The film was directed by Wim Reygaert and Stephen and David Dewaele, who collectively form DJ Souwax, who are already known for mixing music, art and animation. Soulwax has also produced remixes of Bowie songs for the film, including a version of "Heroes" that mixes German, French and English. Not surprisingly, they first approached Tilda Swinton for the part of Bowie.
The film is actually already near finished and will play in October at the Gand International film festival. No word yet on theatrical release.
L'Etrange Festival 2012
In case you couldn't tell from our site, Paris belonged to L'Etrange Festival last week. Take a look below for a wrap up of all coverage of the fest, including the soul-searching that ensued after I watched the Maniac remake and a call to everyone at Fantastic Fest to stop doing other things and see Vanishing Waves!
Interviews
Festival Founder Frederic Temps on Filling a Cinematic Void (And the Police Visits that Ensue)
Jan Kounen on Windwalkers, the French version of Blood Freak and More
Citadel Director Ciaran Foy on Surviving the Violent Attack that Inspired his Film
Reviews
Henge
The Outing
Vanishing Waves
Excision
Maniac
Videos
Sayonna's Live Score to Shazzula Nebula's Black Mass Rising
Bob Clark's Dead of Night with Live, Rockin' Score by 7 Weeks
Resolution Directors Meet Satanists En Route to Paris
News/Features
L'Etrange Festival Lineup
L'Etrange Festival Preview and Guest List
L'Etrange Festival Winners
In Brief
- Principal Photography has began in Hamburg on Anton Corbijn's adaptation of John le Carré's novel A Most Wanted Man. The film will star Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Willem Dafoe and Robin Wright. Those who also thought that Corbijn's last thriller, The American, was one of the finest thrillers of the last several years can meet me for drinks to celebrate tonight.
- Luc Besson has opened a giant new film production studio in Paris called Cite du Cinema. With the state-of-the art $200 million structure, Besson hopes to attract foreign productions by offering them an array of equipment as vast and up-to-date as that of Hollywood. Besson has apparently been dreaming of realizing this project ever since he shot The Fifth Element, which he was forced to make in London because France lacked a big enough studio.
- Cédric Klapisch (L'Auberge Espagnole) is tweeting production of his new film, Chinese Puzzle, from New York, complete with photos and impressions of production. The French are not used to their directors doing this and are very excited. Chinese Puzzle is the third film in the saga that Klapisch started with L'Auberge Espagnole and followed up with Russian Dolls. Romain Duris will reprise his role from those films again here.
Box Office
Now that American blockbusters are dying down, a diverse array of European films have taken over the box office. In France, the time-jumping Directors Fortnight crowd pleaser Camille Rewinds took the top spot, beating out Lawless with $1.5 million. Also, Pascal Lauger's The Tall Man has been holding fairly strong for a horror movie, with a $2.7 million gross after two weeks.
In Denmark, Susanne Bier's romantic comedy Love is All You Need dominated for the second week in a row, having pulled in more money now than even Madagascar 3. Lars von Trier is probably bummed. In Spain, a family-friendly CGI-Animation homage to Indiana Jones called Tad, the Lost Explorer has been a total juggernaut. It topped the box office again for the third week in a row and its total now stands at $11.6 million. And in the UK, Nick Love's remake of the 70's UK cop show, The Sweeney, easily beat out the competition, taking in $2.5 million for its opening weekend.