If it wasn’t for the blasé title, Duplicity might have a more pronounced blip on 2009 movie radars. Director Tony Gilroy’s debut, Michael Clayton, scored seven Oscar noms, including Best Picture and Best Director, and the cast to his follow-up is of similar caliber, with Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Wilkinson now joining Clive Owen and Julia Roberts in the thriller about the pharmaceutical industry, modern greed and espionage.
However, the casting does sensically play into the title, with Thornton and Wilkinson in the roles of rivaling CEOs for massive drug companies and Owen and Roberts the opposing spies they set in motion in a race to obtain an invaluable “innovation.” Like Clayton, the film was written by Gilroy, and it’s good to see Wilkinson and the director working together again so soon after the former’s deserved Best Supporting Actor nom.
No word on whether Duplicity’s characters will stealthily cruise around in 2009 Mercedes-Benzs, but I’d count on it; returning cinematographer Robert Elswit (There Will Be Blood) can shoot a luxury automobile like it’s the second coming, and even make light reflect off the hood like existential drizzle.
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