You might not remember, but a few years back, Nicolas Winding Refn looked to team up with Keanu Reeves for "Jekyll," a modern retelling of "Jekyll and Hyde." That project fell apart over scheduling issues and other reasons, but it looks like they’ve kept in touch and found something else to collaborate on.
Reeves, "Drive" star Christina Hendricks, Jena Malone, Bella Heathcote, and Abbey Lee have all joined Elle Fanning in "The Neon Demon." For now, the lid is on the plot details, and all we know is that it’s a female-driven horror flick. Refn has once again tapped Cliff Martinez to score the picture, with DP Philippe Le Sourd (“The Grand Master”) lensing. Production starts on March 30th and this cast has put our anticipation for the flick sky high. [Variety]
Mia Wasikowska and Guy Pearce are saddling up for the western thriller "Brimstone." Directed by Martin Koolhoven, the story follows "Liz, a heroine on the run from her past and hunted by a diabolical preacher." Filming starts in May. [Screen Daily]
Timothy Spall and Juno Temple are going "Away." David Blair will direct the tale about "a widower who saves an orphan on the run from a drug dealer, sparking an unlikely friendship." Lensing starts in March. [Screen Daily]
Ethan Hawke and Sally Hawkins will tell the tale of "Maudie." The true story romance follows "a reclusive fish peddler who falls for his arthritic housekeeper, the eponymous Maud who displays little talent for her job but huge ability as a painter and goes on to become a celebrated folk artist." [Screen Daily]
Eleanor Coppola is following the family business and making her feature-length narrative debut with "Bonjour Anne." Diane Lane, Yvan Attal, and Nicolas Cage will star in the film about "a neglected movie producer’s wife whose life is forever changed by a two-day drive through France with her husband’s French business partner." How meta. Filming begins in May. [Screen Daily]
Amanda Seyfried and Theo James will star in the Cary Fukunaga-produced "Black Lung." Chase Palmer will make his feature film debut, directing from his own screenplay, with Seyfried playing Del, wife of a Utah coal miner (James) whose premonition moves her to save her husband just before an explosion in the mine traps all the other miners, an act that tests her marriage, puts her under suspicion of state officials tasked with the rescue, and stokes the resentment of all the other women in town. With time running out to save the entombed men, Del’s increasingly horrifying visions hint to something darker at play within the iconic mountain that looms over the plateau like an anvil, a darkness she comes to believe will consume them all. Cameras roll this summer.
