Three Thousand Years of Longing has a brand new trailer from MGM. George Miller’s latest movie stars Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton. The actress plays Alithea a scholar and she’s gotten a magic lamp with Elba as the genie that inhabits it. She argues that she doesn’t want anything, but those wishes have to be used. What ensues is a long trip through history as the genie of the lamp tries to entice her to make good on those wishes. Visuals on this movie look lush and the concept is truly unique, which people are talking about online. It’s rare for a non-franchise trailer to grab people this way. But, clearly, Three Thousand Years of Longing is doing something right. From the maximalist art influence in the posters and framing to the sheer wildness of the visual cues during the trailer, it’s a feast for the eyes. Also, not to be underestimated are two powerhouses in Elba and Swinton injecting the fantastical concept with life. Check it out for yourself down here.
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In an interview with Deadline, the director talked about his previous comments that this film was the “anti-Fury Road.” Everyone loved his take on Furiosa in that project. But, there’s something different going on here. Miller explained, “Well, it’s certainly a palate-cleanser for Fury Road. And there was a lot of pressure to go straight into another [Mad Max movie]. In a way, things got chaotic with the studio going through changes of regimes, and I knew I really wanted to make this film regardless.”
“But when I say it’s the anti-Mad Max, I mean it only in the sense that it’s got way more dialogue than the very laconic Fury Road. Most of that was shot on location in the deserts of Southern Africa,” he added. “This one was shot basically indoors, with only a couple of outdoor scenes. Its scale is smaller, at least in terms of its physical scale, even though, yes, it is set over 3,000 years. But also, Fury Road was a story that essentially happened over three days and two nights, and this happened over 3,000 years, so that’s what I meant by the anti-Mad Max.”
Here’s a synopsis for the MGM film: “Dr. Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton) is an academic — content with life and a creature of reason. While in Istanbul attending a conference, she happens to encounter a Djinn (Idris Elba) who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom. This presents two problems. First, she doubts that he is real and second, because she is a scholar of story and mythology, she knows all the cautionary tales of wishes gone wrong. The Djinn pleads his case by telling her fantastical stories of his past. Eventually she is beguiled and makes a wish that surprises them both.”
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