Sandra Bullock is portraying Ruth Slater in "The Unforgivable". Image Source: Screen Rant
Netflix released the first trailer of the new upcoming movie "The Unforgivable" starring actress Sandra Bullock as the lead as a convict. The movie is an adaptation of Sally Wainwright’s 2009 ITV miniseries ‘Unforgiven’.
The official synopsis of the movie is described as, "Released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime, Ruth Slater (Sandra Bullock) re-enters a society that refuses to forgive her past. Facing severe judgment from the place she once called home, her only hope for redemption is to find the estranged younger sister she was forced to leave behind. "
Sally Wainwright’s series ‘Unforgiven’, saw Vigil Jones playing Ruth, who was found guilty of murdering two police officers when she was a teenager. After her release from prison, she seeks out her sister, who was adopted shortly after the incident. Critically acclaimed German director Nora Fingscheidt directs the movie, which stars Vincent D’Onofrio, Jon Bernthal, Viola Davis, Richard Thomas, Linda Emond, Aisling Franciosi, and Rob Morgan. Nora Fingscheidt replaced Christopher McQuarrie as the director of the movie.
The filming began in Vancouver in February 2020. After a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the filming concluded in October. Nora stated about the halt and filming again mentioned, "We started shooting in February 2020, and then, as we all know, [by] mid-March, things changed globally. We came back in September and, of course, when we filmed the second half, shooting was very different. We had to be super, super careful and learn how to work with COVID. For me, the biggest challenge was: How can we make it work so that later on, when you watch the film, you don't think, 'Oh, wait, that was pre-COVID and now that's after COVID?' All of a sudden, all the extras are spread out or, oh, it's summer and [now] it's winter, because we shot in Canada where you have very strong seasons. That was an extra challenge."
Sandra Bullock told Entertainment Weekly, "My character is someone who has been incarcerated for 20 years for a pretty heinous crime [and] gets out. There are several people whose lives she affected by this crime she committed, and there's a lot of hatred and anger and bitterness and sorrow associated with her release. She wants to find this one person, the only family she had when she went in, and you keep asking yourself, 'Why can't you let it go? This family member was traumatized by your actions — let it go! 'Stop causing harm to these people all over again".
A still from "The Unforgivable". Image Source: BGR
The actress added, "Finding out the background to the story of why she did what she did is sort of who dun nit of this. It's a murder mystery within a very complex character drama." Sandra describes working with the high-wattage supporting cast as "ridiculous and selfishly beneficial". She added further, "I don't care where you think you are on the level of talent on your acting scale, if you place yourself opposite those who are far better than you, they will only elevate you. I was so scared. I was basically making a silent film for my character, and I was like, 'If I fail with my emotional inner life, we've lost the storytelling.' But I would get opposite these tremendous human beings, and you just go 'thank you' to be opposite talent like that. Everybody dreams about it. And then here we had it."
Sandra Bullock is also on board as a producer of the movie through her company, Construction Film, and it is co-written by Peter Craig, Hillary Seitz, and Courtenay Miles. The movie will be released in the United States on November 24th, 2021, and worldwide on December 10th, 2021.
Sandra Bullock was last seen on the big screen in Netflix’s movie "Bird Box," which was a post-apocalyptic horror set in a world inhibited by entities that mean death if you look at them. The actor also has a busy upcoming slate. She's also set to star as a kidnapped romance novelist in the comedy The Lost City of D alongside Channing Tatum and Daniel Radcliffe, as well as in the action thriller Bullet Train, which also stars Brad Pitt, Michael Shannon, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
Nora Fingscheidt hopes that with this movie, the viewers will have a greater sense of empathy. She says, "I would love it if they might reconsider their judgment of people who are outside society, people who are massively disadvantaged because of their past. I think it's worth sometimes taking a second look. It's not so easy to re-enter society. You might change in prison after 20 years quite a lot, but for the majority of people out there, you're still a prisoner, and you will live with that forever. It's really worth looking into details and giving people second chances. That is what I was thinking about a lot."
