This first poster has emerged online for James Marsh’s upcoming IRA espionage thriller ‘Shadow Dancer.’ The film stars the likes of Clive Owen, up-and-coming British actress Andrea Riseborough (Made in Dagenham, Brighton Rock), Aidan Gillen (The Wire) and Gillian Anderson (The X-Files).

I’ve been keeping a keen eye on this project, James Marsh was the man behind the fantastic Oscar-winning documentary ‘Man on Wire.’ The story follows Colette McVeigh (Riseborough), a young mother who is heavily involved in the Irish Republican movement, and who loses her younger brother at the hands of the British security forces. Owen plays Mac, an MI5 officer who recruits Colette after she is arrested following an aborted bombing attempt in London. In order to turn her, Mac gives Colette a choice either to inform on her family and see her son again, or stay silent and spend the rest of her life in prison. The film is based on Tom Bradby’s 1998 novel of the same name.

Twitchfilm are reporting that Clive Owen has been offered the role of the lead villain opposite Josh Brolin in Spike Lee’s forthcoming remake of Chan-wook Park’s classic South Korean film ‘Oldboy.’ It had previously been reported that Christian Bale and Colin Firth were in talks for the role. ‘Oldboy’ tells the story of a Joe (Dae-su Oh in the original), a man who is kidnapped and imprisoned on his daughters birthday. For fifteen years he is held captive, and upon his release must begin his journey to find the reason for his imprisonment. He soon finds out that his kidnapper has plans for him more tortuous than his solitary confinement. The original film, released in 2003, won the much coveted Grand Prize Jury Award at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.

“Twitch has learned that the villain role has now been offered to Clive Owen. Owen and Lee have history, of course, having worked together on Lee’s underrated thriller The Inside Man. That the director and star know and like each other is certainly a plus but a much bigger plus is that Owen embodies the perfect blend of sophistication and menace that the part requires along with the sort of charisma needed to go toe to toe with Brolin. Now he just needs to say yes.”

I’m a big fan of both Josh Brolin and Spike Lee, I still don’t quite grasp remaking such a unique and flawless film though if I’m honest. I am however giving this film the benefit of the doubt as Spike Lee is such a talented and original film-maker himself, without doubt one of my favourite directors working today. The combination of Spike Lee and Josh Brolin is certainly a FAR better fit to the material than Will Smith and Steven Spielberg – who had previously been linked to the project. UPDATE: Twitchfilm are now reporting that Mia Wasikowska (The Kids Are All Right, Alice in Wonderland, Jane Eyre) has apparently been offered the female lead.

This debut image has emerged online from James Marsh’s upcoming IRA espionage thriller ‘Shadow Dancer.’ The film stars the likes of Clive Owen, up-and-coming British actress Andrea Riseborough (Made in Dagenham, Brighton Rock) as the female lead, Aidan Gillen (The Wire) and Gillian Anderson (The X-Files).

I’ve been keeping a keen eye on this project, James Marsh was the man behind the fantastic Oscar-winning documentary ‘Man on Wire.’ The story follows Colette McVeigh (Riseborough), a young mother who is heavily involved in the Irish Republican movement, and who loses her younger brother at the hands of the British security forces. Owen plays Mac, an MI5 officer who recruits Colette after she is arrested following an aborted bombing attempt in London. In order to turn her, Mac gives Colette a choice either to inform on her family and see her son again, or stay silent and spend the rest of her life in prison. The film is based on Tom Bradby’s 1998 novel of the same name.

Inspired by true events, ‘Killer Elite’ is an action adventure spy film following Danny (Jason Statham), one of the world’s most skilled special-ops agents. Lured out of self-imposed exile to execute a near-impossible feat of retribution and personal salvation, Danny reassembles his old team of operatives to help rescue his former mentor (Robert De Niro), and to penetrate the highly feared and respected military unit, the British Special Air Service (SAS). Facing off against a covert group of ex-SAS soldiers known as “The Feather Men,” who, under their leader Spike (Clive Owen), provide a deadly cloak of security around all SAS members, Danny and his team must take down a rogue cell of solider assassins before their actions result in a global political meltdown. Accompanying Jason Statham, Robert De Niro and Clive Owen in film is Yvonne Strahovski, Dominic Purcell, Aden Young, Ben Mendelsohn, Lachy Hulme, Firass Dirani, Grant Bowler and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. ‘Killer Elite’ is set for release September 23rd. Check out what Yvonne Strahovski had to say about the film.

What was it about this story and character that sparked your interest?

Yvonne Strahovski: It’s a great story, and there’s really only one female in the story. I mean, there are a couple but the main story, it’s really just my character – so that was kinda cool. Also, she’s a country girl, she rides horses, I love riding horses and I love the country (laughs). I haven’t played a country girl in a long time so it was a nice break from my usual spy stuff that I do, that I have been doing on ‘Chuck‘.

Your character and Jason Statham’s character have an interesting dynamic.

Yvonne Strahovski: Yeah, Anne and Danny go back a long time, they actually knew each other since they were kids. Danny ends up going away, then he comes back now that he’s had this whole other life, they’re both adults now. She walks up to him and he doesn’t recognise her at first, she has to jog his memory and he realises that it’s the girl he grew up with, Anne. Then they start a friendship I guess, now that they’re adults things pursue (laughs).

My character has a bit of a dark past, I think she’s a really positive person. She’s always looks towards the bright side, she always looks to the future – considering her dark past, the things that happened with her husband, and all the things that happened before we meet her in this story, in the ‘Killer Elite.’ She’s a country girl, simple life. I think at the time she meets Danny, at the time she meets him again later on in her life, I think she’s ready to have a relationship, and I think she wants a relationship.

How was it working alongside Jason Statham in that capacity?

Yvonne Strahovski: It’s exciting to work with Jason Statham, with all the guys actually. It was exciting to find out Clive Owen was apart of the project, then Robert De Niro of course (laugh) – what can I say about that?! Who wouldn’t be excitied to work with Robert De Niro? It was just wonderful working with Jason Statham, I had most of my scenes with him. He’s a lovely guy, he’s really fun, really energetic – he never seems to run out of energy, even though he barely sleeps apparently (laughs). I admire his stamina, he gets up every morning and trains before he shoots, then it was shooting. He was great.

What was the preparation process like for you with ‘Killer Elite’?

Yvonne Strahovski: I had to, ironically, get back into my Australian accent. It was a while since I’ve had to do an Australian accent on camera, most of the time now I do an American accent or an English accent. It was a little bit difficult actually because I’m not used to it anymore – that was something to wrap my head around, strangely! Mainly physically it was doing the horse riding, I’ve ridden horses before and I love it, but I just needed to brush up on my technique a little bit to look like a girl who’s been living in the country, and riding since she was able to walk.

Inspired by true events, ‘Killer Elite’ is an action adventure spy film following Danny (Jason Statham), one of the world’s most skilled special-ops agents. Lured out of self-imposed exile to execute a near-impossible feat of retribution and personal salvation, Danny reassembles his old team of operatives to help rescue his former mentor (Robert De Niro), and to penetrate the highly feared and respected military unit, the British Special Air Service (SAS). Facing off against a covert group of ex-SAS soldiers known as “The Feather Men,” who, under their leader Spike (Clive Owen), provide a deadly cloak of security around all SAS members, Danny and his team must take down a rogue cell of solider assassins before their actions result in a global political meltdown. Accompanying Jason Statham, Robert De Niro and Clive Owen includes Yvonne Strahovski, Dominic Purcell, Aden Young, Ben Mendelsohn, Lachy Hulme, Firass Dirani, Grant Bowler and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. ‘Killer Elite’ is set for release September 23rd. Check out what Gary McKendry had to say about his directional debut and the films three lead stars.

How was it directing yourfirst feature film in ‘Killer Elite’?

Gary McKendry: It’s fantastic, it’s terrifying, it’s exhilarating, it’s frustrating, i it’s wonderful – it has been a great ride, but it has been a crazy ride. When we first started out to make this film, I never would have thought….if you would have told me, ‘Oh hey, here’s your first picture, you’ve got Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Robert De Niro. How do you feel about that?’ I would have laughed in your face, but here we are (laughs).

How was it getting Jason Statham to play Danny?

Gary McKendry: Jason Statham was my first choice for this role, when Jason decided to do this role, I was ecstatic. Danny is a really difficult character, and what really pleased me was when Jason read the script, he initially went straight to Danny, which is a difficult choice. Danny is a character who does bad things for good reasons, I think Jason cottoned onto that. The thing that’s interesting with Danny is that he has no one to talk to in the movie, he has no one to share with. He can’t share with his guys about his work in Australia, he can’t share with the people in Australia about his other life. He’s trapped between two worlds, neither of whom he can talk too. Danny essentially is a man of secrets, I’ve always loved the way Jason Statham plays silence, he was great,

Clive Owen really brings many contrasting qualities to Spike?

Gary McKendry: When we got the script to Clive Owen, and I did the phone call to Clive after he read the script, what I really loved was….look, I’ve been an admirer of Clive’s work for many many years, all the way from ’Croupier,’ I really love what Clive does. Then there’s the other side of Clive that you see in the BMW films, where he’s like a character not unlike Jason Statham in the Transporter movies, he’s almost like a James Bond character. What drew me to Clive for this role was the domestic side, and I think that is what interested Clive. In one scene we’ve got a guy who hangs somebody up by the elbows, beats him unconscious, throws him to the floor, stamps on their head, throws down a business card – then the next scene he’s changing his babies diaper and making toast in a squalid flat in Deptford. There’s the two sides of the coin, I think Clive really brought that.

Robert De Niro, what hasn’t been said about him…..

Gary McKendry: Robert De Niro is like THE movie star, there’s times when I stood on set and I looked at Robert De Niro….he done a great fight scene at a train station, you just think he’s amazing, then you think, ‘Oh yeah, Raging Bull.’ (Laughs) There’s a scene where he lifts a pistol, my favourite scene in any action movie, in the history of the planet, is in ’The Godfather; Part II’ where he shoots the guy through the towel, and then the towel goes on fire and he puts out the towel. You just go, ‘This is Robert De Niro!’ Robert De Niro has done guns, he’s done punching, and on top of that you have the best actor in the world. He was fantastic, great, wonderful.

Inspired by true events, ‘Killer Elite’ is an action adventure spy film following Danny (Jason Statham), one of the world’s most skilled special-ops agents. Lured out of self-imposed exile to execute a near-impossible feat of retribution and personal salvation, Danny reassembles his old team of operatives to help rescue his former mentor (Robert De Niro), and to penetrate the highly feared and respected military unit, the British Special Air Service (SAS). Facing off against a covert group of ex-SAS soldiers known as “The Feather Men,” who, under their leader Spike (Clive Owen), provide a deadly cloak of security around all SAS members, Danny and his team must take down a rogue cell of solider assassins before their actions result in a global political meltdown. Accompanying Jason Statham, Robert De Niro and Clive Owen includes Yvonne Strahovski, Dominic Purcell, Aden Young, Ben Mendelsohn, Lachy Hulme, Firass Dirani, Grant Bowler and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. ‘Killer Elite’ is set for release September 23rd.

What interested you about ’Killer Elite’?

Clive Owen: It’s always the same things, it’s the script and the director. I read the script, I liked the script. I thought it was a very unusual and original spy movie really. It had some very cool action but it was rooted in this very unusual real world, these guys who were living very much in this world, it felt like a real spy story. And then I saw Gary’s short film that he was nominated for an Academy Award for, and thought it was really impressive. I had a number of conversations with him about the vision of the film, and then decided I wanted to do it.

Can you tell us a little bit about your character Spike, and what he means to the story?

Clive Owen: Something has happened to Spike, he’s damaged his eye and he’s left the special forces, the SAS. But he still feels like he wishes he was very much involved, he’s apart of this clandestine group that kind of meet and protect members of the SAS and their families. Basically they begin to suspect that some of their men are being targeted, they don’t quite know why, and they don’t quite know who’s doing it. But certain people have been around asking questions about certain operations that the SAS were involved in. So he begins to set up a counter intelligence among ex-SAS guys, who are now trying to find out what’s going on and prevent their guys being killed. The group Spike is apart of, the feather men, they wield a lot of power. They look after their own basically. I’m really the guy on the street, the very established guy.

How did you prepare for this role, him being SAS, and also the fight sequences?

Clive Owen: Luckily I know a few ex-SAS guys so I picked their brains a bit. I also had a couple meeting with an SAS consultant, a guy who had been in the SAS for twenty five years. The interesting thing is he’s ex-SAS, which is what I was playing, it was fascinating to pick his brains about just the whole selection process for the SAS, I had no idea what that was like. To hear how rigorous it is, how very very few people pass that test, procedure. It’s pretty much just people who show themselves to be incredibly adept and highly skilled. Then they’re picked and put through this process, where a lot of them are eliminated, only very few of them get through. So, he taught me about that whole process, also he was a great explainer of what it’s like to be ex-SAS. There’s something about the film, which for me is the most interesting aspect of playing this part, and why I wanted to explore it, and that is when a guy is that highly trained and that highly skilled, he’s been inside such extraordinary, intense situations, lots of situations where it is life or death. To suddenly have to let that go and try to live a normal life, what that is? How people are? What a lack of understanding it would be for someone who hasn’t been through that.

There’s a couple of very big fights I’m involved in in ‘Killer Elite’. I’ve got a really fantastic stunt team, it was the best I’ve ever worked with. It just requires a few hours a day for quite a few weeks to get on top of something like that. It’s not something that you can wing on set and kind of work out – it’s very specific. Fight scenes are acting, it’s just like dialogue, it’s about rhythm, it’s about precision. You’ve got to execute something very specific, you’ve got to be very prepared and ready to do it. It certainly helps if the stunt team around you are very skilled, and these were. There’s something very satisfying about doing fights in movies, they’re very very specific. The lines of what you have to execute are very clear. It’s like there are beats in certain things, it’s precision and very clear with the objectives. It’s different with dialogue because there’s so many different ways you can interpret it. But with a good fight, it’s very clear what you have to execute, I find that quite satisfying.

How did you find working with director Gary McKendry?

Clive Owen: I had a really great time working with Gary. It’s his first feature, there’s always risk involved when you work with a director who’s never directed on a feature before. I really liked his short, I really liked him when I met him and talked to him about the movie, and his vision for it. But you never know until you start shooting, quite how the thing will pan out? I was hugely impressed with him, he is incredibly prepared, always has a good perspective – where you position a camera on a movie can tell us much of the story as dialogue can, and the script, just in terms of the way you’re coming at the characters and the story. His visual eye is really impeccable, his choice of shots. He comes in very clear, he’s not one of these directors who comes in and tries to find his way in the scene. He’s a great collaborator, very easy to work with.

Open Road Films have released this new international poster for Gary McKendry’s ‘Killer Elite’. Fans of both dodgy moustaches (see Clive Owen above) and adrenaline-filled action flicks are sure to mark the Jason Statham, Robert De Niro and Clive Owen starring action-thriller on their ‘to-see’ calender. Inspired by true events, the film follows an ex-special ops agent (Jason Statham) who is lured out of retirement to rescue his mentor (Robert De Niro). To make the rescue, he must complete a near-impossible mission of killing three tough-as-nails assassins with a cunning leader (Clive Owen).

Along for ride include Yvonne Strahovski, Dominic Purcell, Aden Young, Ben Mendelsohn, Lachy Hulme, Firass Dirani, Grant Bowler and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. ‘Killer Elite’ has been pencilled in for a September 23rd release date. The film itself is based on the novel ‘The Feather Men’ by Ranulph Fiennes. UPDATED – UK banner added below.

Inspired by true events, Killer Elite is an action adventure spy film following Danny (Statham), one of the world’s most skilled special-ops agents. Lured out of self-imposed exile to execute a near-impossible feat of retribution and personal salvation, Danny reassembles his old team of operatives to help rescue his former mentor (De Niro), and to penetrate the highly feared and respected military unit, the British Special Air Service (SAS). Facing off against a covert group of ex-SAS soldiers known as “The Feather Men,” who, under their leader Spike (Owen), provide a deadly cloak of security around all SAS members, Danny and his team must take down a rogue cell of solider assassins before their actions result in a global political meltdown.

The film’s whirlwind action crosses the globe from Australia to Paris, Wales, London, Dubai and Oman. The story is based on Sir Ranulph Fiennes’ controversial non-fiction novel “The Feather Men.”

Fans of both dodgy moustaches (see Clive Owen above) and action flicks are sure to mark Gary McKendry’s Jason Statham, Robert De Niro and Clive Owen starring action-thriller on their ‘to-see’ calender. The film follows an ex-special ops agent (Jason Statham) who is lured out of retirement to rescue his mentor (Robert De Niro). To make the rescue, he must complete a near-impossible mission of killing three tough-as-nails assassins with a cunning leader (Clive Owen).

Along for ride include Yvonne Strahovski, Dominic Purcell, Aden Young, Ben Mendelsohn, Lachy Hulme, Firass Dirani, Grant Bowler and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. ‘Killer Elite’ has been pencilled in for a September 23rd release date. The film itself is based on the novel ‘The Feather Men’ by Ranulph Fiennes.

Universal Pictures (via Fotogramas) have liberated this Spanish poster for the upcoming physcological horror flick ‘Intruders.’ The film is directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later, Intact) and stars the likes of Clive Owen, Carice van Houten, Daniel Bruhl, Pilar Lopez de Ayala and Kerry Fox. ’Intruders’ will open the 59th San Sebastian Film Festival September 16th and is due to be released October 7th.

Synopsis: Intruders tells parallel stories of two families whose lives are disrupted by menacing apparitions: in Spain, a mother tries to protect her son from a faceless stranger, while in Britain, a young  girl has terrifying dreams of a demon who becomes a real danger to her and her family. 

Universal Pictures have liberated released this UK trailer and these three new images from their upcoming physcological horror flick ‘Intruders.’ The film is directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later, Intact) and stars the likes of Clive Owen, Carice van Houten, Daniel Bruhl, Pilar Lopez de Ayala and Kerry Fox. ’Intruders’ will open the 59th San Sebastian Film Festival September 16th and is due to be released in the UK October 7th.

Synopsis: Intruders tells parallel stories of two families whose lives are disrupted by menacing apparitions: in Spain, a mother tries to protect her son from a faceless stranger, while in Britain, a young  girl has terrifying dreams of a demon who becomes a real danger to her and her family.