The trailer for Roman Polanski’s upcoming political thriller The Ghost Writer debuted yesterday. Based on the Robert Harris novel The Ghost, it stars Ewan McGregor as a ghost writer for a recently unseated British prime minister (a thinly-disguised Tony Blair in the form of Pierce Brosnan), who is putting together his memoirs. When McGregor stumbles upon secrets that threaten to put the PM in a bad light, and thus his own life in danger, he wavers between keeping his job and doing the right thing.
Harris and Polanski wrote the script; Kim Cattrall, Olivia Williams, and Tom Wilkinson also star. The film’s post-production was completed inside Polanski’s Swiss ski chalet while he was under house arrest.
Polanski may have personal legal troubles, but he does not have poor storytelling troubles. This looks like a damn good upscale thriller.