Plenty of films come to the Toronto Film Festival hoping to kick up enough buzz to secure a distribution deal, but likely the most high-profile film at this year’s festival still looking to catch someone’s eye is Robert Redford’s period drama The Conspirator. The film, about the trial of a woman accused of helping to plan Abraham Lincoln’s assassination and starring Robin Wright and James McAvoy, had its premiere last night and has already garnered healthy interest. A source close to the film confirmed to EW that they have received two separate offers so far, even though they don’t expect a deal to be close today.
Despite the big names both in front of and behind the camera, The Conspirator is hardly a big studio offering. “The budget was comparatively small,” Redford told EW. “It was a first-time outing for the financing company, and the budget was tied to the schedule, which was quick and fast. It’s basically like an independent film.” But the pedigree, along with praise for Wright and McAvoy’s performances as the accused Mary Surratt and her lawyer, will certainly help the movie’s chances of leaving Toronto in somebody’s possession.
This is Redford’s first film since 2007′s Lions for Lambs, even though he was working in the interim on other projects on subjects like Jackie Robinson and The Weather Underground. The majority of the film takes place in the aftermath of the president’s murder, as the government fights for a swift conviction of the potentially innocent Surratt in order to assuage the nation’s post-Civil War tensions. “When I first read the script, I was taken aback by the fact that the Lincoln assassination was only a catalyst for this whole other story,” says Redford. “And it’s a story that no one has really told before.”
Robert Redford is a great director.
and he was so HOT back in the day!
And James McAvoy is a great actor who has yet to be recognized with a major award. I hope this will happen now.
Whoa, James McAvoy looks just like Ewan McGregor in that picture!
Yeah, James McAvoy is good and all, but…TOBY KEBBELL.
I hope this gets a distributor. I know a little about the history of the story and it’s a good story .I think if done right it can be award worthy.
James McAvoy is amazing. I hope this movie finally gives him the recognition that he deserves.
Please, Oh please let this come out this year. There are three movies that im paying the most attention too at Toronto, and am hoping will get picked up, this is certainly one of them!
Great to see an historical film made. Not enough are made today about real people and real events. Too much garbage is made and released today.
I hope this movie comes to the states, my husband is a general in the movie.He got to “rub elbows with the stars”and has pictures of himself with some of them.
This article gives me great ideas! Thanks for the information you have here!
I know this isn’t timely but watched this withy son on vacation. Thank god for Robert Redford and his commitment to making interesting and intelligent movies