Last year, I wrote an article about the movie GRAND PIANO starring Elijah Wood that was described as SPEED with a piano. As ridiculous as that sounds, I never thought it would actually happen. But, lo and behold, here we are with our first look at the international trailer for GRAND PIANO. The clip is entirely in Spanish, but you can get a good idea of how the story breaks down.
Taking a page out of the book of incredible film history feats like HIGH NOON, the bulk of the movie takes place in near-real time over the course of a high stakes classical music concert. It’s here that our hero makes his long-awaited return to performing after being stricken with stage fright at a show five years ago. Lured by the chance to honor his long-time instructor in a program showcasing some of his hardest works, the reluctantly musician accepts the concert, knowing full on that it means tackling the infamous “unplayable piece.” The lights go down and the concert begins with a few warm up selections, but something strange is happening inside the score on the piano. As the pages are turned, text begins to appear, defining a very clear threat – “Play a wrong note and you die.”
Real time? Very interesting. The person behind the threats is played by John Cusack. The trailer doesn’t look cheesy at all and has echoes of Alfred Hitchcock and Brian De Palma. This could turn out to be a very interesting movie from Spanish director Eugenio Mira. Elijah Wood has been on a streak of unique films as of late with the remake of MANIAC, OPEN WINDOWS, and now this. He is turning out to be one of the more interesting child actors to continue as an adult.
GRAND PIANO has no release date but will premiere at the upcoming Fantastic Fest. Hopefully an English language version comes online soon so we can hear all of the tricky plot details.