Danny Boyle is slowly starting to put the casting pieces together for his next film, Trance. Today, Deadline tells us that two more fine actors have signed on. Rosario Dawson and Vincent Cassel will join James McAvoy in the upcoming heist film. Cassel will be taking the role that was originally supposed to go to Michael Fassbender and Dawson will be playing the part that Boyle had wanted Scarlett Johansson for.
The plot synopsis is as follows:
An assistant (McAvoy) at an auction house masterminds [an art] heist and teams up with a gang of thieves (led by Cassel), but suffers a blow to the head and wakes up with amnesia. He is the only one who knows where the painting’s location is and after his continued failure to remember, the gang begins to suspect duplicity on his part and hire a female hypnotist (Dawson) to get into his brain.
The film is said to be a bit edgy and is being compared to two of the director’s previous movies, Shallow Grave and Trainspotting. Trainspotting is one of my favorite films of all time so the comparisons between the two definitley have me interested.
The plot also sounds quite appealing, who doesn’t like a good heist film? And Trance sounds like it’s putting a nice twist on the genre. From the summary above, we can tell that this won’t just be a cookie cutter heist film. The whole “get into his brain” part sounds kind of Inception-esque, which in Boyle’s hands, could turn out to be pretty neat.
Then there’s the cast. I’m a big fan of McAvoy, so we’re alright on that count. And while I still would have preferred Fassbender in the co-starring role, I’m in no way opposed to Cassel, especially after seeing his tremendous work last year in Mesrine. As for Dawson, I’m impartial. I don’t really care for her either way. That being said, she’s done some solid work in the past and I’m sure she’ll do just fine in the role.
The 2013 release date is still a long ways away but I think it’s safe to say that this one is worth getting excited for.