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The Good Liar Trailer & Poster: Ian McKellen Stars As A Conman
Warner Bros. Pictures releases The Good Liar trailer and poster. Based on Nicholas Searle’s novel of the same name, the thriller is directed by Bill Condon. In March 2018, Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren were announced as the leads.
Searle released his novel The Good Liar in 2015. Prior to that, he spent 25 years working for British intelligence. The Good Liar explores a conman’s attempts to steal from a wealthy widow. McKellen stars as the scheming Roy Courtnay, and Mirren portrays his victim Betty McLeish. The Good Liar was adapted for the screen by Jeffrey Hatcher, who previously wrote the 2015 film Mr. Holmes, directed by Condon and starring McKellen. The Good Liar features supporting performances from Russell Tovey (Quantico), Mark Lewis Jones (Chernobyl), Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson (Game of Thrones), Jim Carter (Downton Abbey), and Celine Buckens (Free Rein).
Warner Bros. Pictures released The Good Liar’s trailer and poster. The opening focuses on the first meeting between Roy and Betty, this coming after they’d previously conversed online. Both characters discuss their past experiences with online dating, and that perhaps the “next time will be different.” This marks the trailer’s inciting incident, as Roy confesses “a deception” - a seemingly clever way to hide a larger lie. The Good Liar trailer reveals that three million pounds are at stake, and the clip’s first half mostly frames Betty as a naive, lonely woman. In the second half, the drama increases as Roy gets caught up in a game he may not be fully equipped for, with the orchestral sound design upping the suspense even more. As a whole, the trailer’s aesthetics are similar to the recent Netflix release The Perfection, but with industry icons in the main roles. The clip ends with ominous dialogue from Betty, as she references secrets with God, the Devil, and the Dead. Watch The Good Liar trailer and check out the poster below.
Since releasing the aforementioned Mr. Holmes, Condon directed Walt Disney Studios’ Beauty and the Beast starring Emma Watson, and he also wrote the screenplay for the 20th Century Fox musical drama The Greatest Showman. In pop culture, Condon is perhaps best known for directing The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, while some may know him as the Oscar-winning scribe behind Gods and Monsters, or as the writer of the 2002 musical Chicago.
Condon’s filmmaking career dates back to the early ‘80s, and he’s come a long way way since directing the 1992 sequel Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh. By now, Condon has established a particular style of writing and directing, and The Good Liar trailer shows that he’s still interested in the thriller genre. In anticipation of Condon’s new film, one may want to check out his 2013 thriller The Fifth Estate, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, to see how the director handles genre tropes.
