The wait continues for Xavier Dolan‘s “The Death And Life Of John F. Donovan,” the film that has seen him go to Hollywood and work with a cast that includes Jessica Chastain, Kit Harington, Taylor Kitsch, Kathy Bates, Jacob Tremblay, Susan Sarandon, Natalie Portman, Nicholas Hoult, and Thandie Newton. Well, he must be nearing the finish line, because the filmmaker is already preparing his next picture that’ll he shoot later this year.
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THR reveals that Dolan will return to his Quebecois roots for “Matt & Max.” It’s still early, but the director hopes to reunite with his regular collaborator Anne Dorval (“Mommy,” “I Killed My Mother“), for a film that’s described as a cross between ” ‘Tom at the Farm,’ aesthetically, and ‘Mommy’ in terms of energy and spirit.” The story will tackle queer love, and Dolan says he was inspired by the recent run of queer-themed films, including Joel Edgerton‘s upcoming “Boy Erased,” in which he has a role.
“I have been confronted with such mature material, like ‘Boy Erased,’ ‘Call Me by Your Name‘ and ‘God’s Own Country,’ and that gave me the desire to talk about homosexuality from an adult — and not a post-adolescent — point of view, and to talk about my generation and my friends and friendships. It made me want to write about two best friends falling in love who had never realized they could have a preference for men. I want to talk about true friendship and true love,” Dolan explained.
Following the thread of that theme, the filmmaker plans to cast French Canadian actors who are also friends in key roles.
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Production on “Matt & Max” will kick off this fall, and as for “The Death And Life Of John F. Donovan,” there’s still no word on when it will premiere. However, Dolan does admit his vision for the picture changed as it has come together.
“My desire to talk about homosexuality and how we live with it, how we see it, how we label it, how we organize it as a society” was the initial idea behind ‘Donovan,’ but it has now turned into “more of an homage to the family dramas of the ’90s rather than a profound reflection on what it is to be gay.”
Fascinating stuff, and it looks like the near year or so will give Dolan fans plenty to talk about.