We’re getting a new film from Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski, this one starring real-life couple Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara. Exciting.
The working title is “The Island”, set to shoot in 2023. Described as a drama/thriller, the film is loosely based on real events. I wouldn’t expect this one until 2024.
Mara and Phoenix will play an American couple in the 1930s who escape to their own private island and live off the land. However, a millionaire disrupts their tranquil lifestyle, as he passes by on his yacht, turning the couple into a tabloid sensation. Even worse, a self-styled Countess appears with two lovers and plans to build a luxury hotel on the island.
I’m guessing this film won’t be shot in black and white. Pawlikowski’s last two films, “Ida” and “Cold War,” were critically-acclaimed sensations. There’s a lot of high expectations for this one. I would imagine he wants to get back into Cannes competition as well with this one.
Before his last two critical hits, Pawlikowski had directed the wonderful 2004 coming-of-age romance “My Summer of Love,” but followed that one up with a major faux-pas that some have completely forgotten, 2011’s atrocious “The Woman in the Fifth” starring Ethan Hawke and Kristen Scott-Thomas.