With Josh Hartnett in the lead, I’ll be game for just about anything, and Singularity has always sounded like something to look forward to. The project has been in the works for quite a while, with Brendan Fraser previously attached, and this year it has finally come a hair’s breadth away from making it to the big screen.
Though plagued with financial difficulties that culminated in the film stopping just short of finishing production earlier this year, The Playlist reported back in February that Belgium’s Corsan Films, who first packaged and pre-sold the film, insist it will be on the market at Cannes this month.
The question we’re now faced with though, getting this first promo and on-set video, is whether Neve Campbell is still a part of the film. For a few possible explanations of why she unfortunately isn’t seen here, keep reading.
Both the trailer and the behind-the-scenes look show some impressive footage – curiously, the on-set video seems to have even better shots than the trailer itself, so be sure to watch that too.
According to Bipasha Basu, it’s not an official trailer, “just a rough clip,” presumably to promote its appearance on the market at Cannes – so if you have any worries about the trailer not being up to scratch, you can lay them to rest.
The on-set video is where the best magic happens.
Written and directed by Roland Joffé, twice Oscar nominee (The Killing Fields), the film also stars Bipasha Basu, Abhay Deol, Simone Kessell, Claire van der Boom, and Shane Briant.
Interestingly, Neve Cambpell’s involvement with the film was noted as late as February this year, but there is no sign of her in either the trailer or the on set video.
Though it’s not official, it could be that because 10% of the film was said to have been left not filmed due to lack of funds, the sections involving Campbell either had to be cut for the film to make sense, or were never filmed in the first place.
The reason being, the film as it was originally imagined had a synopsis that looked like this:
“Great Barrier Reef, 2020. After a dangerous dive to save his wife Laura (Neve Campbell) trapped while exploring a colonial British merchant ship wreckage, Jay Fennel (Josh Hartnett), a rugged and attractive marine archeologist lies brain dead in a Boston hospital.
Fennel’s dream-like coma takes us back in time to Pune, India in 1778. The British East India Company is invading the palaces and a young captain named James Stewart (Josh Hartnett), who bears a striking resemblance to Fennel, is about to embark on a dangerous mission. Along the way he encounters murder, deceit, betrayal and revenge. He falls deeply in love with a Marathi warrior named Tulaja Naik (Bipasha Basu), an impossible love which he must fight for.
Only the power of a ring can transcend time and save a life.”
It’s quite possible, then, that by tweaking the film to only take place in India, 1778, the future-set section of the film could have been edited out entirely (or not filmed in the first place).
I’m hopeful, however, that it’s simply because this is a promo trailer, and they’re either wanting to hold back the 2020 part of the film until a later trailer, or that they’ll film it if they can secure further funding after Cannes.
Exactly when Singularity will be making its way to cinemas – and at this point, it could be ‘if’ rather than ‘when’, but I hope not – is not yet known, and will possibly depend on what happens at Cannes in the next few weeks.
I love Hartnett in everything he’s been in to date, with a great track record that includes the likes of The Faculty, Lucky Number Slevin, Black Hawk Down, and 30 Days of Night, not to mention being instrumental in bringing Sin City to the big screen. From this first footage, we’d be in for a real treat if Singularity does finally make it to the big screen.
Here’s the first promo trailer followed by the on-set video for you to judge for yourselves. More as we get it.
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Source: via KinoPoisk.
