Nicolas Winding Refn’s Tokyo-Set ‘Avenging Silence’ Will Shoot Next Year, Explains Why ‘Barbarella’ Is Dead

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Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn is at the 20224 Venice Film Festival for two purposes: he’s promoting A restored version of his 1996 drug/crime drama debut “Pusher “is screening, and so his “Beauty Is Not a Sin,” a seven-minute commercial for Italian motorcycle company MV Agusta. The film’s tagline is “Who said a movie can’t be seven minutes long?”

While in Venice, Refn spoke to the trades and gave several updates. For one, he told Variety that he’s getting ready to shoot his next film in Tokyo, and the film will be in English and Japanese. He provided few other details other than saying it “will have a lot of glitter and lot of sex and violence.” He also discussed the dire state of movie making at the moment and suggested that moving forward is almost a defiant thing to do right now.

READ MORE: Nicolas Winding Refn Says His Spy Script With Famed ‘Bond’ Writers Is The “Endeavor Of His Soul” & “Grand Finale Of His Life”

“It’s a really interesting time to make movies because it’s such a chaotic situation,” he told the outlet. “So going back and making a theatrical feature film again is almost like — not starting over — but with all the changes in our societies in the last five years and technology changes, it almost seems like the right thing to do for me.”

” Feature film is still the mother of all mediums,” he continued, saying he’s “re-experienced that process.” His new movie is financed and will be shot next year. While the plot details are under wraps, the project is almost assuredly the espionage action thriller “The Avenging Silence, “which he always said would be based in Japan or Asia.

It’s based on a script written by his friends and ‘Bond’ writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (“Casino Royale,” “Quantum Of Solace,” “Skyfall,” “No Time to Die “), and it’s been a project he’s been talking about for years.

In 2023, Refn told us ‘Silence’ had transformed over the years but was looking ready to go and would seemingly be his next project, though he did give himself an out, in case.

“Rob and Neal are my very close friends, and we’ve been working on our little [project]—well, actually, not little anymore— it began tiny but has grown into its own monster of opportunities,” Refn said of ‘Silence.’ “It’s kind of my final frontier. The final endeavor of my soul.”

It’s kind of where I see it all ending,” Refn explained, hinting at some magnum opus. “It’s a character that is the final countdown as one says that is the grand finale of my life.”

Here’s a very old synopsis for “The Avenging Silence,” based in Tokyo. But yes, be cautious; it’s probably changed over the years, as he suggested. If you don’t want spoilers, well, let’s just say it’s set in Tokyo and centers around a spy and the Yakuza underworld in Japan.

Afraid of flying, our spy anonymously boards a cargo ship headed for Tokyo. An onboard explosion sinks the ship, and our spy finds himself washed ashore on a life raft in southern Japan. As a mute, our spy must silently journey through Japan seeking four clues – symbolizing conquest, war, famine, and death – which will guide him to the unknown location of the Yakuza boss. Meanwhile, the Yakuza boss, known for his 2004 mass slaughter of Yakuza members who had turned against him, is believed to be plotting to reenter the Japanese underworld after living in his own surreptitious world in the mountains, void of all technology. This way of life becomes an obsession for the Yakuza boss. Rumors spread that he had committed suicide years ago, but escaped prisoners from his hidden camp told stories of his plan for a comeback. Now, rival Yakuza families suspect he is forming a master plan to return, one that unburies the most infamous story of Yakuza betrayal. Our spy finds himself on an existential journey through Japan in search of pieces to the puzzle that will lead him to a confrontation with the ultimate Yakuza boss in a terrifying conclusion.

Refn also told Variety that he is working on two more projects, one of which is related to gaming. He said he’s “very fascinated by what technology can provide” and that it’s the “only art form that continues to evolve with possibilities creatively.”

In a separate interview with THR, Refn also explained why he didn’t make his adaptations of “Logan’s Run” and “Barbarella. “It seems that he walked away from fewer projects and more that they just kind of fizzled out and went a few places beyond meetings.

“Let me put it like this: Sometimes the idea is more interesting than the reality,” he began. “Sitting around the table talking about remaking ‘Logan’s Run’ is probably more fun than remaking it or ‘Barbarella,’ for that matter. But I think I never turned down anything. I just had meetings with everyone but never really materialized; none of these projects became a real reality.”

“But the illusion is always more exciting than the actual bones of it and, at the end of the day, I’ve always found if I can make my own projects that define myself, that is more satisfying,” he continued. “

Refn also suggested he’s open to all kinds of Hollywood projects, including superhero movies, but it just has to be a good fit.

“Maybe because I haven’t found the right project,” I mean, sure, I’ll make ‘Batwoman,’ or ‘Batgirl,’ whatever it’s called, if it came my way. I love Hollywood, I love the machinery, I love the campiness of it, the iconography and the excitement around it. I guess I’m still waiting for the right moment, but until that comes, I do very much prefer my freedom. Being free to do what I want to do every day is, for me, a very essential, very pleasurable experience.”

Here’s a quick teaser for “Beauty Is Not a Sin.”