Adrien Brody has found his first onscreen role since winning the Oscar for Best Actor for “The Brutalist” and it’s Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz‘s follow-up to this year’s “Rosebush Pruning.”
Brody will star opposite Rachel Zegler and Ben Platt in “Last Dance,” a father-daughter AIDS drama set on a Caribbean gay cruise in 1991; Platt will also write original music for the project, which Zegler will sing. Eyebrows perked up yet? Here’s a full synopsis for the project, via FilmNation Entertainment:
In Last Dance, “celebrated Broadway composer Elliot (Brody) invites his daughter Emma (Zegler) on a gay cruise through the Caribbean in 1991 — a dazzling, liberating world of music, celebration and chosen family where Emma, the only straight woman on board, experiences an unexpected first love with a young crew member. But beneath the joy and abandon, the AIDS crisis casts an ever-deepening shadow. As Elliot retreats from the devastating reality of his illness, father and daughter are forced to confront the unspoken truths between them. In the fleeting time they have left together, can they rediscover each other before the music finally fades?”
Emily Ziff Griffin writes the screenplay for “Last Dance,” based on her New Yorker article, “The Last Dance With My Dad”; she also executive produces the film. Lynette Howell Taylor produces the project via 51 Entertainment. FilmNation will handle the film’s international sales at the Cannes Market later this month, with Fifth Season and CAA repping it domestically.
As noted earlier, “Last Dance” will be Brody’s first acting role since “The Brutalist”; a peculiar choice, maybe, but Aïnouz’s recent spate of films, including “Motel Destino” and “Firebrand,” have done well with critics, so perhaps Brody sees something special in this project.
As for Zegler, she adds “Last Dance” to a list of upcoming films that includes “Octet” and “She Gets it From Me.” Meanwhile, Platt has another project hitting the Cannes Market: “I Am Not Your Mother,” with Catherine Coon and Lukas Gage. Other upcoming movies for Platt include “The Technique” and Richard Linklater‘s “Merrily We Roll Along.”
Here’s a press statement from Aïnouz about “Last Dance”: “I am thrilled to bring to the screen such a unique and moving portrait of a time where hope and celebration allowed our queer community to overcome one of the worst crises of last century. When many were dying of AIDS, there was a sense of solidarity and fury that made us stronger. “Last Dance” is a universal and urgent tale where joy is taken up as resilience, where the dance floor becomes a pièce de résistance. It is an honor to collaborate with such exquisite talent in order to bring this movie to life in a time where, more than ever, we need fables of hope.”
So, will “Last Dance” be the film that put Brody in line for a third Oscar Best Actor victory? It’s absolutely in the conversation, and given Aïnouz’s history at Cannes, expect this project to get a world premiere on the Croisette next year.
