Saturday, February 6, 2010

Eric Bana Will Be The Father of Assassin 'Hanna'


I'm very intrigued by Hanna, Joe Wright's hitgirl film that starts his steely-eyed Atonement star, Saoirse Ronan. Even if it's a bit of a Leon / Kick-Ass story, Wright hasn't really let me down yet (though I never did see The Soloist -- maybe I speak too blindly), and Ronan is a force to be reckoned with. Now she's landed a brooding hunk of a costar, as Heat Vision reports that Eric Bana is in line to play her nemesis and father.

Hanna centers around a 14-year-old Eastern European girl who is groomed by her father to be a cold-blooded killing machine. She finds a loving connection with an ordinary French family, but is dragged kicking and screaming (I imagine that's no hyperbole) back to her father's brutal world. She then discovers that she's one of many such killer children, born and bred in a CIA training camp. If she wants to be free, she's going to have to fight her way out. Cue the blood and brutality, I hope.

An actor who has never quite made it huge on this side of the Pacific, Bana seems to be destined for darker roles in Hollywood films. He's capable of very funny and very nuanced work. (Have you seen Romulus, My Father? If not, go rent it now.) I can't imagine Wright is going to give us a one-sided bad guy, and will let Bana play someone who is loving and cruel. Given the way he's bolstered so many British careers, maybe Wright and Hanna will be the film that launches Bana into a more respected stratosphere.

SOURCE