Toni Collette, Jack Reynor, Will Poulter and Michael Smiley are the first actors to climb aboard Glassland, the bleak-sounding follow-up to Gerard Barrett’s directorial debut Pilgrim Hill. Reynor will play the lead, a taxi driver who attempts to rescue his mother from a life of addiction, but ultimately gets involved in the world of human trafficking. Shades of "Dirty Pretty Things," Stephen Frears’ edgy immigration drama that introduced many of us to Chiwetel Ejiofor. That’s a strong picture, by the way, a harrowing nightmare about the human organ black market. But it has the adorable Audrey Tatou as well, so it’s not too hard to watch.
Collette is set to play the mother, and she always brings dimension to her roles, though she’s currently wasting away on the low-rated CBS series "Hostages," which is expected to wrap up its run shortly. Poulter and Smiley are less well-known, but no less capable. Poulter was a child star who memorably popped up in "Son Of Rambow" and "The Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage of The Dawn Treader," but recently stole the megahit "We’re The Millers," where we were allowed to experience the lovely visual of his enlarged, infected scrotum. Pauline Kael wept. And Smiley, an Irish comedian and actor, has gathered credits in Ben Wheatley’s films, memorably playing a haunted hitman in the terrifying "Kill List."
Barrett’s previous film dealt with a depressed Irish cattle farmer caring for his father on the outskirts of the countryside. The film played at Telluride and earned enough positive notices to grab a much more higher profile cast this time around. The trailer, which is embedded below, makes "Pilgrim Hill" seem like a gorgeous, patient, discomforting film about a very difficult lifestyle. The picture won Barrett, who wrote and directed, the Rising Star Award at the 10th Irish Film & Television Awards. What, you mean you haven’t been following the Irish Film & Television Awards? It’s almost time to start handicapping the 12th Irish Film & Television Awards, bloggers.
The spotlight is currently on Reynor, so excellent in this year's "What Richard Did." The young thesp, who was recently seen by zero ticketbuyers in alleged November release "The Delivery Man," will gain a much bigger foothold with global audiences playing Mark Wahlberg’s son in the upcoming "Transformers: Age Of Extinction." Reynor’s a talented, good-looking fellow, and it’s not long before he’s headlining major efforts: he’s young, but not boy-ish, and he brought a mature sensitivity to the tragedy at the heart of "What Richard Did." There’s no doubt he’d be a standout in this ensemble as well, and seeing him play off Collette should be a treat.
