Apparently, director Harmony Korine has secretly shot a new film for A24 with rapper Travis Scott.
A report, via The Film Stage, confirms that Korine directed Scott in an action-oriented film “shot entirely in infrared.” This mysterious new film recently test-screened in NYC.
Coincidentally, NYC’s Metrograph theater, which is where the test screening occurred, is now advertising on its website the “screening of a very special filmmaker’s secret new project,” for members only, scheduled for this coming Sunday.
Scott signed a production deal with A24 back in August 2021. The rapper announced the deal by posting on Instagram a coffee and blood stained script with the title redacted. There have been rumors that it shared the same title as the rapper’s upcoming album, “Utopia”.
A year later, Scott posted two Instagram stories with the caption “body armor, guns, masks, and Harmony Korine”.
Korine is an American filmmaker known for transgressive, taboo-busting films that shaped American indie cinema in the ‘90s. Ever seen “Gummo”? It made enough of an impact that the usually grouchy Jean-Luc Godard wrote Korine a personal letter raving about the film. Bernardo Bertolucci loved it so much that he believed that it could start a “cinematic revolution.”
Korine’s ubiquitous style, an eschewing of traditional form and narrative, can definitely turn some people off. His allergies to narrative convention will turn some people off, ditto the disturbingly unique images he creates onscreen — to “get” Korine’s films you need to let yourself observe and feel the visuals.
Korine is coming off his two most “commercial” movies: 2013’s fantastic “Spring Breakers” and 2019’s puzzling “The Beach Bum.” The fact that he’s teaming up with A24 with his latest one means that he’s actually made a film that is meant to be seen by a decently-sized audience.
Paul Greengrass’ "The Uprising," starring Andrew Garfield, opened to $3.2M from 2,068 theaters this weekend. Yikes. The budget hasn’t been disclosed, but is said to be in the $20-$30M range.