After holding on to the adaptation of Mark Helprin’s romantic fantasy novel Winter’s Tale for years as a dream project, writer Akiva Goldsman finally got a chance to realise it when he started the cameras rolling about a year ago. Now the film, which stars Colin Farrell, Downton Abbey’s Jessica Brown Findlay and Russell Crowe, has a trailer, which you can watch below via Apple.
At first set in the 19th century, Winter’s Tale chronicles what happens when a thief named Peter Lake (Farrell) breaks into the New York home of a fatally ill young woman (Findlay) and starts to fall in love with her. But his life is also complicated, not least by Pearly Soames (Crowe), a violent crime boss for whom Lake used to work and who he's now running from.
But when Pearly finally catches up with our hero and he seems doomed, something strange happens: he shows up in present-day Manhattan having lost his memory and befriends Virginia, who helps him explore his past. William Hurt, Eva Marie Saint, Ripley Sobo, Mckayla Twiggs, Matt Bomer and Kevin Durand are also part of the cast.
The trailer is a little heavy on the fantastical schmaltz, but then, the movie is getting released on Valentine’s Day across the pond and will be out here – apparently called A New York Winter’s Tale – on February 21.