The San Sebastian Film Festival has confirmed that Neil Jordan’s highly anticipated crime noir thriller Marlowe, which stars Liam Neeson and Diane Kruger, will feature as the closing film at next month’s festival where it will make its world premiere.
Jordan, who is best known for writing his Oscar-winning feature film The Crying Game and directing Interview with the Vampire, which featured Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, will attend the premier at the Kursaal Auditorium later this month on September 24th. Neeson and Kruger will also attend the San Sebastian screening.
Based on the novel The Black Eyed Blonde by John Banville, Marlowe is set in 1930s Los Angeles where private eye Philip Marlowe (Neeson) is tasked with finding a beautiful heiress’s missing former lover. The script for Marlowe is penned by Oscar-winning scriptwriter William Monahan (The Departed).
Marlowe will mark Neeson’s 100th film, an incredible feat as an actor whose work now spans six decades. In a career that has seen him portray iconic true life character such as Oskar Schindler (Schindler’s List) and Alfred Kinsey (Kinsey), as well as fictional characters Brian Mills (Taken) and Hannibal (The A-Team), it is fitting that Neeson will next portray Raymond Chandler’s legendary detective Philip Marlowe whose tales were first devised almost a century ago.
When speaking about collaborating with Neeson once again, Neil Jordan said he “can’t imagine Marlowe without Liam Neeson. But then, I can’t imagine Michael Collins without him either. Maybe you need an icon to play an icon — that said, I couldn’t feel more honored to be teaming with Liam on his 100th movie, a project we’re all incredibly proud of.”
The film, which was shot on location across Dublin and Barcalona, also features actors Jessica Lange (American Horror Story), Colm Meaney (Con Air), Danny Huston (Succession), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (His Dark Materials), Daniela Melchior (The Suicide Squad) and Alan Cumming (The Good Wife).
The project is produced by Alan Moloney at Parallel Films, Gary Levinsohn and Billy Hines at H2L Media Group, Mark Fasano at Nickel City Pictures, and Philip Kim and Patrick Hibler at Storyboard Media. Marlowe was developed by Parallel Films along with H2L and Nickel City in association with Screen Ireland.
Open Road Films recently announced its acquisition of the North American rights to Marlowe, with the distributor setting a theatrically release date of December 2nd for the film in the US. Open Road/Briarcliff Entertainment CEO Tom Ortenberg made the deal, telling Deadline that he is “very excited to continue working with Liam Neeson on Marlowe and celebrate his 100th movie with him. It’s the type of film we love to be part of: an incredible cast, an Oscar-winning writer and director, and a gripping story that audiences are going to love.”
Neeson can next be seen in Retribution and Charlie Johnson in the Flames, while Kruger will next appear in Joika and is attached to Butterfly in the Typewriter.
The 70th edition of the San Sebastian Film Festival runs from Sept 16th to September 24th.
