David Cronenberg' London-set thriller Eastern Promises will open this year's Times BFI 51st London Film Festival on Wednesday, October 17.
Written by Steven Knight (Oscar nominated for Dirty Pretty Things), Eastern Promises reunites the director with his History of Violence leading man, Viggo Mortensen, who plays a ruthless member of one of London's Russian mafia families. Dirty ugly things happen after his encounter with a midwife (Naomi Watts) who accidentally uncovers a prostitution racket following the death of a pregnant teenager.
Also in the Eastern Promises cast are Vincent Cassel, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Sinéad Cusack, and Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski (whose quirky, dark Deep End is one of the best films of the 1970s).
As quoted in the Times of London, Cronenberg says, "I'm thrilled to be returning to the scene of the crime. Eastern Promises is the first film I've ever shot entirely away from my home in Canada, and it makes perfect sense that it is set in London, home of so many of my most potent film influences."
Pathé will release Eastern Promises in the UK on October 26, while Focus Features will release the film in the U.S. on September 14.
The full schedule for the 51st London Film Festival will be announced on September 13.
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THE CONSTANT GARDENER at the 2005 London Film Festival
There's something to be said for an actor who does what Viggo Mortensen does to ***BECOME*** the character.
His Russian hitman looked and acted and sounded like a hitman from Russia.
Not many actors can achieve that.
Mortensen is truly one of a kind.