An assortment of news rolling in from Cannes like the waves on the beach (see what we did there?) Anyway, “The Raid” helmer Gareth Evans is currently in production on his most-likely bone-crunching follow-up “Berandal,” and while he’s got some Hollywood projects in development, he isn’t going to be abandoning Indonesian martial-arts pictures altogether; Screen Daily report that the Welsh ex-pat will serve as action director on “The Night Comes For Us,” a vehicle for “The Raid” vet, and “Fast & Furious 6” stand out Joe Taslim. The film will see Taslim as a Triad enforcer who accidentally causes a massacre, and will be properly directed by Timo Tjahjanto.
Screen Daily also report that James Marsh, the man behind the sublime “Man On Wire,” the excellent “Red Riding” and the ‘yeah, it’s ok I guess’ “Shadow Dancer,” is lining up another project. The filmmaker’s reuniting with the producers of the latter for “The Girl With A Clock For A Heart,” an adaptation of the soon-to-be-published novel by Peter Swanson, about a man who reconnects with an ex-girlfriend who needs his help. Marsh compares the project to “Memento” and “Point Blank” which has our attention. There’s no timeframe on it yet, but it’s likely Marsh will tackle “Hold On To Me“ with Robert Pattinson and Carey Mulligan first.
Again via Screen Daily, prolific Brit Michael Winterbottom has announced not one but two Italy-set flicks. The first (which begins shooting on Friday, alarmingly) is creatively entitled “The Trip To Italy.” It’s a sequel to Winterbottom’s 2010 “The Trip,” in which Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan sort-of played themselves, working from a sort-of script and ending up with a sort-of-film, sort-of-TV-show. “The Trip To Italy” will recreate the formula but….in Italy. Once that’s done (sometime next month, apparently- you don’t get to direct two dozen films in as many years by slouching around,) Winterbottom will move on to filming “The Face of an Angel,” a project that will combine the old and new Italy by drawing on Dante and the Amanda Knox trial.
Across the Adriatic, Serbian filmmaker and double Palme D’Or winner Emir Kusturica is to start work on his first fiction film in seven years. “Love and War” will star Kusturica himself as well as Monica Bellucci, who is hard at work learning Serbian for the role. The film develops a short segment that Kusturica made for the omnibus “Words With Gods,” which was produced by Paula Vaccaro, now returning as producer on this project to help tell the full story. Kusturica plays a soldier who chooses to end his life as a monk, Bellucci his lover. No word yet on how she reacts to his taking holy orders. [Screen]
Over in Britain, meanwhile, two projects have emerged from the persistent drizzle and the minds of the Chapman brothers, Jake and Dinos, better known as Young British Artist provocateurs from the heady days when buying Hitler watercolours, painting peace signs on them and submitting them for the Turner Prize was still provocative. With producer Colin Vaines (of recent “Coriolanus” fame,) the brothers are planning to turn Franz Kafka‘s famous story on its head and film a “Metamorphosis” in which an insect awakes to discover that he has become human. Rhys Ifans is apparently being looked at to star. Trippy. The trio are also looking to adapt Jake’s novel “The Marriage of Reason and Squalor”. Fellow YBA Steve McQueen made the jump to film-making with “Hunger” in 2008, attracting considerable praise and following it up with “Shame,” so there is form here. We eagerly await Damien Hirst‘s first rom-com. [Screen Daily]
Lastly, and also from Britain but this time by way of the Hollywood Reporter, comes a project now attracting considerable attention at Cannes. Producer Peter Broughan is shopping “Paradise”, to be directed by fellow Scottish Peter and “Trainspotting” actor, Peter Mullan (who also wrote it.) “Paradise” will tell the story of the foundation of legendary football club Celtic by an Irish priest in Glasgow in 1887: Mullan, who’s done strong directing work with films like “The Magdalene Sisters” and “Neds,” is a lifelong fan of the team, which still looms large in European football. With the club’s history of sectarian clashes with Protestant football club Rangers, that go way beyond sporting rivalry, the pitch is “Gangs of New York” meets “Field of Dreams;” If you build it, they will brawl.