Scottish filmmaker Lynne Ramsay hasn’t delivered us a feature film since 2017’s fantastic thriller “You Were Never Really Here,” starring Oscar-winner Joaquin Phoenix as a moody/violent veteran tasked to track down a lost girl. So, we’re quite curious to learn what is going on with the various films Ramsay has been developing over the last couple of years, and thankfully she is giving us some fresh updates on where everything stands.
Ramsay recently spoke at the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra (via Screen Daily), where she gave an update on her upcoming thriller “Stone Mattress.” A feature film adaptation of the Margaret Atwood (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) short story with Julianne Moore and Sandra Oh attached for lead roles. The thriller focuses on a woman who goes on a cruise in a frozen region and encounters a man who raped her 50 years ago. While nothing is set in stone, pun intended, Ramsay is hopeful everything aligns, and she can shoot the Artic-set pic (potentially using Greenland as a location) later this year.
“It’s such a challenge, that film, because it’s a boat in the Arctic – it [needs] all the elements aligning,” said Ramsay of her potential next film. “I’m going to shoot it soon, but it’s still to be confirmed. With boats, it’s a logistical issue. I’ll never make a film in a boat again!”
Deadline mentions that she has a male lead in mind but isn’t ready to name them in case they can’t do it, “I don’t want to put him on the spot right now, in case he is not available.”
Producer Martin Scorsese and actress Jennifer Lawrence (“Causeway”) are working with the acclaimed director on “Die, My Love,” an adaptation of Ariana Harwicz’s novel about a woman living in isolation in rural France who loses her mind amid marriage and motherhood. Ramsay talked up the “motherhood horror” project to Screen Daily and made it clear that it would be much easier than trying to make a film on a boat.
“It’s something I’m working on. It’s super interesting material and really bold,” said Ramsay. “I’m really excited by [it]. I love writing as well, so I’m kind of getting into that right now. There’s a beautiful simplicity with ‘Die, My Love’ that I really liked; it’s simpler than a cruise.”
It’s currently unknown if “Stone Mattress” or “Die, My Love” will shoot first, and Ramsay said (via Deadline) she still isn’t sure.
Meanwhile, “Polaris,” an original feature film script that Ramsay is developing to star both Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara still on the table, but she’s not ready to share details about that one just yet. “It was a project we’ve been wanting for a long time – it’s an original script, and I’m really excited about it,” said Ramsay. “They’ve got a lot of things going on, but it was originally for those two.” Pressed for details, she just laughed and said, “I’ll just wait to show you.”
The filmmaker had also been developing a sci-fi take on the classic maritime tale “Moby Dick” and states that it hasn’t gotten off the ground due to budgeting. However, it’s “not dead in the water” but “has always been one of those projects on the back burner.” Not ruling out circling back to it down the line.
“That’s a budget thing,” said the director of her long-gestating sci-fi film. “There were loads of great ideas that came up with that, but over time something takes you this way or that way; I suppose you always have this bank of projects that are bubbling away in your mind.”
There are plenty of movies on the horizon from the director, and we can’t wait to see more work from Lynne Ramsay soon.