Drawing the basics of your script from a novel that has already been adapted overseas to Oscar-winning effect can be a daunting challenge. But it’s one that **Shattered Glass **writer/director Billy Ray has taken on with Secret In Their Eyes, bringing Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole Kidman and Julia Roberts along with him. The first trailer has now arrived.
Taken from Eduardo Sacheri’s novel La Pregunta De Sus Ojos, this new film is attempting to follow Juan José Campanella’s 2009 Argentinian effort The Secret In Their Eyes, which went home with the Best Foreign Language Film award at the 2010 Oscars. Along with knocking off that initial “The”, Ray tweaked the plot to add in more of a female presence in the lead when Roberts expressed her interest.
The story follows similar lines, with Roberts and Ejiofor as FBI colleagues called to investigate a body found brutally murdered and left in a dumpster. To their horror, they discover that the victim Roberts’ teenage daughter. The revelation shatters the team, and though they think they’ve zeroed in on the prime suspect, the case collapses and he walks. Cue a 13-year obsessional drive to find the truth and resolve the case, with Ejiofor pushing his District Attorney supervisor (Kidman) to help bring some closure. But how far are they all willing to go for justice?
While the trailer just says coming soon, the film is listed as arriving on March 4 next year.