Nicolas Winding Refn has never been busier. He's currently in post on "Only God Forgives" with a number of projects in the works including "I Walk With The Dead" with Carey Mulligan; he's producing a prequel to "Maniac Cop"; looking at "The Button Man" to direct; and bringing "Barbarella" to the small screen. So Refn continues to quickly move forward, but thankfully, someone has slowed him down just enough to take a long look at where he's been.
Laurent Duroche has directed "NWR," a one-hour documentary about the filmmaker that features extensive participation from Refn himself along with input from his friends and collaborators, including Alejandro Jodoroswky, Ryan Gosling, Mads Mikkelsen, Gaspar Noé, Zlatko Buric and more. The doc takes a journey through Refn's filmography right up to visiting him on set as he shoots "Only God Forgives." For Refn junkies? Here is your fix. Note: while portions of this are in French, Refn himself speaks in English. Watch the whole thing below (via Filmmaker).
Speaking of "Only God Forgives," wondering where it will fit in Refn's oeuvre, one that is arguably a mix of gritty realism (the first half of his career including the "Pusher" films) and fantastical ("Bronson" and everything that follows it)? Well, while speaking with Empire in the latest issue (though not online) the Danish filmmaker says the Thai Western 'Forgives' is a direct continuation of those films and where he left off with "Drive."
"This one is very much a continuation of that language," he said of his latest picture. "It's based on real emotions, but set in a heightened reality. It's a fairy tale." The director also notes that "Only God Forgives" — which was supposed to originally follow "Valhalla Rising" — changed after he worked with Ryan Gosling on the aforementioned neo-noir. "I wanted to do a Western, a straight up gangster movie after 'Valhalla Rising,' " he said. "But all that changed."
In related news, as has been known for a while, Refn has shot a short film with Blake Lively for Gucci that will premiere on September 1st at the Venice Film Festival (check out an image of the pair looking over their work below). Could this be greater evidence that Refn will also be there with "Only God Forgives"? Let's hope so. And speaking of which, here below you'll find some behind the scenes pics from the film (via Lawless) that have been knocking around the web for a while now.