"The Impossible" (2011) Update

The Impossible

 
Cast: Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, Tom Holland, Gitte Julsrud, Marta Etura
Director: Juan Antonio Bayona

Summary: An account of a family caught, with tens of thousands of strangers, in the mayhem of one of the worst natural catastrophes of our time - the tsunami that hit the coast of Thailand in 2004.

Analysis: Much of the same team behind 2007's impressive Spanish-language supernatural tale "The Orphanage" have returned for this English-language effort based around events related to the disaster that reeked havoc along the coast of the Indochinese Peninsula. In fact it's the same director, writer, production manager, cinematographer, composer and editor which gives us a good idea as to the look and feel of the film.

Shot in Alicante, Spain and on location in Thailand throughout much of the last half of 2010, Bayona describes the project as an "ambitious, high-quality European film" which will be "competitive on an international market". In terms of authenticity, many of the extras in the film are actual survivors of the tsunami.

McGregor's stand-in however got a little too comfortable and wrote a poem to the actor that halted production briefly as it was deemed a possible death threat. Though Warner Bros. Pictures will be handling distribution in certain countries, Summit Entertainment has scored the domestic rights and will be opening the film later in the year.