Marlowe (2022) starring Liam Neeson

Open Road Films has acquired North American rights to Marlowe, a noir crime thriller that stars Liam Neeson atop an ensemble that includes Diane Kruger, Jessica Lange, Danny Huston, Alan Cumming, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Ian Hart, Colm Meaney, Daniela Melchior and Francois Arnaud. Neil Jordan directed the film from script by The Departed’s William Monahan. The film will be released theatrically December 2 through Open Road/Briarcliff Entertainment. In what is Neeson’s 100th film, the star plays detective Philip Marlowe, the protagonist from the hardboiled Raymond Chandler mysteries that included The Big Sleep, Farewell My Lovely and The Long Goodbye. 

This one is based on author John Banville’s book The Black-Eyed Blonde, an original novel authorized by the Raymond Chandler estate. The action is set in late 1930’s Bay City, centering around the brooding, down on his luck detective Marlowe. He’s hired to find the ex-lover of a glamorous heiress (Kruger), daughter of a well-known movie star (Lange). “It was one of those summer Tuesday afternoons when you begin to wonder if the earth has stopped revolving. The telephone on my desk had the look of something that knows it’s being watched. Traffic trickled by in the street below, and there were a few pedestrians, too, men in hats going nowhere.” So begins The Black-Eyed Blonde, and Marlowe is embroiled in a deadly investigation and web of lies he’s determined to bring to light. Ortenberg said he is “very excited to continue working with Liam Neeson on Marlowe. It’s the type of film we love to be part of: an incredible cast, an Oscar-winning writer and director, and a gripping story that audiences are going to love.”

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. 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. Source: collider.com