Mike Leigh‘s Mr. Turner seems to be the first outright success coming out of the Cannes Film Festival, though that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise as a Leigh film playing in front of critics in Cannes is an instance of preaching to the choir.
Now, eOne, whom will be handling the release overseas has released the first international trailer for the film that finds Timothy Spall in the title role as eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851).
Profoundly affected by the death of his father, loved by a housekeeper he takes for granted and occasionally exploits sexually, he forms a close relationship with a seaside landlady with whom he eventually lives incognito in Chelsea, where he dies. Throughout this, he travels, paints, stays with the country aristocracy, visits brothels, is a popular if anarchic member of the Royal Academy of Arts, has himself strapped to the mast of a ship so that he can paint a snowstorm, and is both celebrated and reviled by the public and by royalty.
The film will hit theaters in the UK this October while Sony Classics is holding this one until December 19, most likely saving it for the fall festival circuit in Toronto, Telluride and Venice before launching an all out awards campaign. The cinematography here from Dick Pope looks wonderful and I’m expecting a lot from Spall.
Check out the trailer below and, in case you missed it, yesterday I posted click here for those.
