The Family starring Robert De Niro coming this fall (Trailer)

Based on the novel Malevita; opens 9/13

If you've checked out my Movies Based on Books page, you may remember I posted that Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Tommy Lee Jones were all starring in the upcoming Luc Besson film Malevita, set in France (for my Dreaming of France friends). You can forget that. Unless you live in France. Confused? The film will still be titled Malavita in France, but here in the good ol' U.S. of A. the film will go by The Family. I've corrected the entry here. Did the marketing dept think we'd have trouble pronouncing Malavita? Or does the break from the books' title (the film is based on the book Malavita by Tonino Benacquista) make sense for American audiences? Malavita which is Italian for 'bad life'  and slang for 'the mob' 'the underworld' 'the racket' etc is actually the name of the family pooch - he even made the poster - an Australian cattle dog whose real name is Emeron who stuck to De Niro's side.  The black comedy is about a mob family who gets relocated to a small village in Normandy under the witness protection program. De Niro is the old mobster Manzoni, now Fred Blake, Pfeiffer plays his wife Maggie, but as you can see from the trailer, even their kids, Belle(Dianna Agron) and Warren (John D'Leo) get in the act. 

The release date has been moved up a month to September 13th causing some speculation that The Family may make an as yet unscheduled stop at TIFF first. Check out the TIFF schedule to stay up to date.

In what has got to be the very definition of META, the trailer begins with De Niro's voice over waxing poetically about the good ol days of being a crime boss, and looking like a scene cut straight out of an old De Niro/Scorsese movie... Scorsese executive produced. One of my favorite moments doesn't involve De Niro. The lighter, and non-violent scene in what looks like fairly violent fare is encapsulated in the still below; Michelle Pfeiffer trying to ask the French merchant for peanut butter in French. 

Michelle Pfeiffer in The Family: 'Le beurre de cacahuètes'  AKA  'peanut budda'

Check out the trailer and see what you think. His English is much better than her French but you can't blame her for trying. Or can you? I didn't hear the requisite 'Bonjour' prior to her question; aren't the French especially prickly towards what they see as bad manners? Does the 'stupid American' comment make my fellow Americans prickly? Because I have a feeling it sets Maggie Blake (Pfeiffer), how do you say, on edge.

The Family (Malavita) Trailer   Length:  2.34