How do you follow up the arthouse one-two punch of modern classic Drive and divisive Only God Forgives? If you’re auteur Nicolas Winding Refn, by taking on “a movie with lots of sex,” that’s how. We’ve known that Refn has been planning to make I Walk With The Dead since 2011, but now official confirmation has emerged from the director that the horror thriller will be his next project.
This morning, Refn tweeted out the following, addressing questions of his next big-screen venture:
The silence has been broken my next film will be I WALK WITH THE DEAD shooting in LA
— Nicolas Winding Refn (@NicolasWR) June 6, 2014
When we spoke with Refn back in 2012, we learned that the director was eying either LA or Tokyo as the shooting location for I Walk With The Dead, and now it appears he’s made a choice between the two. Hopefully the tweet means that he’s gearing up for a shoot, and we’ll be able to look forward to seeing the movie in 2015.
British playwright Polly Stenham (That Face) has been brought on board to pen the script for the film, which Drive actress Carey Mulligan is still set to re-team with Refn for, so far as we know.
The Oscar nominee (for An Education) proved in the Steve McQueen-directed drama Shame that she wasn’t afraid to take it all off for a role, which would likely be a requirement if she starred in the sex-heavy I Walk With The Dead for Refn, a noted provocateur (I mean, Freud himself would probably keel over in astonishment if he saw all the creepy mother-son dynamics in Only God Forgives). She’s appearing in this fall’s Suffragette and will soon star in the 2015 James Marsh thriller Hold on to Me, but Mulligan recently turned down the Hillary Clinton biopic Rodham, so it’s possible the actress is keeping her schedule open specifically to work with her Drive helmer again.
Anything Refn attaches his name to is a movie to watch out for, and there’s no reason that I Walk With The Dead should be any different. We’ll have more news on this project as it emerges.
