To date, only one of Xavier Dolan‘s films hasn’t screened at the Cannes Film Festival, the nifty thriller “Tom At The Farm.” However, the filmmaker has the Croisette to thank for helping his meteoric rise, serving as the World Premiere ground for all of his other pictures including “I Killed My Mother,” “Heartbeats,” “Laurence Anyways,” “Mommy,” and “It’s Only The End Of The World.” And while the reception to Dolan has always ranged from warm to ecstatic, things changed this year with the latter picture. Reviews were quite mixed, with negative notices ringing particularly loudly (including our own). And so while it might be seem like a no brainer for Dolan to return to Cannes with his next film, and most star-studded effort to date, “The Death And Life Of John F. Donovan,” he says that likely won’t be the case.
Starring Jessica Chastain, Kit Harington, Taylor Kitsch, Kathy Bates, Susan Sarandon, Natalie Portman, Nicholas Hoult, and Thandie Newton, ‘Donovan’ tells the story of an American TV star in his late 20s, his correspondence with Rupert Turner, a young actor-to-be living with his mother in England, and what happens when their pen-pal relationship is publicly exposed. Sounds compelling, but Dolan is concerned about the subject matter, powered by a lead character near his own age, being misunderstood.
“I don’t think I’d present a film like this at Cannes,” the director told the Montreal Gazette. “It’s a film about an American TV star who is framed by the American media system. There are bits in it that are so much like what I lived in Cannes, and I’m afraid that people would think it’s my revenge project. Except that I wrote it five years ago (with Jacob Tierney).”
In addition to Dolan’s concerns about going to Cannes with the movie, it’s an open question as to whether or not ‘Donovan’ will be ready for next year. Filming was originally scheduled to wrap in November, but instead, the production (which the director has called “stressful”) that started this summer will go on hiatus and resume next spring.
Clearly, Dolan is feeling the pressure that comes along with making the biggest movie of his career to date, but he also looks to be taking the necessary steps to ensure he makes the most of the opportunity ahead of him. But in doing so, we’re just going to have to wait a bit longer for ‘Donovan.’
As for “It’s Only The End Of The World,” it opens in Quebec this month, but there’s no U.S. distributor lined up to release it just yet.