The Oxford Murders (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Oxford Murders | |
|---|---|
 Promotional film poster |
|
| Directed by | Álex de la Iglesia |
| Produced by | Kevin Loader Gerardo Herrero |
| Written by | Jorge Guerricaechevarria (screenplay) Álex de la Iglesia (screenplay) Guillermo Martínez (novel) |
| Starring | Elijah Wood John Hurt Leonor Watling |
| Distributed by | Odeon Sky Filmworks, Tornasol Films |
| Country |  UK
|
| Language | English |
| Budget | $14.1 million |
| IMDb profile | |
The Oxford Murders is a 2008 thriller film adapted from an award-winning novel of the same name by the Argentine mathematician and writer Guillermo Martínez, directed by Álex de la Iglesia and starring Elijah Wood, John Hurt and Leonor Watling.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
November 1993. Wood plays Martin, an American student at the University of Oxford who wants Arthur Seldom (Hurt) as his thesis director. In a public lecture, Seldom quotes Wittgenstein's Tractatus to deny the possibility of truth. Martin contests asserting his faith in the mathematics under reality. Later, Martin and Seldom coincide and find Martin's landlady (also a friend of Seldom's) murdered. Seldom declares to the police that he had received a note with his friend's address marked as "the first of a series". As Seldom is an authority on logical series, he suspects that a serial murderer is defying his intelligence. Martin, Seldom and Lorna (Leonor Watling), a Spanish nurse, will try to guess the following terms of the series as murders continue.
[edit] Mathematical and philosophical references
The characters debate several mathematical and philosophical concepts such as logical series, Heisenberg's Principle of Uncertainty, Gödel's Theorem, circles, the Vesica Piscis, the possibility of perfect crime, "Fermat"'s Last Theorem and its proof by "Professor Wiles", the Taniyama conjecture, the tetraktys and the Pythagoreans. There is a reference by Elijah Wood to the existence of two times tables(?).
[edit] Production
The film is a Spanish-French-British production directed by Spanish Álex de la Iglesia. Before the confirmation of the presence of the actor Elijah Wood in the film, the Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal had been considered for the role of the mathematics student. There were some weeks of speculation on who would play the lead. On December 26, 2006 Tornasol Films announced that Wood was cast in the lead role. The director Alex de la Iglesia commented that he convinced Wood to accept the role for the script. De la Iglesia also praised Wood: “I'm delighted to work with Elijah, who undoubtedly has the most powerful eyes in the industry and who is perfect for the part”.
The British actor John Hurt was cast in the role of a professor of the University, who is a fan by the detective work and goes to help the young student in his quest to try to stop a series of murders. The actor Michael Caine had been considered for the this role. De la Iglesia has described daily in his blog the peculiar situations that happen during the production of the film. The film is his first foray outside his typical black comedy genre into more dramatic fare.[1][2][3][4]
Filming began on January 22 2007 and had finished on March 24, with locations in Oxford and the Cast Courts of the Victoria and Albert Museum of London. It has been picked up for UK release by Odeon Sky Filmworks, opening there on 25 April, 2008. So far, the release date for the US is unknown.
[edit] Cast
- Elijah Wood - Martin, an American student
- John Hurt - Arthur Seldom, a British authority on logical series.
- Leonor Watling - Lorna, a Spanish nurse
- Julie Cox - Beth, a musician, daughter of Mrs Eagleton.
- Dominique Pinon - Frank, father of an ill girl denied an organ transplant (engrossed in Neopythagoreanism, presumably a possible murder suspect).
- Burn Gorman - Podorov, a crank mathematician (presumably token red herring)
- Jim Carter - Inspector Petersen
- Anna Massey - Mrs Eagleton, Martin's landlady and Seldom's friend (becomes the first victim).
- Alex Cox - Kalman, a demented mathematician
- Tom Frederic - Ludwig Wittgenstein
- Roque Baños - Director
- Alan David - Mr. Higgins
- Tim Wallers - Defence Lawyer
- Ian East - Howard Green, planner of a perfect crime
- Charlotte Asprey - Howard Green's Wife (the intended victim of Howard's planning)
- Martin Nigel Davey - Professor Wilkes
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- The Oxford Murders at the Internet Movie Database
- Blasfemando en el vórtice del universo Alex de la Iglesia's blog.
- preview of The Oxford Murders on European-films.net
- realmovienews.com pictures of Elijah Wood and John Hurt filming the movie in London.
- The Oxford Murders Official Website.
- A review from Language Log
|
||||||||
