Jim Sturgess plays a novice doctor obsessed with madness in “Stonehearst Asylum.” Ben Kingsley, Michael Caine and Kate Beckinsale co-star in the turn-of-the-century creep-fest, though the trailer remains vague as to the extent of their insanity.
“I’ve always been fascinated by the troubled mind, since as long as I can remember,” says Sturgess, approaching the foreboding (and titular) loony bin for the first time. “I have the desire and the training, all I lack is the clinical experience.”
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“When you found the key to what a man fears most,” says Caine, “you will have discovered the key to his madness.” It’s unclear whether he is one of the mad ones himself — at certain points his character dresses like a doctor and at other points he’s locked away in a dark, dingy basement.
“We’re all mad,” says Kingsley. “Some are simply not mad enough to admit it.”
Brad Anderson (“The Call”) directed the psychological thriller, which Joe Gangemi adapted from one of Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories. Brendan Gleeson and David Thewlis also star.
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“Stonehearst Asylum,” which is distributed by Millennium Films, hits theaters and on-demand Oct. 24.