“I thought it would be fun to do a big extravagant action film,” Nicolas Winding Refn said earlier this year about his brewing “The Avenging Silence,” and he’s certainly got the team behind him to help make that happen. Notably, the script will be coming from Bond writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (“Casino Royale,” “Quantum Of Solace,” “Skyfall,” “Spectre“), a fact that gains a little extra significance considering Refn himself was approached to direct “Spectre” before Sam Mendes agreed to return. But as we already know given Refn’s work to date, his movies aren’t easy categorized; they defy genre descriptions and thus it’s not a surprise “The Avenging Silence” will be no mere action movie.
READ MORE: The Best & The Rest: All Nicolas Winding Refn’s Films, Ranked
The director recently hit Twitter to tease “The Avenging Silence,” posting a picture of Ian Fleming‘s seminal Bond book “Dr. No” along with William Burroughs‘ “Nova Express.” And the synopsis of the book, which is the final part of a surrealist trilogy, pretty much says it all about how it might inform Refn’s movie:
The Soft Machine introduced us to the conditions of a universe where endemic lusts of the mind and body pray upon men, hook them, and turn them into beasts. Nova Express takes William S. Burroughs’ nightmarish futuristic tale one step further. The diabolical Nova Criminals — Sammy the Butcher, Green Tony, Iron Claws, the Brown Artist, Jacky Blue Note, and Izzy the Push, to name only a few — have gained control and plan on wreaking untold destruction. It’s up to Inspector Lee of the Nova Police to attack and dismantle the word and imagery machine of these ”control addicts” before it’s too late.
That sounds so much in Refn’s wheelhouse, I’m surprised he isn’t just doing a straight adaptation. But it certainly promises another movie from the director that will be as singular as anything he’s ever done.
No word yet on casting or when production might begin, but this early indication of what Refn is looking towards as inspiration is promising.
Dear Friends … More to come but for now Ian Fleming + William Burroughs + N W R = The Avenging Silence pic.twitter.com/IVV72236SX
— byNWR Official (@NicolasWR) August 14, 2016
