Awards season must be approaching: we’re beginning to get trailers and clips for films that don’t have explosions, bright lights, gigantic robots or superheroes. This latest trailer for an award contender comes to us courtesy of Stephen Frears (The Queen) and Pathe. The film is Philomena and it stars Judi Dench and Steve Coogan.
That pairing might sound a little odd and for a moment I almost thought that I read it wrong. But it’s true. Here we have Steve Coogan starring alongside Judi Dench in what looks to be a very serious part for Philomena, which he also wrote the screenplay for.
Coogan is journalist Martin Sixsmith, a down-on-his luck writer who finds a tragic real-life story in the tale of Philomena Lee (Dench). Philomena’s son was taken from her fifty years before, after she was sent to a convent to be looked after as a ‘fallen woman.’ Forbidden to contact the boy, she finally broke that vow and searched for him, eventually tracing him to America with the help of Sixsmith.
The trailer lays out most of these particulars in a straightforward but moving way. The brief scenes are punctuated by points of humor, such that we must expect from Coogan. But this is quite obviously a serious story meant to be taken seriously, even if we do get Judi Dench talking about discovering her clitoris.
Philomena was written by Coogan and Jeff Pope and is based on Martin Sixsmith’s book The Lost Child of Philomena. I think the film has the potential to be even more moving when we realize that it’s a true story.
The Weinstein Company has distribution rights for Philomena, but there’s no US release date as yet.
Check out the trailer below. Are you looking forward to seeing Coogan in a rare dramatic role? What about Dench? Let us know in the comments.