Oscar Watch on Sam Worthington and Helen Mirren in The Debt
Vulture points us to this brand new trailer of the John Madden film, “In 1965, three young Israeli Mossad agents on a secret mission capture and kill a notorious Nazi war criminal. Now, thirty years later, a man claiming to be the Nazi has surfaced in Ukraine and one of the former agents must go back undercover to seek out the truth.”
Oscar watch because it’s Nazis. And because it’s Helen Mirren and Tom Wilkinson. And because it’s John Madden.
Sam Worthington, Jessica Chastain round out the cast. A Nazi revenge movie the AMPAS can get behind?
Magically Delicious says:
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 8:55am
Much better looking than its label as a Sam Worthington movie had me believe at first.
Simon V says:
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 8:58am
Looks intriguing, but man oh man is Sam Worthington’s accent crummy. He had the same problem playing an American in Avatar, his Australian accent kept slipping out.
Kevin Klawitter says:
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 9:12am
As soon as they log on to the internet, everybody on the planet becomes a goddamn linguist.
I absolutely HATE people complaining about accents, especially in trailers. ITS NOT THAT BIG OF A DEAL!
Sam Worthington is a really good actor. I don’t see why he gets so much hate. I never noticed his accent at all in “Avatar”, and he looks really good in this one, too. I’ll see it.
phantom says:
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 9:33am
Damn, this was great. I’ve never even heard of this film before but now I can’t wait to see it. Jessica Chastain will probably have a very memorable breakthrough year with this, The Tree of Life, Coriolanus and the Al Pacino-project.
Seankgallagher says:
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 9:46am
Has anyone here seen the Israeli movie it’s a remake of? Just curious – it doesn’t seem to be available here.
I’m not sold on Worthington (nothing to do with his accent, which I agree can’t really be gleaned from a trailer; I just thought he was kind of stiff in AVATAR), but he does resemble a young Wilkinson, and the story is kind of intriguing, so maybe.
Nathan says:
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 9:50am
I think the problem with Sam Worthington is that he is a wooden plank of an actor. He is very rigid and shows little depth of emotion. I am always willing to be surprised by someone, but his name on a movie does not excite me.
I think the problem with accents is when everyone speaks English, but in reality would all be speaking Russian or German to each other, why have an accent at all? They can drag a performance down. If you choose to have an accent then make it a good one.
Chris138 says:
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 9:51am
Looks like a solid thriller.
Oshu Huddleston says:
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 10:15am
*ahem* “Academy Award Nominee” Tom Wilkinson, since everyone else got their cred.
Horace says:
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 10:43am
I’m also kind of surprised about the blog commentariat’s writing off of Worthington. I thought he did a fine job in AVATAR, as did what seemed like most of the established critics. He’s not the most nimble actor, but he can be convincing and expressive, albeit at a subtle level. But I prefer that actors err on the side of underplaying.
Bloomy says:
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 10:54am
Im not sold on Worthington either
hes so wooden
his character is part of what took me out of avatar
you just didn’t care about him
Jessica says:
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 11:06am
@8 yeah, why didn’t Wilkinson get the Nominee title?
andrea says:
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 11:22am
The Youtube trailer on the Walt Disney youtube page says it opens March of 2011. So unless your talking the 2012 Oscars already it won’t factor this year assuming that info is correct.
Simon V says:
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 11:40am
Kevin get over yourself, Sam is not a “really good actor,” he is merely adequate, and nailing the accent down of whatever character he is being payed millions to portray is his responsibility- and the least he can do. People who complain that he’s not very good with accents aren’t linguists, but people who have common sense. In Avatar his accent would slip every so often, but in this trailer alone at the :41 mark you can hear his voice and I could have sworn he was going to say the sentence as “welcome to the mission, mate.” Nice.
SaltireFlower says:
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 12:09pm
This looks alright, I guess. I’ve never been able to get excited about Sam Borington’s films.
seattlemoviegoer says:
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 12:42pm
thanks Nathan.
you nailed it.
a wooden plank of an actor, indeed.
the word that came to mind
while watching AVATAR and CLASH
was “cypher.”
it’s like he’s not even there.
he goes through the motions of
acting, but there is no emotion,
feeling, personality…nothing.
Noah R. says:
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 1:55pm
Am I the only one who noticed that this trailer uses the music from Burn After Reading, which loosely parodies movies like this? That was fantastic.
The trailer looks okay. Nothing I’d rush out to see but maybe something I’d watch if it came on TV one lazy afternoon. As for Worthington, I really liked him in Terminator: Salvation, but that’s probably because the movie was so awful that he stood out. In Avatar, he had no character to begin with so it’s hard to judge how good he can or can’t be yet.
Matthew Starr says:
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 2:29pm
Anyone see Killshot? John Madden is very inconsistent.
Patryk says:
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 2:36pm
Just how many films does Helen Mirren have coming out this year? Love her madly, but it seems like there will be major category confusion…
phantom says:
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 4:41pm
I’m not a Worthington-fan, either, he hasn’t convininced me yet but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt…he might surprise me one day.
But then again, I don’t see why everybody’s talking about him or think he is the lead in this. Helen Mirren’s character is the lead in this film, she is billed first for a reason.
I checked out the source material’s synopsis and it’s obvious that this will be a Mirren/Chastain show.
LoyalT says:
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 7:27pm
Is his character supposed to be american? Leave the accents alone LOL
shiver says:
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 8:29pm
the reason some people are dissing on sam worthington is i think becasue he is australian.he gets this big breaks and leads in the top grossing film of all time (avatar), and 2 of his other films did good as well makes these people green with envy. FYI, go check sam worthington in “Sommersault”,and you’ll see he is more than just an action star. He won Best actor from AFI in that film. I like non-american actors actually who makes it big in hollywood. why? because before they can even penetrate hollywood films, they already have to be fully equipped. you know, the likes of geoffrey rush,russell crowe,cate blanchett, and oh they are actually all australians who also won acting collades in AFI. Not to mention Penelope Cruz and Roberto Benigni,Marion Cotilliard,etc. whose accent is far more worst than sam worthington, and yet, no one is dissing them.
I think sam worthington is going to be a bigger star than he is now. i am not going to be surprised if in a couple of years he is not just collecting money for his hard work, but awards as well. give him a little credit. there are a lot more american actors who certainly dont have accent problems butwho cant act a bit, and yet has been in couple of films lately. yeah like that twilight wolf guy, and that guy from GI joe. yeah those are great american actors indeed,doh!
marshall says:
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 12:20am
let’s not pretend the rest of the accents are any better than Worthington’s. Only Ciaran Hinds seems to be pulling it off, but he seems to have a solid knack for them.
Gerd says:
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 12:58am
Watch out for the villain here, Jesper Christensen is the Christoph Waltz of Denmark
Free says:
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 8:58am
@SaltireFlower:
I actually thought that the only thing memorable about Terminator Salvation was Sam Worthington.
Reichdome says:
Friday, July 23, 2010 at 3:17pm
Sam worthington goes form strength to strength man it been a long time sicne a aussie home grown boy shot to such prominence and fame in movies in such a brief notable film career in hollywood. Ok given it concept and given it not relating mossadies to current middle east context issues but mreo a flashback put this down with ‘kids’ ‘inception’ and ‘shutter’ as an oscar contedner too. unless of course the word ‘mossad’ is poison to oscar as it was when spielbergs veyr underrated masterpiece ‘munich’ was made