Theo James Couples up with Amber Heard in London Fields

He was the exotic one night stand in Downton Abbey, he's currently swoon-worthy opposite Shailene Woodley in Divergent, and sometime this year we'll get to check him out in London Fields, an adaptation of the Martin Amis' novel. Hunky Theo James - born Theo Taptiklis - who turns thirty this year (his Divergent character was eighteen, nineteen in the book, a bit of a bone of contention for me) plays Guy Clinch to Amber Heard's Nicola Six.

How do you like the producers' summary of the story, as scripted by Roberta Hanley? 

Clairvoyant femme fatale Nicola Six has been living with a dark premonition of her impending death by murder. She begins a tangled love affair with three uniquely different men: one of whom she knows will be her murderer.

Sounds juicy, right? Check out the rest of the cast; in addition to Theo James and Amber Heard, Ms. Heard's famous fiancé, Johnny Depp is on board with some sort of cameo. The two met while working on the very disappointing adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's The Rum Diary a couple of years back. (Read my Five Things I Hated about The Rum Diary) Thankfully, something good came of it! The rest of the London Fields cast includes Billy Bob Thornton as Samson Young, the terminally ill author who narrates the story and Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe, One Day) as Keith, 'the cheat'. The set up sounds good to me, and the cast definitely rings all the right bells. My only concern is the director, Matthew Cullen; prior to this Cullen's short list of credits is confined to a couple of music videos, Beck's Girl and Modest Mouse' Dashboard. I figure if that's what got him the gig, let's take a gander at his past work. 

Honestly the only thing I like about Girl, is the look at hispanic culture in Los Angeles with McArthur's Park in the background. The visual folding trick - I still love Mad magazine's fold-overs - seems overdone here. I really hope he has more than that up his sleeve; I didn't see a whole lot more to get jazzed about.

It may be that I just don't care for the song but I'm not loving this one either. Cullen brings a lot more visual trickery into play, getting all music video on us with bizzare images and musicians wearing giant head covering masks, stuff flying through the air, the usual. For all I know it's some kind of video of the year but I'm not a fan. Enough for a studio to bankroll Cullen as a director? Apparently!