‘The Good Liar’ Trailer: Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen Play a Game of Cat and Mouse
Everyone knows Oscar voters love a dame. That’s Dame Helen Mirren to be precise, who stars alongside Sir Ian McKellen in the awards-friendly fall release “The Good Liar,” a tense romantic thriller from “Kinsey” director Bill Condon. The Oscar winner (Mirren) and two-time Oscar nominee (McKellen) play two people in a new courtship with deceptive underpinnings. Russell Tovey (“Looking”) and Jim Carter (“Downton Abbey”) round out a cast of heavy hitters that is sure to pique certain Oscar voters’ interest.
Per the official synopsis: “Career con artist Roy Courtnay (McKellen) can hardly believe his luck when he meets well-to-do widow Betty McLeish (Mirren) online. As Betty opens her home and life to him, Roy is surprised to find himself caring about her, turning what should be a cut-and-dry swindle into the most treacherous tightrope walk of his life.”
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Condon reunites with McKellen for a fourth time since directing him in “Gods and Monsters,” the 1998 WWI drama that earned McKellen his first Oscar nomination. Condon took home the Oscar for Best Adapted screenplay for his work on the film; he was also nominated for his screenplay for Rob Marshall’s “Chicago.” Mckellen and Condon also worked together on 2015’s “Mr. Holmes,” and in 2017 on Disney’s live-action “Beauty and the Beast.”
Jeffrey Hatcher wrote the screenplay adaptation from the widely acclaimed novel by Nicholas Searle.
Mirren won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2007 for her performance as Queen Elizabeth II in “The Queen.” Mirren can currently be seen in another thriller, Luc Besson’s “Anna.” A fan of thrillers of late, she recently wrapped production on Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw.” She will soon lead HBO’s upcoming British-American mini-series “Catherine the Great,” in which she plays the titular Russian monarch.
McKellen most recently starred in Kenneth Branagh’s William Shakespeare biopic “All Is True.” He will also feature in Tom Hooper’s screen adaptation of the long-running Broadway musical “Cats.”
“The Good Liar” was filmed on location in London and Berlin. It was produced by New Line Cinema and will be distributed by Warner Bros. in theaters on November 15.
Check out the trailer (including a deliciously evil McKellen throwing a man in front of a moving train) below.
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