Basic Instinct: Wasikowska & Christoper Abbott Topline Pesce’s “Piercing”

Making it back to back years, team Borderline folks didn’t waste much time pushing the career of their protégé. After turning heads and churning stomachs with The Eyes of My Mother (our ★★★★ review), filmmaker Nicolas Pesce borrows from Takashi Miike’s Audition (seminal J Horror film) source material adapting Piercing alongside Mia Wasikowska and oft utilized Borderline Films creative collab Christoper Abbott. Variety reports that Laia Costa, Maria Dizza (stunning supporting perf in Campos’ Christine), Wendell Pierce, and Martin Ireland complete the cast. Josh Mond, Antonio Campos & Schuyler Weiss of Borderline Films are producing along with Jake Wasserman. Executive producers are Sean Durkin (Borderline Films), Max Born & Avi Stern, Emilie Georges & Naima Abed (Memento Films International / Paradise City), Al Di (YL Pictures) & Phil Hoelting. Production possibly took place late last year or early January. Memento Films Intl. will be shopping the pic during Berlin. Look for this to land a major film fest slot – possibly Cannes.

Gist: Abbott plays a man who kisses his wife and baby goodbye, seemingly headed away on business, with a plan to check into a hotel, call an escort service and kill an unsuspecting prostitute. His plan is thwarted by the alluring and mysterious call girl (Wasikowska) who arrives at his room, leading to a pulsating game of cat-and-mouse.

Worth Mentioning: Quentin Tarantino included Audition in his list of top 20 films released since 1992 (the year he became a director).

Do We Care?: There is a better than average chance that Piercing will be a highly stylized dripping with atmospherics type piece and we’ll soon find out if Pesce reteamed with DP Zach Kuperstein on this psychological thriller, but we’re more curious in seeing how the filmmaker appropriates the source material and possibly steers clear of Takashi Miike imprint. Below is world preem night footage for Eyes...