With his 2-hour and 45-minute drama Laurence Anyways set to debut in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes Film Festival this month, the 23-year-old Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan already has his sights set on his next film. The young writer/director/producer/actor is wasting little time, with his debut film I Killed My Mother premiering in 2009 (also at Cannes) and his follow-up, Heartbeats, just a year later.
Canoe via Twitch reports that he’ll next adapt Michel Marc Bouchard‘s play Tom à la Ferme, which opened last year in Montreal and translates to Tom on the Farm. Bouchard and Dolan first met after one of the showings of the play, where the latter asked if there is a film in the works and as there wasn’t, he said he would love to be the one to bring it to screen. Check out a synopsis of the play below.
The story revolves around a man named Tom, whose lover has just died. He meets the family of the deceased, to discover that the mother knew nothing of their relationship, or of her son’s sexual orientation. The brother of the deceased forces Tom to conceal the truth from the mother, threatening him with severe reprisals should he reveal the secret.
There’s no word yet on whether the actors of the original play, which included Lise Roy, Eric Bruneau, Alexandre Landry and Evelyne Brochu, will reprise their role, but the plan is to have the film completed by year’s end, as Dolan is currently adapting the script. The synopsis sounds like something Dolan would be a great fit for and knowing his fast working habits, it sounds like it won’t be long until it comes to fruition.
Meanwhile, see the first trailer for Laurence Always which premieres at Cannes, kicking off on May 16th.
Are you a fan of Dolan’s work? Have you seen the play?