Sundance 2011: First Images From Paddy Considine's TYRANNOSAUR

Acclaimed actor Paddy Considine - much loved around these parts for Dead Man's Shoes, The Hot Fuzz and a fistful of other titles - makes his feature directorial debut with Tyrannosaur, a gritty drama due to premiere at the 2011 edition of Sundance. Here's how the festival describes it:

Renowned actor Paddy Considine's first feature behind the camera is a tour de force propelled by the sheer intensity of its performances and storytelling.

Joseph (Peter Mullan), a tormented, self-destructive man plagued by violence, finds hope of redemption in Hannah (Olivia Colman), a Christian charity-shop worker he meets one day while fleeing an altercation. Initially derisive of her faith and presumed idyllic existence, Joseph nonetheless returns to the shop and soon realizes that Hannah's life is anything but placid. As a relationship develops, they come to understand the deep pain in each other's lives.

An unconventional love story, Tyrannosaur transcends its bleak circumstances through Joseph and Hannah's vigorous impulse toward redemption. Shouldering the weight of burdened lives with great humanity and a deep understanding of our capacity to heal, Mullan and Colman deliver two of the most outstanding performances of the year. Considine's portrait of these two lost souls, bloody but unbowed, is a devastating and profoundly beautiful experience.

Peter Mullan, Eddie Marsan and Olivia Coleman star and all three can be seen in the first official stills from the film in the gallery below.