According to The Guardian, Roman Polanski's latest effort, The Ghost Writer, will have its premiere in competition at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival, which takes place February 11-21.
Based on the International Thriller Writers' Award-winning novel The Ghost by Robert Harris (who also penned the screenplay), The Ghost Writer was shot at Studio Babelsberg outside Berlin and was finished by Polanski while in prison in Switzerland. The film stars Ewan McGregor as a professional ghostwriter hired to put on paper the memoirs of a former British Prime Minister (Pierce Brosnan) living on an island off the Eastern seaboard of the United States.
Not long after starting work, the writer is drawn into a series of sexual and political intrigues involving the ex-PM's wife (Olivia Williams), his aide (Kim Cattrall), war-crime allegations, and a mysterious secret from the PM's past that may derail international relations. Iraq War proponent Tony Blair was reportedly Harris' inspiration for the character.
Also in the Ghost Writer cast: Jim Belushi, Eli Wallach, Timothy Hutton, Robert Pugh and Tom Wilkinson.
Summit Entertainment, the company behind the blockbuster The Twilight Saga: New Moon, recently picked up North American rights to the $35 million film and plans to release it in the first half of 2010.
In a joint statement, Summit Entertainment Co-Chairmen Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger said, "We had the good fortune to recently screen The Ghost Writer in Paris and were amazed at the film Roman and his team have created. He once again has proven himself as one of the world's most talented filmmakers and master of suspense creating a very modern thriller and we look forward to sharing this film with North American audiences."
Polanski, 77, is currently under house arrest at his chalet in the Swiss ski resort of Gstaad, while waiting on a decision as to whether he'll be extradited to the United States on a charge of having had sex with a minor back in the late '70s. The Academy Award-winning director of Knife in the Water, Repulsion, The Fearless Vampire Killers, Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown, The Tenant, Tess, and The Pianist is married to actress Emmanuelle Seigner, the leading lady in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. The couple have two children.