Vertigo Films are set to release Retreat, the latest film from Batman Begins actor Cillian Murphy in October. The film, whose UK quad poster (pictured above) we’ve just been sent, sees Murphy star alongside fellow Brits Thandie Newton and former Billy Elliot Jaime Bell in a film that sees:

Kate and Martin escape from personal tragedy to an Island Retreat. Cut off from the outside world, their attempts to recover are shattered when a man is washed ashore, with news of an airborne killer disease that is sweeping through Europe.

Vertigo Films release Retreat across the UK on October 14th.

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Thandie Newton‘s latest film, ‘Vanishing on 7th Street‘ will be shown on video-on-demand on January 7, before its theatrical release on February 18, 2011.

Directed by Brad Anderson and co-starring Hayden Christensen and John Leguizamo, the film will be distributed by Magnet Releasing, states Shocktilyoudrop.com .

An unexplained blackout plunges the city of Detroit into total darkness, and by the time the sun rises, only a few people remain – surrounded by heaps of empty clothing, abandoned cars and lengthening shadows. A small handful of strangers that have survived the night each find their way to a rundown bar, whose gasoline-powered generator and stockpile of food and drink make it the last refuge in a deserted city. With daylight beginning to disappear completely and whispering shadows surrounding the survivors, they soon discover that the enemy is the darkness itself, and only the few remaining light sources can keep them safe. As time begins to run out for them, darkness closes in and they must face the ultimate terror.

Newton is currently starring in Tyler Perry’s ‘For Colored Girls,’alongside Whoopi Goldberg, Janet Jackson, Tessa Thompson, Kimberly Elise, and Phylicia Rashad.

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This weekend the feature adaptation of the stage play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf will open in theaters nationwide. The film is directed by Tyler Perry, who also adapted and wrote the screenplay based on this heartbreaking material. The cast of For Colored Girls is a who’s who of stage, film, and television legends including Janet Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, Phylicia Rashad, and Thandie Newton.

We had the opportunity to sit down and talk to Newton about her role in the film and the dark subject matter that For Colored Girls addresses. Her character’s name is Tangie, an oversexed, overly aggressive woman who isolates herself from the world. She’s angry, hurt, and acts out against everyone because its the only way she knows how to survive. We had an interesting conversation that addressed the root of Tangie’s behavior and it was an eye opening experience to say the least.

Check out the interview…

The character Tangie is violent, loud, and sexually promiscuous. As an actress how did you feel playing someone who has so little respect for herself and those around her?

Thandie Newton: Tangie is the result of the trauma that she experienced. It’s really about the symptoms of abuse. What happens to a person if they are too ashamed and unable to speak their truth. The sort of toxic energy that comes off her, the way she disrespects men, and the way she alienates herself from women. This kind of toxic soup is the result of unspoken childhood abuse. I know many people who have experienced abuse in childhood. I’m appalled by it. I’m saddened by it. I’m confused by it. I’ve spent a large degree of my adult life trying to give a voice to both sides. You can’t demonized people who have inflicted these crimes we have to understand the root of it if we’re ever going to figure it out.

And you feel that she’s hurting others because she’s hurt herself?

TN: As soon as you treat people badly it’s a reflection of how you’re treating yourself. I found it really hard to play her and feel sympathetic. She’s someone I’d like to sit down, and say you need to sort yourself out! And I couldn’t do that. I had to play her denial. Ultimately, I realized what she is, she’s suffering.

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When Tyler Perry called Thandie Newton to be a part of a new project he was embarking on, the British actress said yes before she knew what the movie was about. Newton wasn’t familiar with Ntozake Shange’s original play, “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf,” nor had her role of Tangie — the saucy, sexually independent woman Perry created for the film version of “For Colored Girls” — been created.

What Newton did know is Perry was about to do something very different from the melodramas that had made his name in Hollywood. “He made me feel like I was a part of a journey of discovery and it was all about the piece,” Newton told Speakeasy. Newton talked at length about the movie, her brash character and the atmosphere on the set.

The Wall Street Journal: This role is part of an ensemble cast. How does your approach differ?

It’s sharing the responsibility. We all have a little slice we’re responsible for but ultimately no one is going to carry the focus. There was a lovely camaraderie and sense of appreciation for one another. Phylicia [Rashad] was just telling me, someone asked her this morning if there were ever any catfights. It was like, What do you mean? Oh of course! Women! Actresses together! But I guess we’re sort of sophisticated people. We had a lot to think about and deal with.

Was your role of Tangie always the role you wanted to play?

Well, I read the script first and then I read the play, which I hadn’t been familiar with because I’m English and not from the theater really. In the first draft, Tangie didn’t actually exist. It went through three significant re-writes, because he was creating the women and he was using key elements from the play to create these modern women. He gave them names and situations and relationships and so on, and so that changed quite a lot. In the initial discussion, it was more about being involved in the project than the specific character.

As opposed to the other characters who are dealing with man problems, your problems are with other women.

I’m glad you pointed that out. That would be one of the symptoms of self-sabotage. The way you alienate yourself from yourself is by alienating yourself from your sex, because that’s where she could have gained most comfort. Then it’s her own mother that’s betrayed her and abused her, so her fear and distrust of women stems from that root.

How difficult was it to play the outcast in a movie where all the characters kind of come together?

I found playing this character very painful. I could see where she was going wrong so it was very hard to play the scenes where she was going wrong, because I see myself as a fairly enlightened person in that respect. I wanted her to have this release, I really did, because I cared for this struggling, messed up person.

Was that aspect of your role, the isolation and the cattiness, difficult to turn off when the cameras weren’t rolling?

I must admit, I did rebel against that initially because I find it quite hard to be treated with real respect and I’m very suspicious and cynical, and I was entering this place of feeling very vulnerable. It was painful. But I learned how to take the good stuff. Tyler is bounteous, he creates security.

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Thandie Newton was thrilled when Tyler Perry asked her to be a part of his new film, For Colored Girls. Even though Thandie’s role was challenging to portray, Thandie was glad to be a part of the story.

For Colored Girls, which opens in theaters today, is based on Ntozake Shange’s original play, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf.

Tyler actually created Thandie’s role of Tangie himself and she told The Wall Street Journal’s Speakeasy that, “He made me feel like I was a part of a journey of discovery and it was all about the piece.”

Thandie’s character is slightly different than the other girls who star in the film such as Janet Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, Kimberly Elise, Kerry Washington, Phylicia Rashad, Anika Noni Rose and Loretta Devine.

While the other ladies have problems with men, Thandie’s character has problems with women.

“I’m glad you pointed that out. That would be one of the symptoms of self-sabotage,” Thandie to Speakeasy. “The way you alienate yourself from yourself is by alienating yourself from your sex, because that’s where she could have gained most comfort. Then it’s her own mother that’s betrayed her and abused her, so her fear and distrust of women stems from that root.”

The actress also plays the outsider in the film, where all the other ladies come together.

“I found playing this character very painful,” Thandie admitted. “I could see where she was going wrong so it was very hard to play the scenes where she was going wrong, because I see myself as a fairly enlightened person in that respect. I wanted her to have this release, I really did, because I cared for this struggling, messed up person.”

But on set, everyone was included in the cat fights!

“There was a lovely camaraderie and sense of appreciation for one another. Phylicia [Rashad] was just telling me, someone asked her this morning if there were ever any catfights. It was like, What do you mean? Oh of course! Women! Actresses together!” she explained. “But I guess we’re sort of sophisticated people. We had a lot to think about and deal with.”

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