If there is one thing you that you can guarantee from Michael Winterbottom, it’s that you can never predict where he will go next. His last few efforts have seen him move from the romantic drama “Genova” to the grim genre piece “The Killer Inside Me” to the delightful low-key character comedy “The Trip.” So what’s next? Again, something completely different, this time an adaptation of Thomas Hardy‘s novel, “Tess of the d’Urbervilles.”
Titled “Trisha,” Winterbottom has relocated the story to contemporary India, telling the story of the tragic relationship between Jay and Trishna, the former the son of a property developer, the latter the daughter of an auto rickshaw owner. Up-and-coming British actor Riz Ahmed (“Four Lions,” “Centurion“) takes the former role, while Freida Pinto takes the latter. The film was shot in Jaipur, India, earlier this year and Winterbottom has moved fast, getting it completed and ready for its premiere at TIFF. If the production was quick, it certainly wasn’t at any expense to the film as these first images look great. It’s too early for release dates just yet — no distributors are attached to the film — but that should change after the film hits Toronto. See more pics and the synopsis after the jump.
Starring Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) and Riz Ahmed (Centurion) and based on Thomas Hardy’s novel Tess of the d’Urbervilles, the film is set in contemporary India and tells the tragic love story between the son of a wealthy property developer and the daughter of a rickshaw driver.
