'Lives of Others' Director Joins Angelina's 'Tourist'

I'm not sure the switch from Charlize Theron to Angelina Jolie in the upcoming French thriller remake The Tourist is much more than a lateral move. There are stregths to having either one in your cast. But when Theron dropped out last week, it was a by-product of the departure of director Bharat Nalluri, who is probably best known for the dissilmilar Mrs. Henderson Lives for a Day. Nalluri might noth have been the go-to choice for a project like this, but it's still curious that the movie lost its director and two lead stars (Tom Cruise was originally inked to star opposite Theron). But in the best possible way, really, The Tourist appears to be on the right track without ever getting really derailed. HitFix reports that Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck will fill in for Nalluri, making his American film debut. Von Donnersmarck directed one of the best films of this decade, the Foreign Language Film Oscar winner The Lives of Others, released back in 2006/2007. Clearly, the tone of that film is a lot closer to the film being remade here, 2005's Anthony Zimmer, and since the director has turned down every other offer made to him by the studios in the past couple of years, he sees something in The Tourist that's really attractive as a filmmaker. Well, let's do some accounting: Biggest female movie star in the world - check. One of the fastest-rising leading actors over the past few years (Sam Worthington) - check. Script co-written by an Oscar winner (Christopher McQuarrie) - check. Yeah, I can see why this one might have lured von Donnersmarck. This also signals, to me anyway, that The Tourist won't play by the conventional rules of a Hollywood thriller. Even though there's no distributor yet, Spyglass had sought two international directors for this project, implying that there's a certain aesthetic they're either going for or more likely trying to avoid. It can work or backfire. Hiring Tom Tykwer for The International gave the film a certain visual punch but it was a bit too cerebral or nuanced to strike a chord with mass audiences. That's why you hire an Angelina Jolie, I guess.