One of the most important decisions an actor can make coming off of an Academy Award win is his or her first choice of follow up projects. After winning Oscar gold, no one wants to go on to have a career like Halle Berry or Cuba Gooding, Jr.
Fresh off his Best Actor win last month at the Academy Awards, Colin Firth appears to have made that big decision. The Daily Mail is reporting that the actor has signed on to star in Stoker, the English language debut feature from Korean director Park Chan-Wok (Oldboy, Sympathy For Lady Vengeance).
Normally, I would insert a caveat about reportage from a British tabloid, but the Hollywood Reporter is also running a story, though they state “”Moho Film, Park’s film company, refused to comment further. . . saying details will be released in the next three weeks.”
Some would regard as signing on to the first English-language film from a foreigner director with only a cult following in the United States as a bit of a risky move under normal situations. But Firth has hardly had a misstep in his career so far, so I feel safe in deferring to his judgment on this as well.
Stoker tells the story of a woman and her daughter who move in with her mysterious brother-in-law after her husband’s death. Nicole Kidman and Mia Waskiowska are signed to play the mother and daughter. Firth will be playing the strange uncle, who some whisper to the mother may be a vampire. The script is by Prison Break star Wentworth Miller made it on to last year’s Black List.
