Thankfully recovering after a brutal bout with COVID-19, Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev will return with Jupiter. Variety reports the “politically-minded movie” tells the story of “a Russian oligarch’s reckoning with the harsh reality of his family’s future,” with a shoot set in Spain and France this spring. “The nature of absolute power is a universal theme, and through this prism we can look at any cultural landscape or historical era,” the director said.
Following Summer 1993 and Alcarràs, Carla Simon is prepping a summer shoot for the final entry in her trilogy with the flamenco musical Romería. Speaking to Variety, the director said, “Since I discovered that my biological mother was passionate about flamenco, a great curiosity began to grow in me for this genre, because of its history and its exceptional capacity to connect directly with emotion.” She added “This time music and dance will become the challenge I consider necessary to continue growing artistically and cinematographically with each project. I find it very exciting and stimulating to recover this film genre and adapt it to the contemporary world, in the same way that flamenco, as a musical genre, has continued to transform and adapt to the current reality.”
After a career-worst outing with Black Adam, Jaume Collet-Serra thankfully isn’t stuck in the blockbuster rut. He’s in post-production on his Jason Bateman-led thriller Carry On and now Deadline reports he’ll reteam with Emily Blunt for Kate Warne, in which the actress is producing and may star. The Melissa Stack-scripted project is an action thriller starring a real-life Sherlock Holmes, described as “the first female detective at the Pinkerton Agency,” who “paved the way for future women in law enforcement and forever changed how detective work was done.”
Following The Five Devils, Léa Mysius will next direct an adaptation of Laurent Mauvignier’s thriller The Birthday Party (Histoires De La Nuit), Screen Daily reports. Described as a female version of David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence, here’s the synopsis: “Set in a hamlet in rural France, the story follows a man and his wife, their daughter and an artist neighbour. As the man plans a surprise for his wife’s birthday, inexplicable happenings begin to disrupt the hamlet’s quiet existence before turning into a nightmarish chain of events when night falls.”
In a small update, Alexander Payne is currently scripting a western movie with The Holdovers screenwriter David Hemingson. “I finally found a creative partner who shares the same zeal that I have for Westerns. [What matters is] a shared sensibility about what makes a good movie, then it’s just a matter of luck about finding the right person, as I have the luck in finding [Hemingson],” Payne tells Variety.
James McAvoy has set his directorial debut with a rise and fall story about the Scottish rap duo Silibil N’ Brains. To find fame, they headed to America, with new accents in tow, and pretended to be California rappers. “What these two young men from Dundee attempted beggars belief and I can’t wait to bring this absolutely incredible, and also very Scottish/Californian story to the cinema,” McAvoy tells Deadline. “Using Scottish talent behind and in front of the camera is something I’m passionate about and I’m over the moon to be making my directorial debut in my homeland. The film will first and foremost be a celebration of the Scottish spirit, but the ‘Silibil N’ Brains’ duo’s audacious fakery can’t help but appeal to audiences worldwide.”
After directing Onoda: 10,000 Nights and co-writing Anatomy of a Fall with his wife Justine Triet, Arthur Harari is prepping his third feature, a sci-fi film that will star Léa Seydoux, according to IONCINEMA. While no additional details are known, it’s exciting to see Seydoux continue to take part in major sci-fi productions following the stellar The Beast.
Lastly, Sam Rockwell and Kumail Nanjiani will be teaming for the dark comedy A Guy Walks Into a Bar, a dark comedy from director Gary Fleder (Runaway Jury, Kiss the Girls),” Deadline reports. Written by Scott Rosenberg (who last teamed with Fleder on his first script Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead), the NJ-set film follows “a mild-mannered new father (Nanjiani) who befriends a charismatic yet mysterious man (Rockwell) at a bar, and soon suspects him of concealing a troubling secret.”