Clint Eastwood is less than a year away from his 80th birthday, and he's still going strong. Oscar season is not far away, and Eastwood's next release, Invictus, is already gaining buzz as a potential contender.
The trailer below is now on the web, and it looks and sounds like the trailer for every other drama released by a major studio. That said, the story looks promising: How Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) used the 1995 Rugby World Cup as a platform to address a South Africa still divided after the recent end to apartheid. He enlists the aid of Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), the captain of the South African rugby team, in an effort to unite the country.
What's refreshing is that neither Freeman nor Damon feels familiar. Although Freeman's voice is easily recognizable, it's different enough from the omnipresent voice-over narration tone we've all heard non-stop since March of the Penguins. And Damon sounds like he's worked quite diligently on a South African accent.
Invictus is based on the John Carlin book Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation. The adapted screenplay was written by Anthony Peckham, who also drafted the script for the upcoming Sherlock Holmes.
Posted 10.29.09 by reelz