Through the Looking-Glass…Top 100 Most Anticipated Films of 2018: #4. Leos Carax’s Annette

Annette

Director: Leos Carax
Writer: Leos Carax

We’ve been following developments on this project for a while, as Leos Carax first mentioned an untitled musical project featuring the band Sparks about two years ago. Recently, it was unveiled the film will be the English language debut from Carax, who broke a thirteen year silence in 2012 with the impeccable Holy Motors (and to be clear, this was his first feature in thirteen years, but he did contribute to the 2008 omnibus film Tokyo!). After rumors of negotiations with Adam Driver and Rooney Mara circling the lead roles, both actors would appear to have committed to the project based on recent interview mentions from Driver during press junkets for Silence and Paterson.

Cast: Adam Driver, Rooney Mara, Rihanna

Production Co./Producer(s): Kinology (Gregoire Melin), Arena Films (Bruno Pesery), Vega, Eurospace, Wrong Men.

U.S. Distributor: Rights available.

Release Date: Not only will Annette be Carax’s English language debut, it will also be his most ambitious project to date with a budget of $15.5 million (let’s just hope it doesn’t become another fiasco like the infamous shoot of The Lovers on the Bridge, 1991, which led to heavy criticism for Carax and caused a large delay between new projects). The casting of Rihanna (who we assume may be used similarly to Kylie Minogue in Holy Motors) should also lead a whole new legion/audience to Carax. Since Carax’s last two features (including 1999’s Pola X) played in competition at Cannes, we expect Annette to show up there in 2018.

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