For his milestone hundredth film, suave action legend Liam Neeson is set to star in Oscar-winning director Neil Jordan's upcoming noir thriller Marlowe. Recently acquired by Open Road Films, this gripping period piece boasts a stacked cast of stars embroiled in a 1930's mystery of unexpected twists, and with Neeson involved, it's fair to expect a heart-pounding shoot-out and brooding intensity. With its acquisition, Marlowe sets its theatrical wide release for this December.
Marlowe is a simmering crime noire with a screenplay written by Academy-award winner William Monahan, whose credits include Martin Scorsese's The Departed, Ridley Scott's Body of Lies and more. Set in Bay City in the '30s, the story itself follows Detective Philip Marlowe (Neeson), who has, as of late, been down on his luck. Everything changes when a beautiful and glamorous heiress, played by Diane Kruger, hires Marlowe to track down her ex-lover. When the ex's disappearance turns out to be only the tip of the iceberg, the detective finds himself at the center of a deadly investigation, spurred by a string of lies that will put his "very particular set of skills" to the test.
The thriller marks director Jordan's second feature film with Neeson starring, after his 1996 biopic Michael Collins set during the Irish Civil War. Of their reunion, Jordan dubbed the actor an "icon," saying: "I can’t imagine MARLOWE without Liam Neeson. But then, I can’t imagine Michael Collins without him either. Maybe you need an icon to play an icon - that said, I couldn’t feel more honored to be teaming with Liam on his 100th movie, a project we’re all incredibly proud of.”
Detective Philip Marlowe is a character first introduced in the late '30s in the hardboiled crime genre as the outwardly gruff, but deeply introspective archetype, by author Raymond Chandler. Marlowe is hard-pressed to fall for the genre's femme fatales, and prefers to use violence only as a last-resort. He's the epitome of those black and white noire crimes with a rain-drenched city backdrop and a beautiful woman sitting on the edge of the desk, pleading for help. Marlowe is an adaptation of a specific work by Booker Prize-winner John Banville, The Black-Eyed Blonde, which featured Detective Marlowe, and was officially authorized by Chandler's estate.
For Neeson, who's been acting onscreen since the late '70s, a crime noire will be a bit of a different pace from his usual action-packed thrillers. While he's most-recently known for films like Taken and The Grey, Neeson's acting abilities range from Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List, to romantic comedies in Love Actually and sci-fi epics with his iconic portrayal of Qui-Gon Jinn in George Lucas's Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. Joining Neeson and Krueger in this all-star cast are Jessica Lange, as Krueger's famed movie star mother, Danny Huston, Alan Cumming, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Daniela Melchior, Ian Hart, Colm Meaney and Francois Arnaud.
Marlowe is directed by Jordan, who previously earned an Oscar for his film The Crying Game, with a screenplay adapted by Monahan. Elisabeth Costa de Beauregard, actor Patrick Muldoon, Celine Haddad (Vivarium) and Steven Sims will executive produce.
You can see Marlowe in theaters on December 2, 2022. Check out Collider's interview with Neeson where he discusses his previous work with Jordan below: