Sigh, just when you thought there was another project that might top our next Most Anticipated Films Of The Year list, in this case, 2025? Maybe it’s not going to happen at all?
In late fall of 2022, an incredible project was announced. Renowned Polish filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski, known for critically acclaimed and celebrated dramas like “Ida” and “Cold War” was teaming up with Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara for a movie titled, “The Island.”
READ MORE: Joaquin Phoenix & Rooney Mara Join Pawel Pawlikowski’s New Drama ‘The Island’
A period film and dramatic thriller that Pawlikowski would write, “The Island,” would be loosely based on real events and will focus on an attractive American couple in the 1930s who escaped to their own private paradise on a deserted island and lived off the land. But after a millionaire passing by on his yacht turns the couple into a tabloid newspaper sensation, a self-styled countess appears with two lovers and plans to build a luxury hotel on the island.
Ambitious, right? Well, it might not be happening at all. According to a FilmStage interview with the film’s cinematographer Łukasz Żal, who also shot Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone Of Interest” (which is high on our list of the Best Films of 2023), the movie was supposed to be in production now, but fell into financial peril during pre-production and now potentially might not get made at all.
Zal intimated that he took on commercial work instead-but should have been shooting the Pawlikowski film by now.
“But now, honestly, I don’t know. Because Paweł Pawlikowski’s film—I don’t know when we are going to do that because we lost a lot of money because of the strike,” he explained. “And then also, you know, there [are other] project[s], but of course Paweł is [the] priority. Honestly, I don’t know. But I’m not working on anything now––I’m just doing some commercials.”
The DP said the film was shut down just two weeks before shooting was supposed to start, and now, it isn’t sure what will happen with the movie.
“It was just two-and-a-half weeks before shooting. And then, you know, we lost a lot of money because our production designer built a lot of roads because everything was very hard-to-access terrain. So he built little roads, gates, bridges,” he explained. “So that’s a huge amount of people working on that. Me, too. And then, on a Friday, the co-production called and said, “We have to stop immediately.” They lost so much money and now we don’t have this money, basically. It’s a black-and-white film as well, so it’ll be hard to find this money now. It’s terrible because it’s an amazing story, a beautiful script.”
Zal suggested, zap, just like that, the project could be deep-sixed, though he is trying not to take on any other major features just in case. “And then: pff. So much work. So much effort. And I’m just waiting because I didn’t want to take anything else,” he said. “You’re asking what I’m working on, and honestly, I don’t know! [Laughs] Shooting some commercials, taking care of my son, and just having a life.”
It’s terrible news, and given the film climate now, it’s easy to conceive a scenario where an already precarious, hard-to-fund project might just get scrapped, but fingers crossed it can come back to life in some shape or form.
