It’s been a while since we’ve gotten a film from legendary Scarface director Brian De Palma. The last was an Iraq war drama called Redacted that came out in 2007, but honestly I don’t even remember that one happening. The last time he did something that I even recognized as a De Palma film was The Black Dhalia in 2006. And before that there was 2000’s Mission to Mars, which I only remember because of how laughably bad it was. Suffice to say, Brian De Palma has been off of the radar for a while. It felt a little strange today to see his name randomly pop up when Deadline Lenexa reported that he had signed on to direct a film called The Key Man. Written by relative newcomer Joby Harold, The Key Man is said to be tonally in tune with that spat of 70s thrillers that took over for a while and was probably best encompassed by Marathon Man and Three Days of the Condor. It’s going to be about a single father being tracked by government agents because his body contains important national secrets. In his body? How did that happen? “Million to one shot, doc.” Gross. All possibilities of anal insertion humor aside, is anybody looking forward to a thriller directed by Brian De Palma? The 70s style throwback makes it sound a little intriguing to me, but this is a director I wrote off a while ago. Do we have any indication that he might

The idea of Hugo Weaving and Brian Cox sharing the screen together is basically a total nerd’s wet dream. In one corner you got Agent Smith, V, Megatron, Elron the elf, and Red Skull. In the other corner you got William Stryker, Ward Abbot, Robert McKee, and the original Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Could two leads get any cooler than this? Most likely not. The Key Man is making its premiere here at SXSW this week, so lets hope the film delivers as well as it should. In anticipation of its debut, we’ve got an exclusive first look at the film’s poster.