Everyone
connected with
Richard
Kelly‘s The Box
is happy to explain the premise: a couple is delivered a box with a
philosophical quandary attached. Open the box and they will be rich but someone
they do not know will die.
Frank Langella
(Masters
of the Universe,
Superman Returns)
plays the deliveryman, Arlington Stewart, in what will be a challenging role for
him.
"I’m
jumping into a whole other genre certainly with a much younger cast.," said
Langella. "Cameron
Diaz and
James Marsden are the hot young actors and it puts me in a new world."
Needless
to say, Langella has more than a cameo, so he won’t just be dropping off the
package and leaving them be. "Believe I’m there for the duration. It’s a
remarkable script. Every actor I know says to me, ‘How did you get that part?’
I’m thrilled."
Just
getting into wardrobe fittings has already become a surreal experience. "I met
Rich Kelly and his producing partner,
Sean
McKittrick, the other day having had long conversations on the phone, and I
didn’t know they were the director and producer. I thought there were, like, AD
assistants. I met a much older woman who was doing the clothes and these two
young guys kept talking and interrupting her and I finally said, ‘What do you do
in the movie?’ and he said, ‘I’m the director.’ I said, ‘Oh, okay. You’re my
boss.’"
The Box, based on Richard Matheson’s short story Button, Button, is due in theaters in 2008.
