Here’s something we didn’t expect to see crop up today… The first trailer for Hugo, AKA Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of The Invention of Hugo Cabret, has arrived online and can be watched over at Apple.
The film, based on Brian Selznick’s bestseller, finds young orphan Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield) living in the walls of a Parisian train station in 1930’s Paris. He’s endlessly trying to unlock the mystery surrounding his father (Jude Law)’s wondrous inventions. He has only a few elements to go on, most notably the heart-shaped lock that requires a special key.
Then one day he meets Isabelle (Chloe Moretz), an eccentric young girl with a taste for adventure that matches his own and – crucially – a key that seems to fit the lock.
Along the way, he’ll have to avoid the clutches of the uptight station inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) and figure out how his life is linked to a cranky toyshop owner.
Based on this trailer, this is definitely something different from Scorsese (we’re not sure we ever expected to see a shot of a dog reacting to a slapstick pratfall from the director of Mean Streets), though he’s never been the sort of director you could pin down to one genre. And he’s clearly been channelling a little Spielberg twinkle here. Also, the trailer music from Legend Of The Guardians.
It definitely promises to be spectacular and Scorsese has, naturally, assembled quite the ensemble, with Emily Mortimer, Helen McCrory, Christopher Lee, Ben Kingsley, Ray Winstone, Richard Griffiths, Boardwalk Empire's Michael Stuhlbarg and more bolstering the ranks.
Check out the trailer and let us know your thoughts. Hugo will be out on December 2.