At long last, Brian De Palma will return to the director’s chair, or at least that’s what The Film Stage reports.
According to the outlet, the director behind lurid cult classics like “Dressed To Kill,” “Body Double,” and “Blow Out” will shoot “Sweet Vengeance” this summer in Portugal; De Palma first announced the project back in 2018. This update shouldn’t come as a surprise to the director’s fans. De Palma alluded to “one other film I’m planning to make” in an interview from a little over a year ago, but cautioned that “I can’t tell you what it is, until it happens.” Well, it’s happening now, so expect casting news and further updates in due time, especially if De Palma indeed starts production later this year.
The Film Stage was also the first to report on “Sweet Vengeance” eight years ago, describing it as “inspired by two true stories of murders” that took place in the United States. But, as is usually the case with De Palma, there’s a meta-textual element involved. “I’m interested in how they tell the story of the crime, so I’ll do it the way [they] do on television, based on two real cases,” said the director. The outlet now also teases that the project will feature “two quintessential De Palma set-pieces.” Knowing his filmography, that guarantees an elaborate extended scene of a man in silent pursuit of a woman, or an exquisitely staged murder where optics get emphasized as much as the gore. And that would track, given this project’s subject matter.
If De Palma shoots “Sweet Vengeance” this summer, it’ll be his first film since 2019’s “Domino,” another movie he shot in Europe. A crime thriller starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, “Domino” was an ill-fated project riddled with financing and production issues. De Palma didn’t get final cut on the film, and it was quietly dumped on VOD. But that movie still shines in brief moments despite those compromises, and features some of the director’s sharpest and most lacerating politics of his career. With that in mind, fans have every right to believe De Palma, now 85, is more than capable of helming another brilliant and visually provocative film.
Stay tuned for more details on “Sweet Vengeance” as they arrive. As for who De Palma will cast in the film? Look at “Domino” and 2013’s “Passion” for hints there: a European actor/actress like Coster-Waldau or Noomi Rapace who’s recently made a splash stateside should get top billing.
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