While many of his Lord of the Rings cast mates have been eagerly returning to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien for Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy, Viggo Mortensen has ventured away from Middle Earth and into a string of darker adaptations. From David Cronenberg's A History of Violence to John Hillcoat's The Road to the upcoming adaptation of Jack Kerouac's On the Road, Mortensen has been delivering one powerful performance after another while staying away from the kind of fantastical tales that made him a star. Now we have a first look at his latest adaptation, The Two Faces of January.
The film marks the directorial debut of Drive screenwriter Hossein Amini. Based on the Patricia Highsmith novel of the same name The Two Faces of January centers on a strange trio made up of three Americans who become entangled in covering up the murder of a police officer in Greece. This image tweeted by Blog Du Cinema (via The Playlist) shows the feature's three stars, Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst and Drive's Oscar Isaac.
The novel came out in 1964, and the costumes seen above suggest Amini has stayed true to this time. In the film Mortensen will play fortysomething con artist Chester MacFarland, who kills the aforementioned cop. Dunst will portray his wife Colette, and Isaac is tackling the role of Rydal Keener, a Greek-speaking American student who helps the two flee from Greece to Istanbul.
The Two Faces of January is now in production. The film will shoot on location in Greece and Turkey, before wrapping up with studio shoots in London. It's expected to hit theaters in 2013.
