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Duplicity (Tony Gilroy, 2009)
Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 10:08 pm
by Jeff
When the
original announcement about
Duplicity was made in
Variety last October, I was mainly interested because of the Clive Owen-Julia Roberts pairing that I thought was very successful in
Closer (yeah, I know I'm alone here). After
Michael Clayton though (which is even better on second viewing), I'm very interested to see what Tony Gilroy has cooked up next. Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Wilkinson have joined the cast. Robert Elswit is the D.P. again, and Gilroy's brother John is back in the editor's chair. They just started shooting, but if it turns out well, I could see it being released at the end of this year. Here are
some pics from the set.
Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 12:11 pm
by SoyCuba
Well, according to
Yunda Eddie Feng this will be a winner at the Oscars.
Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:57 pm
by Antoine Doinel
Paul Giamatti has
joined the cast.
Re: Trailers for Upcoming Films
Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 3:27 am
by Antoine Doinel
Tony Gilroy follows up the excellent
Michael Clayton with uh,
this.
Re: Trailers for Upcoming Films
Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 3:32 am
by domino harvey
The cinematography looks quite stylish, maybe it'll be okay
Re: Duplicity (Tony Gilroy, 2009)
Posted: Thu Nov 27, 2008 4:44 am
by Jeff
Michael Clayton is wonderful -- an impossible act to follow, but this looks like good
Charade-style fun to me. As the Bourne films show, Gilroy is just as adept at the smart thriller as he is the character study. His Hawksian romcom patter was the best thing about his screenwriting debut
The Cutting Edge too. I'm not expecting one a' them "enduring works of art" that Ray Carney speaks of, but I am looking forward to this.
Apple has a higher quality trailer in a variety of formats.
Re: Duplicity (Tony Gilroy, 2009)
Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2009 2:56 pm
by Highway 61
Re: Duplicity (Tony Gilroy, 2009)
Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 6:01 am
by Jeff
Mike D'Angelo's mini-review on his blog has me all atwitter.
[EDIT]
...And now it's two for two!
Todd McCarthy, [i][url=http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117939878.html?categoryid=31&cs=1]Variety[/url][/i] wrote:An ultra-sophisticated love story between two corporate spies with pronounced mutual trust issues, "Duplicity" is a brainy, non-violent "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," the film "Intolerable Cruelty" wanted to be,
a "Trouble in Paradise" for modern times. Smart, droll and dazzling to look at and listen to, writer-director Tony Gilroy's effervescent, intricately plotted puzzler proves
in every way superior to his 2007 success "Michael Clayton." The twisty, time jumping narrative forces viewers to keep on their toes, and it could well be that "Duplicity" is too smart for its own good as far as the popcorn masses are concerned. Still, this is about as good as it gets these days for sharp-minded Hollywood entertainment made for an intelligent audience, and Universal can only hope that Julia Roberts, in an excellent return to leading lady form, still has the B.O. pull to put this one over.
WOW!
Re: Duplicity (Tony Gilroy, 2009)
Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2009 9:40 am
by Antoine Doinel
Huh. Nothing in the trailer makes me think this could be remotely better than Michael Clayton (which I loved) but the reviews have me curious. I guess the only thing that will make it or break for it for me is the suggestion of 3 Stooges type humor from the trailer -- mainly Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson getting physical on the airport tarmac; Clive Owen spilling the martini etc. I truly hope it is a sophisticated spy comedy that earns a comparison to Trouble In Paradise and something quite different than the brassy but dull trailer.
Re: Duplicity (Tony Gilroy, 2009)
Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 8:00 pm
by tavernier
More good news:
AW hates it!
Re: Duplicity (Tony Gilroy, 2009)
Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2009 9:07 pm
by Jeff
Oh, Armond, you had me at "crusading liberal movie stars." I haven't been this pumped to see a movie in a good while.
Re: Duplicity (Tony Gilroy, 2009)
Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 11:18 am
by MoonlitKnight
The trailer had the STRANGEST tone to it. Is it a thriller? Is it a caper? Is it a lightweight comedy? If it's trying to be all these things, I'm not sure it was working in those 2.5 minutes.
Re: Duplicity (Tony Gilroy, 2009)
Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 2:03 pm
by Cde.
Trailers are quite misleading. In fact, it's often the job of those who edit them to deceive the public.
If the studio doesn't know how to sell it, it probably means one of two things:
1) It's a dud and they don't know how best to fool people into watching it; or
2) It's interesting, unusual or uncompromised, so the studio doesn't know how best to fool people into watching it.
Hopefully this is a case of the latter. I don't have high hopes though.
Re: Duplicity (Tony Gilroy, 2009)
Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 3:45 pm
by domino harvey
The Rotten Tomatoes summary uses "cerebral" as a pejorative to describe this film. I guess that means I won't have to deal with ten year old kids on their Spring Break in the audience today
Re: Duplicity (Tony Gilroy, 2009)
Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2009 3:55 am
by karmajuice
This is an entertaining flick. Maybe a bit too talky, and the structure is confusing (with the film constantly alluding back to previous events, one loses one's place), but fun and sometimes funny and I'd say worth seeing.
Re: Duplicity (Tony Gilroy, 2009)
Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2009 9:03 am
by MoonlitKnight
Cde. wrote:Trailers are quite misleading. In fact, it's often the job of those who edit them to deceive the public.
Indeed, I remember the trailer for "A.I." trying to make it seem as if it were another E.T."
Re: Duplicity (Tony Gilroy, 2009)
Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 1:44 am
by Jeff
The trailer doesn't really capture the tone of the film at all. It's very smart and fun. The comparisons to Trouble in Paradise and even Out of Sight are pretty silly, but it's still much better than 99% of what generally passes for entertainment. The film it most closely resembles is Charade, and if Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn had been in the leads I think Duplicity would have been the superior film. I don't know if I could call it better than Michael Clayton, because the tone of the two films is so different. It's definitely a fantastic sophomore effort though, and Gilroy really demonstrates the range of his writing. I didn't find the flashback structure confusing at all, and it was integral to the construction -- not at all gimmicky. The world of corporate espionage isn't something that I had really seen explored before, and Gilroy has convinced me that it's pretty thrilling. He's the real deal. If he can crank out gems like Michael Clayton and Duplicity every couple of years, we're in for a real treat.
Re: Duplicity (Tony Gilroy, 2009)
Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 2:26 am
by Svevan
I agree with Jeff, including the Charade comparison, although I have to say that
the final twist was over-explained. Gilroy's filmmaking style is characterized by its slow-reveal process, where characters will be talking about a situation well before the audience understands exactly what it is; his method for revealing necessary plot details is organic, through small things like Tilda Swinton having a plastic bag on her hand in Michael Clayton. Duplicity layers the "slow reveals" throughout the film, via flashbacks where the two leads' hot/cold relationship always seem like an act, and both characters realize this. The final twist of the film was clever, sure, but the sequence where it is revealed bombarded us with details: "Then we'll plant THIS document in THIS mainframe, and they'll think A, B, and C, while all the while Z was true!" Unnecessary. We needed to get into Wilkinson's office and immediately get out. Tell us who won, don't beat us over the head with how. Not to mention it was only a setup for the excellent final shot, a great mix of Gilroy's slow pull-out and Owen and Roberts' performances.
So I'm very positive on the whole thing, especially the flashback structure, which is an evolution of Gilroy's storytelling method. Hopefully Gilroy's fascination with Corporate America won't become a schtick; if he sticks with it I hope he tries out other genres, and if he doesn't, I hope his filmmaking stays assured and respectful of his audience.
Re: Duplicity (Tony Gilroy, 2009)
Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 10:21 pm
by hot_locket
Jeff wrote:He's the real deal. If he can crank out gems like Michael Clayton and Duplicity every couple of years, we're in for a real treat.
Definitely. I almost feel guilty how entertained I was by this.
I agree with an above poster that the ending was a little too over-explained, though.
Re: Duplicity (Tony Gilroy, 2009)
Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2009 4:42 pm
by HerrSchreck
I enjoyed this film quite a bit. I thought it was a smart and clever box of popcorn for the night.
I hafta say though: Julia Roberts (I haven't seen her in a while) is getting a little weird looking.
Re: Duplicity (Tony Gilroy, 2009)
Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2009 4:47 pm
by kaujot
She's been weird looking for a very long time.