Hossein Amini thinks ‘The Two Faces of January’ is a unique crime-thriller.
The screenwriter makes his directorial debut with the film adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel of the same name and he’s revealed he’s wanted to adapt it for the big screen ever since he read the story at university because it has such an interesting dynamic.
Speaking at a press conference for the film at London’s Corinthia Hotel, he told BANG Showbiz: "I’ve always liked crime thrillers. But this was a crime thriller about, I thought, three very ordinary characters who we could have met and are very much like us.
"They’re thrown into this world of crime and the damage they do is to themselves. It wasn’t to outside forces like policemen or criminals or whatever. It was really watching this intimate triangle."
Highsmith – who wrote a number of popular crime-thriller novels including ‘Strangers on a Train’ and ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley before she passed away in 1995 – struggled to get ‘The Two Faces of January’ published for the exact reason Hossein was attracted to the story.
Referencing a quote from one of the publishers who rejected the novel, he said: "A story can handle two neurotic characters but not three."
The "neurotic" characters in question are the wealthy Chester MacFarland (Viggo Mortensen), his younger wife Colette MacFarland (Kirsten Dunst) and Rydal (Oscar Isaac), who all become embroiled in the murder of a private investigator.
Two Faces of January is ‘unique’
