The Cannes selection committee are still putting the finishing touches on their lineup, due to be announced tomorrow morning.
The French selection still hasn’t been selected, but I’m hearing that, sadly, Bertrand Bonello and Robin Campillo are now out of the running. Breillat, Donzelli and Triet seem very likely at the moment. Maybe Corsini and Quillevere could sneak in there as well.
There’s a lot of wheeling and dealing going on as we speak and, although I can’t write about a lot of the intel that I’ve been getting, I am allowed to report that Todd Haynes’ “May/December” is very likely to be selected. It will play in competition.
This would automatically put it as one of the majorly anticipated films of this 76th edition of Cannes.
“May December” tells the story of a Hollywood actress (Natalie Portman) who travels to the coast of Maine to study the real-life woman (Julianne Moore) she’s set to play in a film. Moore + Portman + Haynes could be a match made in movie heaven.
Haynes is the filmmaker behind such acclaimed works as “Safe,” “Far From Heaven,” and “Carol.” Another female-led picture is not that surprising coming from him. However, his last film, 2019’s underrated “Dark Waters,” featured a male lead (played by Mark Ruffalo).
This latest Haynes also doesn’t feature DP Edward Lachman. You just can’t imagine a Haynes movie without Lachman’s sultry photography. The duo were set to shoot their sixth collaboration together with “May/December,” but Lachman broke his hip and wasn’t able to collaborate.
We learned that Christopher Blauvelt, a longtime collaborator of Haynes’ close friend Kelly Reichardt, stepped in to replace Lachman. Blauvelt shot key Reichardts such as “Meek’s Cutoff”, “Certain Women”, and “First Cow.”
Brady Corbet's “The Origin of the World,” his X-Rated epic about "Northern California’s economy" in the 1970s epic, has now started production in South Africa under the working title “SALT FLATS.”