Top 100 Most Anticipated American Independent Films of 2019: #4. Jim Jarmusch’s The Dead Don’t Die

Shifting sideways from the extensionalism lethargy found vampires in goth tweaked Only Lovers Left Alive to possibly reanimated corpses that haven’t said their last word with The Dead Don’t Die, Jim Jarmusch proposes a zombie comedy with familiar Jarmusch film players in Tilda Swinton (Broken Flowers) and Adam Driver. Currently sans plot description, his fifteen feature film might not reinvent the zombie genre, but it will certainly reinvigorate it with a certain melancholy, awesome track listing (perhaps some Tom Waits as he has a bit part here) and playful photography by veteran cinematographer Frederick Elmes (Paterson). The project was mounted in March and principal photography began in July in New York City with a stellar ensemble name cast that includes some vets in Chloë Sevigny (Broken Flowers) and Steve Buscemi (Mystery Train) and Bill Murray. The word is that Daniel Craig and Rosie Perez are also on board with newbies Selena Gomez and Austin Butler and Caleb Landry Jones. Animal Kingdom Films’ Joshua Astrachan and composer Carter Logan produce.

Gist: Adam Driver stars as Officer Ronald Peterson.

Release Date/Prediction: With four of his last five features in Broken Flowers (2005), Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), Paterson (2016) and Gimme Danger (2016) having premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, you’ll likely see Focus Features pushing for a Cannes showcase and future fall release.