Stars: Ian McShane, Nora Arnezeder, Oscar Coleman, Adam Nagaitis, Fanny Ardent, Thomas Kretschmann | Written by Nacho Faerna | Directed by Gonzalo López-Gallego
American Star is the latest film from Spanish director Gonzalo López-Gallego whose output has ranged from Apollo 18 and Open Grave to Backdraft 2, a 28-year later Dtv sequel to the 1991 hit. Here he and writer Nacho Faerna are presenting a variation on a well-worn theme, the criminal who’s about to pull off their last job before retiring.
In this case, the criminal is a hitman named Wilson who has come to Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands to perform what should be an easy assignment. But complications ensue right from the start, when he drives out to the unnamed target’s secluded house, he’s not there. Someone does arrive, but it’s a young woman, not the man he was expecting. Wilson bides his time, then slips out unseen,...
American Star is the latest film from Spanish director Gonzalo López-Gallego whose output has ranged from Apollo 18 and Open Grave to Backdraft 2, a 28-year later Dtv sequel to the 1991 hit. Here he and writer Nacho Faerna are presenting a variation on a well-worn theme, the criminal who’s about to pull off their last job before retiring.
In this case, the criminal is a hitman named Wilson who has come to Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands to perform what should be an easy assignment. But complications ensue right from the start, when he drives out to the unnamed target’s secluded house, he’s not there. Someone does arrive, but it’s a young woman, not the man he was expecting. Wilson bides his time, then slips out unseen,...
- 2/20/2024
- by Jim Morazzini
- Nerdly
Short days on site, nice rental cars, plus room and board — being a hitman doesn’t seem so bad. But a job is a job, and everybody deserves a vacation now and then. That’s what Wilson (Ian McShane) treats himself to in “American Star,” checking into a Canary Islands resort after discovering his target’s residence empty for the time being. A foreign location and senior citizen with a gun can often indicate a bargain bin actioner these days, but filmmaker Gonzalo López-Gallego surprises with an art-house touch, pushing his star into a considered, if also very safe, tranquility.
The director’s most rewarding decision: simply trusting McShane to summon the mood. Now 81 years old, the decorated English actor conveys a wealth of character with his delicate but steady gait, playing a hitman of few words. It’s beguiling enough to see Wilson scan an empty room for signs...
The director’s most rewarding decision: simply trusting McShane to summon the mood. Now 81 years old, the decorated English actor conveys a wealth of character with his delicate but steady gait, playing a hitman of few words. It’s beguiling enough to see Wilson scan an empty room for signs...
- 1/25/2024
- by J. Kim Murphy
- Variety Film + TV
Ian McShane is 81, but you’d never know it watching him in “American Star.”
Also a producer of director Gonzalo López-Gallego’s new film, the English actor plays Wilson, a seasoned assassin who visits the Canary Islands’ Fuerteventura for a job, but instead unexpectedly becomes involved in the life of a French expatriate (Nora Arnezeder) and the lonely child of a vacationing couple (Oscar Coleman). From the first scene, McShane dances across the screen with the same effortlessness of a performer a quarter of his age, as his character reckons with an escalating series of disruptions to a sequence of events whose outcome is inevitable: someone dying of a bullet from his gun.
Though he’s been working in film, TV and theater for more than six decades, McShane has become well known in America largely in the last two, playing mentors and authority figures on series like “Deadwood” and “American Gods,...
Also a producer of director Gonzalo López-Gallego’s new film, the English actor plays Wilson, a seasoned assassin who visits the Canary Islands’ Fuerteventura for a job, but instead unexpectedly becomes involved in the life of a French expatriate (Nora Arnezeder) and the lonely child of a vacationing couple (Oscar Coleman). From the first scene, McShane dances across the screen with the same effortlessness of a performer a quarter of his age, as his character reckons with an escalating series of disruptions to a sequence of events whose outcome is inevitable: someone dying of a bullet from his gun.
Though he’s been working in film, TV and theater for more than six decades, McShane has become well known in America largely in the last two, playing mentors and authority figures on series like “Deadwood” and “American Gods,...
- 1/25/2024
- by Todd Gilchrist
- Variety Film + TV
"Rule Number 1 – the less you know about the target, the better." IFC Films has revealed an official trailer for an assassin film called American Star, directed by Spanish filmmaker Gonzalo López-Gallego. There are no American actors in this movie, however, and the title is actually a reference to big shipwreck called the "American Star", which really exists and can be found on the west coast of the Fuerteventura island in the Canary Islands – which is where this film was shot and it also takes place. This 2024 films follows an assassin on his final assignment on Fuerteventura, who remains on the island while his target is delayed in arriving. He becomes drawn to the people he meets and a ghostly shipwreck which complicates his mission greatly when the target arrives. Ian McShane stars + produces, with Nora Arnezeder, Adam Nagaitis, Fanny Ardant, Oscar Coleman, Andres Gertrudix, and Thomas Kretschmann. This really doesn't look that bad,...
- 12/12/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
In 2014 and 2015, Vertigo published Si Spencer’s eight-issue graphic novel Bodies, a mind-bending mystery about four police officers from different historical eras who discover the same corpse in the same London location, decades apart. Featuring detectives from the present day, the 1940s, the 1890s and 2053, it’s a complex conspiracy thriller about a very dark future. Originally illustrated by four artists – Dean Ormston, Phil Winslade, Meghan Hetrick and Tula Lotay – each era had its own distinct feel and look.
Spencer, who had also written on other Vertigo titles including Judge Dredd and Books of Magick: Life During Wartime, sadly passed away in February 2021, meaning he wasn’t able to see Paul Tomalin’s eight-part Netflix series adapted from his work. It’s out now, with a sprawling cast of characters including Boiling Point and This Is England’s Stephen Graham, several established actors and a handful of newcomers. Here’s more about them.
Spencer, who had also written on other Vertigo titles including Judge Dredd and Books of Magick: Life During Wartime, sadly passed away in February 2021, meaning he wasn’t able to see Paul Tomalin’s eight-part Netflix series adapted from his work. It’s out now, with a sprawling cast of characters including Boiling Point and This Is England’s Stephen Graham, several established actors and a handful of newcomers. Here’s more about them.
- 10/19/2023
- by Louisa Mellor
- Den of Geek
Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego’s film is produced by Mike Elliott and McShane.
Altitude has boarded international sales on Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego’s thriller American Star led by Ian McShane, with the film completing production on the Spanish island of Fuerteventura.
Screen can reveal a first-look image of the film, above; Altitude will introduce it to buyers during Cannes.
American Star follows an assassin on a final assignment in Fuerteventura, to kill a man he has never met. When his target is delayed, he finds himself drawn to the island, people and a ghostly shipwreck; and when the target returns, everything has changed.
Altitude has boarded international sales on Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego’s thriller American Star led by Ian McShane, with the film completing production on the Spanish island of Fuerteventura.
Screen can reveal a first-look image of the film, above; Altitude will introduce it to buyers during Cannes.
American Star follows an assassin on a final assignment in Fuerteventura, to kill a man he has never met. When his target is delayed, he finds himself drawn to the island, people and a ghostly shipwreck; and when the target returns, everything has changed.
- 5/5/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
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