With Saint Laurent, Bertrand Bonello may not have lived up to the acclaim earned by his previous feature, House of Tolerance, but when a) the latter was pretty widely hailed as a masterpiece and b) enough smart critics acknowledged that you were attempting something outside the box with the former, it’s not as if you’ll immediately disappear. Especially not when you’re taking a huge left turn, highlighted by Variety‘s report that his next picture is to be an “action-packed drama about ordinary young people coming from all social classes who riot and drift into senseless terrorism.” (Perhaps fulfilled by a context-free, action-sequence opening promised in the article.)
Entitled Paris Is Happening, the picture fulfills Bonello’s desire to “direct a movie that’s extremely grounded in contemporary society,” with Vincent Rottiers and Finnegan Oldfield being the only remotely recognizable players; all others are non-professionals. With backing from Wild Bunch, Arte, Pandora, Scope Pictures, and Rectangle Prods., it’s to commence production next month.
After leaving Veep, Armando Iannucci will bring his brand of political comedy back to the realm of feature films. Variety also tell us he, for Quad Films, will adapt Fabien Nury‘s graphic novel The Death of Stalin. There’s little information about the source material, except the outlet’s notice that it “opens in March 1953 during the Soviet dictator’s last days and depicts the chaos of the regime after his death” — a likely hotbed for the sort of political chaos that marks Veep, The Thick of It, and, on the theatrical side of things, In the Loop. With shooting expected to begin next year, what’s there not to be excited about?
Are you anticipating either of these projects?