (Shantol Jackson) and child.

UK-based Warp Films’ Gina Carter and Robin Gutch produce the movie, which was financed by Studiocanal, the BFI, BBC Films and Screen Yorkshire. The U.

Idris Elba's directorial debut Yardie is finally getting ready to hit theaters this Spring. Elba has had a long and prosperous career but, up until recently, he hadn't actually stepped behind the camera. That changed last year when Yardie made its debut on the festival circuit, playing at Sundance and the Berlin International Film Festival. Now, nearly a year later, we finally know when moviegoers will have the chance to see what Elba can do as a director.

StudioCanal, who will be handling distribution of the Idris Elba directed movie, has revealed that Yardie will arrive in theaters in mid-March. Unfortunately, they didn't provide an exact release date just yet, but that probably has to do with the release strategy. Often times with a smaller movie such as this, studios will opt to first do a limited release in several screens in major cities. Then, depending on how that goes,...

Franco Rosso’s Thatcher-era drama to premiere theatrically in March.

Nearly 40 years after it premiered in Cannes Critics’ Week, cult British reggae film Babylon will get its first Us release through Kino Lorber Repertory and new boutique distributor Seventy-Seven.

Franco Rosso’s Thatcher-era drama about racial tension and police brutality stars Brinsley Forde, founder of British reggae band Aswad, as a dancehall DJ in south London who battles xenophobia, neighbours, police, and the National Front.

The film was deemed so incendiary that after screenings on the Croisette and the Toronto International Film Festival, top brass at the New York Film Festival passed.

Stars: Aml Ameen, Shantol Jackson, Stephen Graham, Antwayne Eccleston, Fraser James, Rayon McLean, Mark Rhino Smith, Sheldon Shepherd, Christopher Daly, Alexandra Vaz, Chris-Ann Fletcher, Paul Haughton, Everaldo Creary | Written by Brock Norman Brock, Martin Stellman | Directed by Idris Elba

Yardie is the much anticipated directorial debut from much beloved British acting veteran Idris Elba – who’s famed for his turn as grizzly and gritty roles ranging from his much-beloved turn as Dci John Luther to Hollywood action prowess of Pacific Rim, Thor and Star Trek Beyond.

With Yardie, adapted from the novel by the same name by author Victor Headley released in 1992, Elba strips away the Hollywood gloss and expense, pushing himself into the deep end in the realm of the dearly missed British production of a gritty and dark tale of greed and murder, reminiscent of the vast social politic and exaggerations from the likes of Alan Clarke and Guy Ritchie,...

Joseph Baxter Jan 24, 2019

Idris Elba makes his feature directorial debut with Yardie, an adaptation of Victor Headley’s bellwether British crime novel.

Idris Elba continues to juggle numerous occupations, from film and TV star, to writer, producer, DJ and even a professional kickboxer who banked a win in his one and only fight after training for a documentary series. However, the upcoming release of the crime drama, Yardie, reveals yet another occupation for Elba, that of feature film director.

Elba’s film-helming debut works off a script by Brock Norman Brock and Martin Stellman that adapts the acclaimed 1992 crime novel, Yardie, by Victor Headley; a groundbreaking Black-British story, spearheaded by a grassroots distribution strategy that achieved success through slow word-of-mouth. Elba's indie-produced adaptation was distributed in the U.K. by StudioCanal.

Yardie Release Date

Yardie is set to arrive at theaters in the U.S. on March 15.

The film premiered...

Idris Elba discusses his Sundance debut Yardie.

Source: BBC Films

‘Idris Elba and Aml Ameen on the set of Yardie’

In 2015, Idris Elba was about to board a flight from London to La when he bumped into fellow actor Aml Ameen. The two didn’t know each other well but had met a couple of times before. The encounter would prove serendipitous.

After seeing Ameen in Maze Runner, Elba had wanted to get in touch with the rising actor’s representatives to talk about the lead role in his directorial debut Yardie, an adaptation of Jamaican-born British writer Victor Headley’s 1992 crime novel about a courier carrying cocaine from Jamaica to London who decides to go it alone and disappears into the mean streets of Hackney with a kilo of white powder. The thriller has a cult reputation in the UK where it proved a publishing hit.

“I was like, ‘Oh right, I know...

Filming has begun on the project, which is based on Victor Headley’s cult novel.

The first image from Idris Elba’s directorial debut Yardie has been released.

Studiocanal announced today (16 March) that principal photography has started on the film, based on Victor Headley’s cult novel.

Yardie stars Aml Ameen (The Maze Runner) in the lead role of ‘D’, with Stephen Graham and Elba playing supporting roles.

The film will introduce Jamaican actors Shantol Jackson, Sheldon Shepherd and Everaldo Creary.

Yardie will shoot on location in London and Jamaica for seven weeks and is financed by Studiocanal, BFI, BBC Films and Screen Yorkshire.

It follows the story of a young Jamaican named ‘D’ who, on arriving in early 1980s London, unexpectedly finds the young man who assassinated his revered brother back in Jamaica ten years before. His quest for justice explodes into a violent street war that could end up killing him and his loved ones.

Idris Elba...

Chicago – Social history is often the seed for actual history. The simple story of two youth gangs in England in the early 1960s – The Mods and The Rockers – is grist for the incredible social history film, “Quadrophenia.” The new Criterion Collection Blu-ray DVD release of this 1979 classic will satisfy any side of the ardent rock admirer, especially those of the magnificent rock group “The Who” – the film is based on their lesser known 1973 rock opera of the same name.

Blu-Ray Rating: 5.0/5.0

This was originally produced by The Who Films, and The Criterion Collection creates a lavish package with background information and the history of the clash between the mid-1960s British youth of “The Mods” – a clean cut style associated with the music of “The Who, as well as soul, R&B and the Mersey Beat – and “The Rockers,” who favored more of the direct, Marlon-Brando-in-”The-Wild-One” motorcycles and 1950s rock.

Franc Roddam has said that he would be against a sequel to Quadrophenia. The director's classic 1979 movie is released on Blu-ray this week alongside a new 'Director's Cut' box-set of The Who album which inspired it. Asked if he was ever tempted to return to his characters for a follow-up, Roddam told Digital Spy: "There was talk of a sequel, but it never really came to anything. There's even talk of a sequel now - not with me, but with other people. "Martin Stellman, one of the writers who worked with me, is in conversation with The Who's management about it, but it depends. Would I prefer there not to be a sequel? Probably." He continued: "I'm not a great sequel kind of guy. It's a bit of commercialism, isn't it? It breaks away from the authenticity. When you say, 'Why are we making this (more)...

Hollywoodnews.com: Academy Award-winning screenwriter Steven Zaillian will receive the Writers Guild of America, West’s 2011 Laurel Award for Screen, honoring lifetime achievement in outstanding writing for motion pictures, to be presented at the 2011 Writers Guild Awards West Coast ceremony on Saturday, February 5, 2011, in Hollywood.

“Steven Zaillian’s best scripts not only function as intelligent, thought-provoking works that uplift and inspire audiences, but often, as in the case of his screenplays such as Schindler’s List, they act as witness to crucial chapters in our collective history. His impressive body of work provides a benchmark that all screenwriters aspire to,” said Wgaw President John Wells.

Zaillian is perhaps best known for his screenplay for the acclaimed Holocaust drama Schindler’s List, based on the novel by Thomas Keneally. In 1994, Zaillian received an Academy Award for his screen adaptation of Schindler’s List, as the film went on to garner multiple awards that year,...

Trailer and clips for Babylon, directed by Franco Rosso (Dread Beat an' Blood), co-written (with Rosso) by Martin Stellman (Quadrophenia; Defence Of The Realm; For Queen And Country), photographed by two-time Oscar winner Chris Menges (The Mission; The Killing Fields) and starring celebrated reggae star and Aswad frontman Brinsley Forde (Here Come The Double Deckers), Karl Howman (Brush Strokes; Mulberry) and Trevor Laird (Doctor Who; Quadrophenia).

The film is available on DVD from Italian distributor Raro Video and UK based Icon Home Entertainment.

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tags: cult film, reggae...

One of the most highly regarded cult British films of the 1980s, Babylon comes to DVD for the first time ever in the UK this October courtesy of Icon Home Entertainment, boasting fully restored and remastered image and audio (personally overseen by Chris Menges) plus Audio Commentaries, Interviews and feature on the restoration.

Directed by Franco Rosso (Dread Beat an' Blood), co-written (with Rosso) by Martin Stellman (Quadrophenia; Defence Of The Realm; For Queen And Country), photographed by two-time Oscar winner Chris Menges (The Mission; The Killing Fields) and starring celebrated reggae star and Aswad frontman Brinsley Forde (Here Come The Double Deckers), Karl Howman (Brush Strokes; Mulberry) and Trevor Laird (Doctor Who; Quadrophenia), Babylon is a raw and incendiary film employing an effective mix of music and social commentary to recount the everyday experiences of a small group of working class black youths living in South London in the early 1980s.

Thrillers don't get much smarter than The Interpreter. Director Sydney Pollack has meticulously put together a potboiler with a fistful of savory ingredients -- star turns by Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn, a story of international intrigue with unexpected twists and nerve-teasing tension, the first-ever use by a motion picture of the United Nations building as a location and a meditation on a postmodern world bedeviled by regional tyrants and global terrorism. It's a strong commercial package that should attract a wide range of audiences both domestic and international.

The thriller forges ahead with machinelike procession from the opening moments. A number of writers worked on the script, including two award winners, and you can imagine that their preoccupation was to make certain the human element didn't get lost in those mechanics. Only two roles really stand out, but these are the key ones.

Kidman, never looking lovelier or more vulnerable, is the southern African-born U.N. translator Silvia Broome. In one credibility-challenging coincidence -- that happens early enough so an audience will buy it -- she overhears an assassination threat against the dictator of the fictional African state of Matobo, spoken in a rare language she can understand. The other role belongs to Penn, that of Secret Service agent Tobin Keller, his face a mask hardened by grief and weary cynicism. He is assigned to investigate this threat, including the person who reported it.

Ominous moves against Silvia make her story more credible. On the other hand, facts emerge about the background of this seemingly friendless and solitary woman that point to her possible involvement in a conspiracy. Everyone, from the translator and federal cop to the FBI and U.N. security, is in a race against the clock to prevent a headline-grabbing assassination at the U.N. General Assembly, where the politician will speak. Logically, the speech could be canceled, but this is portrayed as an act of political suicide for the dictator.

Evidence, hunches and even dead bodies turn up too fast and furiously for even the most attentive audience member to track. But by then Pollack and writers Charles Randolph, Scott Frank and Steven Zaillian have gently shifted the focus from the who-what-why to the developing relationship between Silvia and Tobin. In many ways, they are on opposite sides of the evolving situation, separated by a river of suspicion and mistreat.

Then each learns that the other has suffered from devastating personal losses. Each is an empty person whose job keeps him or her going. Theirs is not a love story in the traditional sense, rather a story about two adults who need to discover a reason to trust one another when they have no one else. Kidman projects both emotional strength and fragility, while Penn's controlled intensity underscores this portrait of a methodical man who is screaming on the inside.

As with any Sydney Pollack movie, The Interpreter has strong themes. The film asks how one confronts brutal tyranny without emulating the enemy. "Vengeance is a lazy form of grief," Silvia says, but in those terms the current world is indeed lazy. Most thrillers do not view patience and forgiveness as heroic acts. But these filmmakers, without sacrificing any thrills, take a wide-angle view of a political crisis that places its events in the context of moral behavior.

The movie is punctuated by two bravura sequences, where James Newton Howard's music and William Steinkamp's editing build an emotional crescendo that culminates in tense and surprising standoffs. One involves a moving bus boarded by any number of key players and the federal agents shadowing them. The other occurs at the U.N. itself, which has echoes of The Manchurian Candidate's assassination scene but takes its own startling route to a revelatory climax.

Making deft impressions in sketchy roles are Catherine Keener as Tobin's often sardonic partner, Jesper Christensen as the cunning head of Matobon security, Yvan Attal as a mysterious photographer newly returned from Africa and Earl Cameron as the wily dictator.

Cinematographer Darius Khondji and designer Jon Hutman make good and extensive use of the U.N. itself, lensing within its vast halls, narrow corridors, soundproof booths and conference rooms bristling with power and dealmaking.

THE INTERPRETER

Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures presents

in association with MP Jota Prods.

a Working Title production in association with Misher Films and Mirage Enterprises

Credits:

Director: Sydney Pollack

Screenwriters: Charles Randolph, Scott Frank, Steven Zaillian

Story: Martin Stellman, Brian Ward

Producers: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Kevin Misher

Executive producers: Sydney Pollack, Anthony Minghella, G. Mac Brown

Director of photography: Darius Khondji

Production designer: Jon Hutman

Music: James Newton Howard

Co-producers: Liza Chasin, Debra Hayward

Costumes: Sarah Edwards

Editor: William Steinkamp

Cast:

Silvia Broome: Nicole Kidman

Tobin Keller: Sean Penn

Dot Woods: Catherine Keener

Nils Lud: Jesper Christensen

Philippe: Yvan Attal

Zuwanie: Earl Cameron

Kuman-Kuman: George Harris

MPAA rating: PG-13

Running time -- 128 minutes...

Thrillers don't get much smarter than The Interpreter. Director Sydney Pollack has meticulously put together a potboiler with a fistful of savory ingredients -- star turns by Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn, a story of international intrigue with unexpected twists and nerve-teasing tension, the first-ever use by a motion picture of the United Nations building as a location and a meditation on a postmodern world bedeviled by regional tyrants and global terrorism. It's a strong commercial package that should attract a wide range of audiences both domestic and international.

The thriller forges ahead with machinelike procession from the opening moments. A number of writers worked on the script, including two award winners, and you can imagine that their preoccupation was to make certain the human element didn't get lost in those mechanics. Only two roles really stand out, but these are the key ones.

Kidman, never looking lovelier or more vulnerable, is the southern African-born U.N. translator Silvia Broome. In one credibility-challenging coincidence -- that happens early enough so an audience will buy it -- she overhears an assassination threat against the dictator of the fictional African state of Matobo, spoken in a rare language she can understand. The other role belongs to Penn, that of Secret Service agent Tobin Keller, his face a mask hardened by grief and weary cynicism. He is assigned to investigate this threat, including the person who reported it.

Ominous moves against Silvia make her story more credible. On the other hand, facts emerge about the background of this seemingly friendless and solitary woman that point to her possible involvement in a conspiracy. Everyone, from the translator and federal cop to the FBI and U.N. security, is in a race against the clock to prevent a headline-grabbing assassination at the U.N. General Assembly, where the politician will speak. Logically, the speech could be canceled, but this is portrayed as an act of political suicide for the dictator.

Evidence, hunches and even dead bodies turn up too fast and furiously for even the most attentive audience member to track. But by then Pollack and writers Charles Randolph, Scott Frank and Steven Zaillian have gently shifted the focus from the who-what-why to the developing relationship between Silvia and Tobin. In many ways, they are on opposite sides of the evolving situation, separated by a river of suspicion and mistreat.

Then each learns that the other has suffered from devastating personal losses. Each is an empty person whose job keeps him or her going. Theirs is not a love story in the traditional sense, rather a story about two adults who need to discover a reason to trust one another when they have no one else. Kidman projects both emotional strength and fragility, while Penn's controlled intensity underscores this portrait of a methodical man who is screaming on the inside.

As with any Sydney Pollack movie, The Interpreter has strong themes. The film asks how one confronts brutal tyranny without emulating the enemy. "Vengeance is a lazy form of grief," Silvia says, but in those terms the current world is indeed lazy. Most thrillers do not view patience and forgiveness as heroic acts. But these filmmakers, without sacrificing any thrills, take a wide-angle view of a political crisis that places its events in the context of moral behavior.

The movie is punctuated by two bravura sequences, where James Newton Howard's music and William Steinkamp's editing build an emotional crescendo that culminates in tense and surprising standoffs. One involves a moving bus boarded by any number of key players and the federal agents shadowing them. The other occurs at the U.N. itself, which has echoes of The Manchurian Candidate's assassination scene but takes its own startling route to a revelatory climax.

Making deft impressions in sketchy roles are Catherine Keener as Tobin's often sardonic partner, Jesper Christensen as the cunning head of Matobon security, Yvan Attal as a mysterious photographer newly returned from Africa and Earl Cameron as the wily dictator.

Cinematographer Darius Khondji and designer Jon Hutman make good and extensive use of the U.N. itself, lensing within its vast halls, narrow corridors, soundproof booths and conference rooms bristling with power and dealmaking.

THE INTERPRETER

Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures presents

in association with MP Jota Prods.

a Working Title production in association with Misher Films and Mirage Enterprises

Credits:

Director: Sydney Pollack

Screenwriters: Charles Randolph, Scott Frank, Steven Zaillian

Story: Martin Stellman, Brian Ward

Producers: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Kevin Misher

Executive producers: Sydney Pollack, Anthony Minghella, G. Mac Brown

Director of photography: Darius Khondji

Production designer: Jon Hutman

Music: James Newton Howard

Co-producers: Liza Chasin, Debra Hayward

Costumes: Sarah Edwards

Editor: William Steinkamp

Cast:

Silvia Broome: Nicole Kidman

Tobin Keller: Sean Penn

Dot Woods: Catherine Keener

Nils Lud: Jesper Christensen

Philippe: Yvan Attal

Zuwanie: Earl Cameron

Kuman-Kuman: George Harris

MPAA rating: PG-13

Running time -- 128 minutes...

Thrillers don't get much smarter than The Interpreter. Director Sydney Pollack has meticulously put together a potboiler with a fistful of savory ingredients -- star turns by Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn, a story of international intrigue with unexpected twists and nerve-teasing tension, the first-ever use by a motion picture of the United Nations building as a location and a meditation on a postmodern world bedeviled by regional tyrants and global terrorism. It's a strong commercial package that should attract a wide range of audiences both domestic and international.

The thriller forges ahead with machinelike procession from the opening moments. A number of writers worked on the script, including two award winners, and you can imagine that their preoccupation was to make certain the human element didn't get lost in those mechanics. Only two roles really stand out, but these are the key ones.

Kidman, never looking lovelier or more vulnerable, is the southern African-born U.N. translator Silvia Broome. In one credibility-challenging coincidence -- that happens early enough so an audience will buy it -- she overhears an assassination threat against the dictator of the fictional African state of Matobo, spoken in a rare language she can understand. The other role belongs to Penn, that of Secret Service agent Tobin Keller, his face a mask hardened by grief and weary cynicism. He is assigned to investigate this threat, including the person who reported it.

Ominous moves against Silvia make her story more credible. On the other hand, facts emerge about the background of this seemingly friendless and solitary woman that point to her possible involvement in a conspiracy. Everyone, from the translator and federal cop to the FBI and U.N. security, is in a race against the clock to prevent a headline-grabbing assassination at the U.N. General Assembly, where the politician will speak. Logically, the speech could be canceled, but this is portrayed as an act of political suicide for the dictator.

Evidence, hunches and even dead bodies turn up too fast and furiously for even the most attentive audience member to track. But by then Pollack and writers Charles Randolph, Scott Frank and Steven Zaillian have gently shifted the focus from the who-what-why to the developing relationship between Silvia and Tobin. In many ways, they are on opposite sides of the evolving situation, separated by a river of suspicion and mistreat.

Then each learns that the other has suffered from devastating personal losses. Each is an empty person whose job keeps him or her going. Theirs is not a love story in the traditional sense, rather a story about two adults who need to discover a reason to trust one another when they have no one else. Kidman projects both emotional strength and fragility, while Penn's controlled intensity underscores this portrait of a methodical man who is screaming on the inside.

As with any Sydney Pollack movie, The Interpreter has strong themes. The film asks how one confronts brutal tyranny without emulating the enemy. "Vengeance is a lazy form of grief," Silvia says, but in those terms the current world is indeed lazy. Most thrillers do not view patience and forgiveness as heroic acts. But these filmmakers, without sacrificing any thrills, take a wide-angle view of a political crisis that places its events in the context of moral behavior.

The movie is punctuated by two bravura sequences, where James Newton Howard's music and William Steinkamp's editing build an emotional crescendo that culminates in tense and surprising standoffs. One involves a moving bus boarded by any number of key players and the federal agents shadowing them. The other occurs at the U.N. itself, which has echoes of The Manchurian Candidate's assassination scene but takes its own startling route to a revelatory climax.

Making deft impressions in sketchy roles are Catherine Keener as Tobin's often sardonic partner, Jesper Christensen as the cunning head of Matobon security, Yvan Attal as a mysterious photographer newly returned from Africa and Earl Cameron as the wily dictator.

Cinematographer Darius Khondji and designer Jon Hutman make good and extensive use of the U.N. itself, lensing within its vast halls, narrow corridors, soundproof booths and conference rooms bristling with power and dealmaking.

THE INTERPRETER

Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures presents

in association with MP Jota Prods.

a Working Title production in association with Misher Films and Mirage Enterprises

Credits:

Director: Sydney Pollack

Screenwriters: Charles Randolph, Scott Frank, Steven Zaillian

Story: Martin Stellman, Brian Ward

Producers: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Kevin Misher

Executive producers: Sydney Pollack, Anthony Minghella, G. Mac Brown

Director of photography: Darius Khondji

Production designer: Jon Hutman

Music: James Newton Howard

Co-producers: Liza Chasin, Debra Hayward

Costumes: Sarah Edwards

Editor: William Steinkamp

Cast:

Silvia Broome: Nicole Kidman

Tobin Keller: Sean Penn

Dot Woods: Catherine Keener

Nils Lud: Jesper Christensen

Philippe: Yvan Attal

Zuwanie: Earl Cameron

Kuman-Kuman: George Harris

MPAA rating: PG-13

Running time -- 128 minutes...