American micro-indie filmmaker Patrick Wang of 2011’s In the Family (read review), The Grief of Others (2015), A Bread Factory (2018) parts I and II, was working under the radar and his latest project – Variety have the full details on his next oeuvre – a unconventional biopic on Arthur Rimbaud (1854–1891) – who was a French poet who dropped the written word to work as a trader and explorer in Africa. Actor Blake Draper toplines A.Rimbaud. Production just wrapped up in Winnipeg this week.
Hardball Entertainment’s Daryl Freimark, Thin Stuff Productions’ Fritzi Adelman and Evan Johnson (Rumours filmmaker) along with Wang produced the project. Draper, Victoria Sidebotham, Frank Barrera, Amy Williams, Michael Bevins, Galen Johnson and Kyle Bornais are all tapped as executive producers. We’re curious to see what festival ends up lassoing this one – perhaps the Quinzaine section in Cannes?
This follows the writer from his schoolboy days in Charleville to his final years in Africa. As Rimbaud explored and broke with traditional forms of poetry, the movie likewise escapes the confines of a biopic.
