David Cronenberg has found his next movie: thriller The Shrouds, which will star his Eastern Promises and Dangerous Method collaborator Vincent Cassel.
Cronenberg is heading to the Cannes Film Festival next week with thriller Crimes Of The Future, starring Viggo Mortensen, Kristen Stewart and Lea Seydoux.
Meanwhile, FilmNation and CAA Media Finance will be launching sales on The Shrouds, which heralds from veteran producers Saïd Ben Saïd (SBS Productions), Martin Katz (Prospero Pictures) and Michel Merkt, the three producers behind Cronenberg’s Maps To The Stars.
La Haine star and French icon Cassel will play Karsh, an innovative businessman and grieving widower, who builds a novel device to connect with the dead inside a burial shroud. This burial tool installed at his own state-of-the-art – though controversial – cemetery allows him and his clients to watch their specific departed loved one decompose in real time. Karsh’s revolutionary business is on the verge of breaking into the international mainstream when several graves within his cemetery are vandalized and nearly destroyed, including that of his wife. While he struggles to uncover a clear motive for the attack, the mystery of who wrought this havoc, and why, drive him to reevaluate his business, marriage and fidelity to his late wife’s memory, as well as push him to new beginnings.
FilmNation is repping international and CAA is aboard for domestic. Filming is slated to begin in March 2023 (potentially leaving the door ajar for another project in-between?).
“We are thrilled to be going on a journey into the newest world from the distinctive imagination of David Cronenberg. His ability to write smart and unconventional screenplays and then translate them into unique experiences on screen makes him a unique voice in film,” stated Elle and Benedetta producer Saïd Ben Saïd.
You can check out our exclusive interview with Cronenberg about Crimes Of The Future here. The filmmaker told us he expects Cannes walkouts after only five minutes due to the film’s “strong scenes”.
FilmNation has a bumper slate at Cannes this year, including The Crow reboot, Riz Ahmed and Jessie Buckley pic Fingernails, noir thriller Knox Goes Away, which Michael Keaton will star in and direct, and Woody Harrelson thriller Last Breath.
Cronenberg is represented by Robert Newman, WME and Joel Behr of Behr, Abramson, Levy. Ben Saïd is represented by CAA and Joel Behr. Katz is represented by Hall Webber LLP.
