Katie Holmes has been making a comeback ever since she split with Tom Cruise, with the upcoming The Giver being her most high profile project of five slated to come out this year. And what's a woman to do when she's booked the busiest year of her professional career that doesn't involve James Van Der Beek? Why, start lining up next year's projects, of course. Her first for 2015 has her reuniting with a more A-List co-star from her past: Academy Award Winner and Mrs. Tingle herself, Helen Mirren.
Deadline scooped the news that Ms. Holmes would be starring in the film about a woman who, with the help of her lawyer grandson, sues the government of Switzerland. The twist is that the aim of her lawsuit is to recover her cache of priceless artwork, stolen by the Nazi regime during the Holocaust. The film is also set to star Ryan Reynolds (presumably as her grandson) and Daniel Bruhl.
On the surface this sounds like a typical casting announcement, but for Katie Holmes this is the first step to bigger, better things. Reading through the full cast list you'll find some really talented supporting players, including Game of Thrones' Charles Dance, the ever respectable Jonathan Pryce, and Orphan Black's runaway hit actress Tatiana Maslany. The Golden Globe nominated Maslany will have the honor of playing the younger version of Helen Mirren's character, Maria Altmann. With the star power behind this film, The Woman In Gold is bound to be a highly visible project once it gets closer to being released, and that sort of all star cast is exactly the sort of environment Holmes needs to step up her game.
This isn't Katie Holmes' first foray into more serious subject matter, but it does show that she's ready to delve into projects wildly different from what she's used to. Even if The Woman In Gold ends up being a bust, the lessons she learns from this movie's brilliant cast could benefit her down the line. Whatever she ends up learning here could help her land more varied and more challenging work in the future. Too often the act of casting only excites people when someone they know can knock it out of the park finally gets their due. But to see someone make the conscious decision to do something against the grain and put themselves on a better path? Well, that's just as exciting, if not more so.
The Woman In Gold has no release date as of yet. Has it seriously been fifteen years since Teaching Mrs. Tingle?
