Kate Winslet and Idris Elba share the screen together in the first trailer for the upcoming survival drama/thriller, The Mountain Between Us. The film, as is based on the 2011 novel of the same name by Charles Martin, was set to star Margot Robbie and Michael Fassbender, then Rosamund Pike and Charlie Hunnam, in Winslet and Elba's respective roles at different points during its development. Winslet and Elba were finally locked down for the project last year and production got underway at last in Vancouver, under the direction of the Israeli filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad (Paradise Now, Omar).
Adapted for the big screen by screenwriters J. Mills Goodloe (Everything, Everything) and Chris Weitz (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), The Mountain Between Us follows journalist Alex Martin (Winslet) and surgeon Ben Bass (Elba) as they charter a small plane ride together, on the eve of two very different, yet equally important events in their respective lives. Their plans get put on the back-burner when their plane crashes on a remote, snow-covered mountain and the pair realize they if they are to survive, they must work together to brave the wilderness and trek countless miles to find help.
As 20th Century Fox's newly-released trailer for The Mountain Between Us illustrates, the movie is very much a two-person show - save for the brief appearances by actors such as Beau Bridges and his pilot character's dog (which accompanies Winslet and Elba on their journey). Martin's own source novel is something of an unconventional love story that favors emotional intimacy over a sweeping romance and that appears to hold true for The Mountain Between Us movie adaptation, based on the quieter moments between Alex and Ben that can be glimpsed in the trailer.
The Mountain Between Us likewise appears to be a cross between a relationship drama and nature survival thriller, as opposed to a meditative "man vs. nature" story in the vein of something like Joe Carnahan's The Grey (to use a more recent example). It remains to be seen if The Mountain Between Us can seamlessly blend together these dual genre elements or if winds up being somewhat unwieldy, with either the love story coming across as corny and/or the survival story coming off as dull. Ideally of course, the movie will succeed at being both moving and thrilling, with the expected powerhouse performances from Winslet and Elba serving as the glue that holds the whole thing together.
Fox is releasing The Mountain Between Us in theaters this October, indicating that the studio is hoping to tap into the demand for storytelling geared more towards mature audiences that such past October hits as Gone Girl and The Martian have, in recent years. That being said, it's perhaps more reasonable to predict that The Mountain Between Us could become a moderate hit in the vein of last year's own best-selling novel-turned October movie release, The Girl on the Train, as opposed to achieving the runaway success of the other book adaptations mentioned here.
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Source: 20th Century Fox
