First trailer for 'Anna Karenina' paints Keira Knightley against a lavish period backdrop
Will Focus Features have a huge Oscar player on its hands?
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One of the films we certainly have our eye on in the upcoming film awards season is Joe Wright's adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina," with Keira Knightley in the titular role. If nothing else, we can assume the crafts on display will be lush and exceptional (given the talent involved), and indeed, the first trailer for the film indicates just that.
There is no shortage of lavish period pieces this year, actually. In addition to Wright's film there's Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained," Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby," Tom Hooper's "Les Misérables," Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" and Ang Lee's "Life of Pi," to say nothing of subtler period accents in films like "Argo" and "The Master."
Guy was a bit down on the film in the fields he was charged with predicting in our recent update, but I beg to differ. I don't think there's anything on the outside that indicates -- yet -- that there's much to worry about. Still, "sure things" are cast away in Oscar season after Oscar season. We'll have to wait and see how this one turns out.
Focus' synopsis of the film reads thusly:
"The third collaboration of Academy Award nominee Keira Knightley with director Joe Wright, following the award-winning box office successes 'Pride & Prejudice' and 'Atonement,' is the epic love story 'Anna Karenina,' adapted from Leo Tolstoy’s classic novel by Academy Award winner Tom Stoppard ('Shakespeare in Love'). The story unfolds in its original late-19th-century Russia high-society setting and powerfully explores the capacity for love that surges through the human heart, from the passion between adulterers to the bond between a mother and her children. As Anna (Ms. Knightley) questions her happiness, change comes to her family, friends, and community."
Other stars include Aaron Johnson, Matthew Macfayden, Olivia Williams and Emily Watson.
The above-mentioned crafts personnel, meanwhile, is exceptional: Seamus McGarvey, Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer, Jacqueline Durran, etc. All Wright standbys.
Check out the new trailer below embedded at the top of this post.
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2012-2013 OSCAR PREDICTIONS
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Original Screenplay
Best Cinematography
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing
Best Makeup And Hairstyling
Best Original Score
Best Original Song
Best Production Design
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing
Best Visual Effects
Best Animated Feature Film
Best Documentary Feature
Best Foreign Language Film
HitFix Poll
Which brand new trailer has you most excited?
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Comments
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupMatthew Starr
June 20, 2012 at 4:18PM EST Reply to CommentI love both Pride and Prejudice and Atonement but I'm not actively looking forward to this. Strange.
CaptainCanada
June 20, 2012 at 4:26PM EST Reply to CommentIt should probably be shortlisted for the various visual/costume/production categories, based on that -- though with Joe Wright at the helm, perhaps that's not a surprise.
Wright/Knightly are two-for-two so far, so this is definitely one of my more anticipated films this year.
Jonnybon
June 20, 2012 at 4:27PM EST Reply to CommentWell, it would be silly to bet against Oscar nods in the visual categories at this point. I really hope this delivers in other areas too.
Crow3711
June 20, 2012 at 4:32PM EST Reply to CommentLooks terrific. And Joe Wright warrants a ticket bought in my book no matter what.
HoustonRufus
June 20, 2012 at 4:34PM EST Reply to CommentYowza. Lush, lush, lush. More so than I was even expecting. I hope the film delivers. I have hope with Stoppard at the helm for the scipt.
Tom_buenosaires
June 20, 2012 at 4:37PM EST Reply to CommentAm I the only one who thought about Moulin Rouge while watching this trailer? There is more than one shot framed exactly like Lhurmann´s movie (the shadow when the door opens, the cenital shots, the veil on her face...), plus the lightning/cinematography, the theater references, the dance sequences...
Brock Landers
June 20, 2012 at 4:45PM EST Reply to CommentMy friend saw this at a test screening in London and said it's another one of those "will show up in the costume/art direction/cinematography categories, but nothing else" kind of movies. He said that plot wise it's pretty awful.
Take that with a grain of salt though, as it was just a test screening and I haven't personally seen it.
A The plot was done by Tolstoy so I am not sure your friend is so reliable.
June 20, 2012 at 5:25PM ESTpitypie Well the screenplay is by Tom Stoppard, mostly known for his stage work, so perhaps the structure of the movie - it looks like it'll be some sort of blending of stage show and reality, a la Chicago - might not work.
June 20, 2012 at 5:51PM ESTI have to say that I'm incredibly excited for the film as a whole. I'm one of those people (lamentable, to some, I'm sure) who couldn't say no to a Keira Knightley period piece even if I wanted to. Combined with Tolstoy being one of my favourite authors, and I'm feeling like I've my found my horse in this race - at least until the contenders start screening, that is.
Dooby I saw alot of twitter reactions to that screening - they were largely positive, and also singled out Knightley and Macfayden (who is apparently a show stopper)
June 20, 2012 at 6:03PM ESTKristopher Tapley I have a hard time understanding how Tolstoy and Stoppard combine to form "awful," I must say.
June 20, 2012 at 6:09PM ESTBrock Landers The plot was done by Tolstoy so I am not sure your friend is so reliable.
June 20, 2012 at 6:13PM ESTBrock Landers He basically just said it was fragmented, awkwardly structured and featured some pretty uninteresting subplots that overshadowed the more interesting aspects of the story. I'm not familiar with the source material, so I can't really comment.
June 20, 2012 at 6:52PM ESTBJT I beg to differ but Tolstoy's plot is awful.
June 21, 2012 at 2:10AM ESTAnna and Vronsky spend the majority of the book not making decisions about their future whilst Moscow society assassinates the Karenina dynasty for their affair being led by the female desires and appearing to signify love rather than just sexual desire. Meanwhile we also spend a massive section of the novel following Levin's political musings on the future of the Muzhik class - a sub-plot often excised in film adaptations but I hear it has been retained here.
However it is not the soap operatics of the plot that make the readers return to Tolstoy time and time again but the gorgeous prose and the radical - for the time - dissection of class and misogyny in 19th century Russia.
I have high hopes for the adaptation, Stoppard is usually good for finding the essence of the characters and the staging looks impressive and ambitious. I'm reminded as much of Olivier's Henry V as Moulin Rouge in the central conceit.
I have no idea if there's mileage for awards consideration beyond the obvious lavish period detail, but at the risk of committing heresy in these parts, I don't care. When film-makers are prepared to take such extraordinary risks of presenting classics in an unusual way we should applaud and support their intentions.
Kristopher Tapley I beg to differ but Tolstoy's plot is awful.
June 21, 2012 at 2:23PM EST/3rt
June 20, 2012 at 4:47PM EST Reply to CommentThis is gorgeous, but Knightley does nothing for me—nor the actor playing her love interest.
HoustonRufus
June 20, 2012 at 6:28PM EST Reply to CommentI'm not familiar with the actor playing Vronsky. Plum role for a little known actor (at least to me). I'm curious to see his performance.
CaptainCanada I thought Johnson was good in "Kick-Ass", though this role is so different that it's pretty hard to make any judgements for how he'll do based on it. But Wright is good at casing.
June 20, 2012 at 6:35PM ESTLiz Along with Kick-Ass, Aaron Johnson played John Lennon in Nowhere Boy, and he was also in Albert Nobbs and is in Oliver Stone's Savages, coming out in a few weeks.
June 20, 2012 at 6:54PM ESTI've never really liked him in anything I've seen, to be honest, and he's not exactly who I think of for Vronsky. But I'm more than willing to keep an open mind.
CaptainCanada
June 20, 2012 at 6:28PM EST Reply to CommentAlso, my ranking of the Wright/Knightley collaborations:
1. Atonement
2. Pride & Prejudice
3. Domestic violence PSA
4. Perfume commercial
Brock Landers
June 20, 2012 at 6:48PM EST Reply to CommentThe plot was done by Tolstoy so I am not sure your friend is so reliable.
Brock Landers The internet is totally fucking with me today...
June 20, 2012 at 6:50PM ESTLiz Are you putting quotation marks around something that you're quoting from someone else? Guy pointed out to me a few days ago that Hitfix has started cutting off everything after the second quotation mark when you use them. Try posting without the quote marks, if that's indeed the problem.
June 20, 2012 at 6:55PM ESTBrock Landers Thanks for the heads up, that was indeed the issue. I thought I was going crazy there for a second.
June 20, 2012 at 6:59PM ESTBryce H
June 20, 2012 at 8:30PM EST Reply to CommentI almost forgot that I wasn't looking forward to this until I saw Aaron Johnson show up. I don't know what it is about the guy, but there's something in his performances in Nowhere Boy and Albert Nobbs that just piss me off. He played the character arc in Nowhere Boy well, but he completely missed the callousness and the wit that made early Lennon be Lennon. I suppose that could've been a writing/directing issue, but since I couldn't fucking stand him in Albert Nobbs he's gone to movie jail. Karenina and Savages don't look like they'll change my opinion of him.
Billy417
June 20, 2012 at 8:35PM EST Reply to CommentKris, I'd be interested in seeing just YOUR predictions... even if it is early...
Kristopher Tapley Mine are the blog's. And Greg will be joining in on that action soon. It's time to stop putting too much stock in any one set of predictions, I think. Too much pressure! Though really, I imagine I'll have a separate page to house mine further into the season. As will Guy.
June 20, 2012 at 11:07PM ESTCurious
June 20, 2012 at 9:16PM EST Reply to CommentKris, I find it very interesting you have written articles about the trailers for " The Great Gatsby ", " Anna Karenina ," etc.. But , you never wrote a piece on the trailer for " Les Miserables." Do you have an ax to grind with Tom Hooper ? Something is just not right.
Kristopher Tapley Nope, I just didn't have anything to add and HitFix had already posted the trailer elsewhere (as I've noted). Yeah, Drew and I doubled up on "Django," but there was no way Drew wasn't gonna write about "Django!"
June 20, 2012 at 11:08PM ESTAugusta
June 20, 2012 at 9:36PM EST Reply to CommentI love Tom Stoppard which makes me more interested in the film, because I didn't like the book. Not all classics appeal to all people. I like Joe Wright, especially the way he casts such interesting supporting actresses. And I like the way he keeps Keira from pouching out her lips into a duck face. Her face and acting is so much more mobile when it loses that mannerism.
SJG
June 20, 2012 at 9:39PM EST Reply to CommentThis trailer doesn't do much for me.... then again, "Anna Karenina" is one of those books that stands out very clearly in my mind, and Wright's vision (apparently) clashes pretty drastically with my own.
However, I still feel like he's one of the only filmmakers working right now who would be able to do this story justice, even if I have my doubts.
Rashad
June 20, 2012 at 9:46PM EST Reply to CommentThe Luhrmann like aspect of this, makes it look very interesting. I don't know how people could just dismiss as another stodgy period piece.
Andrej
June 20, 2012 at 10:05PM EST Reply to CommentIt's all very lovely in sight and sound, but I wonder if any of these period movies can truly stand out among the rest as a frontrunner. I mean, there's just so many of them, and they all seem to be vying for the same arts & crafts categories!
At this point I feel like 'Beasts' is frontrunning the pack, with Flight in second place until it's seen. Django would be third, as it looks like the more visually and narratively distinct period film of the bunch (plus, they might feel Tarantino's due or something?).
DylanS
June 20, 2012 at 10:59PM EST Reply to CommentI really think Wright is a more interesting director than people often give him credit for being. I think both "Hanna" and "Atonement" are near masterpieces (with the later being a remarkably unfussy period-piece). "The Soloist" was a surprising misfire and "Pride and Prejudice" didn't do much for me (though I thought it hinted at a potential). This is reminding me more of "Pride and Prejudice", but we will see soon enough. I am looking forward to this though, and the crafts (particularly McGarvey's lensing) look stunning.
GlennAU
June 21, 2012 at 12:46AM EST Reply to CommentLooks so gorgeous, and the trailer itself is wonderfully put together. It gives hints as the setup that has been alluded to before, but doesn't give it away outright. Very interesting.
Still, stick Knightley in a period costume and I'll be there so I'm probably biased.
boss
June 21, 2012 at 1:23AM EST Reply to Commenthttp://kinobastion.ru/anna-karenina-2012-novye-foto-iz-filma/
Maxim
June 22, 2012 at 1:36AM EST Reply to CommentI will be in minority on this but I found Bernard Rose's version of "Anna Carenina" both stunning and suprisingly effective (especially considering it was truncated by studios). Mostly due to the Kitty/Levin subplot.
kim
June 26, 2012 at 12:47PM EST Reply to CommentKris a write up of the film and not one mention of Jude Law in this film. Kris do you know something we don't know?