“Raoul Peck is on board to direct The Young Karl Marx, a period drama chronicling the turbulent youth and friendship between Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels,” reports Elsa Keslassy for Variety. “The ambitious project has lured two German stars: August Diehl (Night Train to Lisbon) for the role of Marx, and Alexander Fehling (Inglorious Basterds) for the role of Engels.”
Also: “Diane Kruger, Norman Reedus, Lena Dunham and Gilles Lellouche will star in Sky, a drama-come-road-movie that unfolds across the U.S. from French helmer Fabienne Berthaud (Lily Sometimes).”
“Martin Scorsese has come aboard British director Ben Wheatley’s next project, Free Fire, as an executive producer,” reports James Marsh at Twitch. “Set in late-70s Boston, the film is the story of two rival gangs, whose rendezvous in a deserted warehouse quickly turns bloody, and Wheatley has been very open about Scorsese’s influence on his style.”
This June, Wim Wenders will shoot Les beaux jours d’Aranjuez, “an adaptation of the play by Peter Handke,” reports Geoffrey Macnab. “It will star Reda Kateb and Sophie Semin. Handke himself is likely to have a cameo.” The producer is Paulo Branco, who’s worked with Wenders in the past and is now preparing Son Corps, Benoît Jacquot‘s adaptation of Don DeLillo’s The Body Artist, and La Jeunesse, Julian Samani’s “contemporary adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s autobiographical short story Youth to shoot in March.”
Also for Screen, Andreas Wiseman reports that Werner Herzog will begin work on Salt and Fire in April. “Veronica Ferres (Klimt) will star in the romantic thriller about a scientist in South America who clashes with the head of the corporation responsible for an ecological disaster. When she learns of the potential eruption of a supervolcano in the region, the scientist teams up with her nemesis to avert a global catastrophe.”
André Téchiné is currently shooting his 21st feature, Quand on a 17 ans (When You’re 17), reports Fabien Lemercier at Cineuropa. Written by Téchiné and Céline Sciamma, “the story revolves around Damien, the son of a soldier, who lives in a barracks in Southwest France with his mother, a doctor, while his father has been despatched to Central Africa. The homosexual boy gets knocked around by another kid at school, Tom, whose adoptive mother has fallen ill. The revulsion and violence that they show towards one another is further stirred up when Damien’s mother decides to take Tom in under their roof.”
Trailer for Matt Zoller Seitz‘s The Wes Anderson Collection: The Grand Budapest Hotel
“David Lowery doesn’t necessarily dole out directing tips in his production diary for the upcoming Disney remake of Pete’s Dragon, but they do seep through in the details,” notes Sarah Salovaara at Filmmaker.
“Having conquered the indie film world over the past decade, Joe Swanberg is making the leap to studio fare, as he has signed on to direct the romantic comedy Work Wife for New Line,” reports TheWrap‘s Jeff Sneider. “Story follows a pair of thirty-something lawyers who attempt to find out if they really can date a co-worker.”
Also: “Brad Pitt is set to star in a sweeping romantic thriller that Robert Zemeckis will direct based on an original story by Steven Knight… The untitled film is set during WWII.”
“The writer and production team behind Oscar-nominated British biopic The Theory of Everything is to reunite on an epic drama about Winston Churchill’s second world war triumphs and struggles,” reports the Guardian‘s Ben Child.
For news and tips throughout the day every day, follow @KeyframeDaily. Get Keyframe Daily in your inbox by signing in at fandor.com/daily.
