Exclusive poster for Reality, starring real-life hitman

Reality , the offbeat comedy drama from Gomorrah director Matteo Garrone that stars an incarcerated former mafia hitman, arrives on UK shores soon, and we’ve got our hands on the exclusive UK poster.

Going down a storm at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, Reality is a very different beast to sprawling crime epic Gomorrah .

Where that film wove together multiple perspectives from various links in the criminal chain, Reality unfolds largely from the perspective of one man, Luciano (Aniello Arena). A popular fishmonger living in Naples, he subsidises his income with a side - job peddling dodgy tat, but what he really dreams of is fame.

And he almost gets his 15 minutes of it, when he applies to appear on Italy’s Big Brother . After getting a call back after his audition, he becomes life-consumingly obsessed with appearing on the show, convincing himself that he’s under scrutiny for a place in the CCTV-rigged house.

From their, Garrone conjures up a compulsively weird, dreamlike narrative, as we follow Luciano perilously deep into his obsession.

Newcomer Arena puts in an astonishing performance (as we attest to with a quote on the poster, below), and his story is as interesting as the film itself.

Arena has made a name for himself as an accomplished actor, despite the fact he’s serving a life sentence in prison for the murder of three rival gang members. Garrone became aware of Arena after seeing him in a prison play, and after being unable to secure him for a role in Gomorrah , he was able to cast him as the lead in Reality . Arena was granted guarded day release from prison to film the role, and has since garnered widespread acclaim.

Check out our exclusive Reality poster below:

And check out the trailer:

Reality opens in the UK on 22 March 2013.