New Films in Production, v.2

[yoloswegmaster]

Cineuropa is reporting that Mati Diop's next film is a documentary about the return of the royal treasures of Abomey in Benin, snatched away by colonial plunder, to a country that has had to build itself up and come to terms with their absence.

[therewillbeblus]

Ari Aster apparently has two films in development. A few days ago, he said his next film would likely be a "western."

But then, he also has Acting Class in development with Emma Stone, Christopher Abbott, and potentially Joaquin Phoenix in talks for roles (Stone is likely a lock for a working relationship, having moderating a Q&A with Aster the other day, and she and Abbott have been spotted with him in the wild - plus they've been rumored as attached to this project for several months now). It'll be an adaptation of Nick Drnaso’s novel, with the following synopsis:

Ten strangers are brought together under the tutelage of John Smith, a mysterious and morally questionable leader. The group of social misfits and restless searchers have one thing in common: they are out of step with their surroundings and desperate for change. A husband and wife, four years into their marriage and simmering in boredom. A single mother, her young son showing disturbing signs of mental instability. A peculiar woman with few if any friends and only her menial job keeping her grounded. A figure model, comfortable in his body and ready for a creative challenge. A worried grandmother and her adult granddaughter; a hulking laborer and gym nut; a physical therapist; an ex-con. With thrumming unease, the class sinks deeper into their lessons as the process demands increasing devotion. When the line between real life and imagination begins to blur, the group’s deepest fears and desires are laid bare.

[bdsweeney]

It looks like the fashion house Saint Laurent is launching a film production outlet. Already announced colaborators include David Cronenberg, Abel Ferrara, Jim Jarmusch, Gaspar Noé, Paolo Sorrentino and Pedro Almodóvar. Saint Laurent Launches Production Banner With Cannes-Bound Movies by Pedro Almodóvar, David Cronenberg’s New Film

[therewillbeblus]

A lot if not all of these artists have already directed ads/shorts for them over the last few years

[Big Ben]

John Hillcoat is adapting Blood Meridian. Yes, that Blood Meridian. This will be nuts if he can actually pull this off.

[willoneill]

John Hillcoat is adapting Blood Meridian. Yes, that Blood Meridian. This will be nuts if he can actually pull this off.

Blood Meridian is one of those films that’s been announced enough times that I refuse to believe the news until I see a trailer.

[therewillbeblus]

We read this instead of No Country for Old Men in a Western film studies class in college as supplementary reading for revisionist westerns, and I'll never forget devoting half a class to discussing the crucial element of casting for the Judge to make the film version successful. My teacher advocated for John Malkovich and I haven't been able to get the idea out of my mind since

[flyonthewall2983]

Tom Noonan. I’ve only just started the novel but that’s who came to mind.

[Mr Sausage]

Cameron Britton from Mindhunter.

[flyonthewall2983]

oh that’s good

Um, we might get Gladiator 2 after all.

Denzel Washington may take the second lead role opposite Paul Mescal; Paramount is apparently confident enough that it will happen that they've set a Thanksgiving 2024 release date

Connie Nielsen returns. Interesting that Spencer Treat Clark isn’t reprising his role, as he’s still a working actor.

[Finch]

For Blood Meridian, I always wanted to see Ian MacShane as the judge but Noonan would look and sound the part too. I like The Proposition but I didn't care for The Road. I kinda wish Lynne Ramsay was directing it instead because I believe she expressed interest at some point.

[therewillbeblus]

Not thrilled with Hillcoat at the helm either. I'm not sure MacShane possesses the natural temperament the role requires, which to me is not only elasticity in performance but a chilling unreadable, intangible disposition. MacShane's smile inherently channels menace- he's a pretty defined emotional performer, so that tangibility destroys a lot of the power the character possesses that makes them so unnerving. He's not quite Klaus Kinski, but he's closer to him than the abstract horror the part demands. Noonan is a great choice, and Cameron Britton is inspired too

[Finch]

That's a fair argument against McShane. I'm struggling a little to see Malkovich in the role.

[therewillbeblus]

I mentioned it in the VS thread, but A24 will release Dream Scenario, a comedy starring Nicholas Cage as 'a schlubby professor who becomes an overnight celebrity after appearing in everyone's dream', helmed by Sick of Myself's Kristoffer Borgli, produced by Ari Aster, and also starring Michael Cera, Julianne Nicholson, Tim Meadows, and Dylan Baker

[senseabove]

Not quite "in production," but Hansen-Løve is working on the script of her next film, which will be a period piece set in the UK.

[Finch]

Allowing for the caveat that the source is Jordan Ruimy, The Exorcist Believer had a pretty poor test screening in NYC and a podcast alleges that the shoot was a troubled production: something about issues with 90 year old Ellen Burstyn on set (Burstyn only accepted the role by her own admission after they agreed to financially support an actors' scholarship that she was passionate about). Green and Blum already botched all three of their Halloween entries and the plot description for this one sounds terrible: you get not just one but two possessions. This sort of doubling down screams of desperation. I guess if they spent this much money on the rights ($200m? EDIT: holy shit, it was actually double that!), they're stuck now, and so, if Believer is a disaster, I think giving stewardship of the additional sequels to someone like Mike Flanagan or Guillermo Del Toro to write as well as direct would be a sensible course correction. Again though, I'd much rather Blum give money to Christopher Landon to do his thing but I wonder if things have soured a little between the two after Landon complained about the lack of support for Freaky compared to the rollout Green's second and third films got.

[therewillbeblus]

David Mamet to direct and co-write a JFK assassination drama centering around the purported role of the mob in the event

Being launched for the Cannes market with some big names attached, including Al Pacino, Viggo Mortensen, Shia LaBeouf, John Travolta, Courtney Love, and Rebecca Pidgeon of course

[beamish14]

David Mamet to direct and co-write a JFK assassination drama centering around the purported role of the mob in the event

Being launched for the Cannes market with some big names attached, including Al Pacino, Viggo Mortensen, Shia LaBeouf, John Travolta, Courtney Love, and Rebecca Pidgeon of course

I’m amusing that Vancouver might be used to double for Chicago or Dallas, which is lunacy

[hearthesilence]

I was in Chicago when they were shooting Transformers (whichever one has Wahlberg) and it was crazy how different parts of the city were being dressed as not only different cities but different countries. To be fair, I doubt anyone is really a stickler for geographical authenticity when they're watching a garbage heap of a movie.

[Mr Sausage]

I once walked down the main street of my borough and was caught up, suddenly, part way down the road, when I noticed that not only had all the shops and restaurants gotten new signage and changed their names, but suddenly everything went from French to English. I was baffled and disoriented for a moment before I realized they must've been shooting a film. My city seems to double for America quite a bit.

[beamish14]

I once walked down the main street of my borough and was caught up, suddenly, part way down the road, when I noticed that not only had all the shops and restaurants gotten new signage and changed their names, but suddenly everything went from French to English. I was baffled and disoriented for a moment before I realized they must've been shooting a film. My city seems to double for America quite a bit.

Toronto can, if you really squint your eyes, double for some American cities, but Vancouver is so distinctive in terms of its architecture and harbourfront views that it very seldom works. I just saw Jackie Chan’s Rumble in the Bronx recently for the first time in years, and it’s even more hilariously obvious that we’re not seeing anything shot within NYC (it doesn’t detract my my immense enjoyment of the film, though)

This reminds me of scenes from Nolan’s Batman films. In his quest for “verisimilitude” of some sort, they feature a lot of location shooting. But it’s often an incongruous mixture of Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, NYC, and other places, with the city clearly changing from shot to shot

[therewillbeblus]

Toronto can, if you really squint your eyes, double for some American cities

Don't squint too hard, or you'll notice it's way too clean to be an American city!

[hearthesilence]

I'm not the biggest fan of The Dark Knight, but I have to admit it was pretty f-ing cool when they were shooting nearly all of it in Chicago proper. All my classmates in the downtown area were more or less on the same block as some of the major set pieces, and it was cool walking to the downtown classrooms in the summer and seeing the banks and other buildings changed to "Gotham Trade Center" or whatever. I knew one person who worked in the IBM Building and saw the Batmobile parked outside for a while. Hilariously, they got a memo saying not to panic if they see what appears to be a dead body swinging around outside.

When the movie came out, I went to see it at Navy Pier with two others who had just graduated, and it was quite a trip driving through some of the same chase locations on our way home.

[Mr Sausage]

I vividly remember leaving John Wick 2, walking through the Place des Arts tunnel, and realizing in a surreal moment that I’d just seen a fight happen there on screen.

[tenia]

On the other hand, World War Z always looked like a garbage mess of a movie, and it absolutely didn't help that Glasgow's St George Square was so visible in the opening moments of a movie supposedly taking place in Philadelphia.