Top 150 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2019: #20. Wasp Network – Olivier Assayas

Wasp Network

French auteur Olivier Assayas (partner to Mia Hansen-Løve who we find on our list as well) shows no signs of slowing down (or for hopping between genres, in fact) with his seventeenth narrative feature Wasp Network, a tale of five Cuban spies working in a Florida based terrorist organization with consent of the US government. Before 2018’s Non-Fiction now titled Double Lives (read review) even had the chance to premiere in competition at Venice, Assayas was putting together the project at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, eventually assembling a starry cast which includes Pedro Pascal, Penelope Cruz, Wagner Moura, Gael Garcia Bernal, and Edgar Ramirez (who headlined Assayas’ 2010 series “Carlos”). Rodrigo Teixeira of RT Features is producing along with CG Cinema’s Charles Gillibert. Assayas has competed five times for the Palme d’Or (Sentimental Destinies, 2000; Demonlover, 2002; Clean, 2004; Clouds of Sils Maria, 2014; Personal Shopper, 2016, which won him Best Director). He’s also twice competed for the Golden Lion in Venice with 2012’s Something in the Air and 2018’s Double Lives.

Gist: Scripted by Assayas and based on Fernando Morais’ book The Last Soldiers of the Cold War, wherein five Cuban spies land in Miami to infiltrate anti-Fidel Castro groups after a series of deadly attacks in Cuba.

Release Date/Prediction: Production has been mentioned for early 2019, which means the earliest Assayas will be ready on Wasp Network is fall 2019, pegging this as his third stint in Venice (otherwise, expect to see this held over for Cannes 2020).