What’s Missing? Nichols, Garland, Michod, Durkin, Haigh, Saulnier … [Updated]

With Venice having announced its lineup and TIFF unveiling around 40% of theirs, there are still plenty of orphaned movies we’re waiting to hear about. In the next few weeks, we’ll be getting San Sebastien, Telluride and NYFF announcing. In October it’ll be the BFI and AFI selections.

What is going on with Jeff Nichols’ “The Bikeriders”? It was supposed to be in the can right before this past May’s Cannes Film Festival. Then we had a few test screenings in the months that followed. The word was semi-positive, but nothing to write home about. Hopefully this shows up somewhere.

A few other films tipped for Cannes, that ended up getting test-screened multiple times, were Alex Garland’s “Civil War” and Rose Glass’ “Love Lies Bleeding.” Same situation as Nichols’ film, test screening reactions for these films were not through the roof.

A few weeks ago, I had pulled Sean Durkin’s “The Iron Claw” from my Venice predictions, mostly due to having heard that A24 had no idea what to do with this film. It’s said to be very arthouse and very much in-line with Durkin’s previous works (“The Nest” and “Martha Marcy May Marlene”). A Sundance bow seems to be the right call for this one. It’s not at all Oscar-bait, which means it might actually be a good movie.

The biggest mystery though is Andrew Haigh’s “Strangers.” Haigh is a festival favorite (“45 Years,” “Lean on Pete”) and we all figured he’d show up somewhere this fall, there were some, including myself, predicting a Venice competition bow. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see it added to either TIFF’s lineup or, much later in the fall, at BFI London.

Bruno Dumont’s much-anticipated “L’Empire” screened for Cannes in April, I’m not sure what happened beyond that. I have a source telling me that the VFX work is taking too long, so why did it then screen for Cannes? It’s one of the most anticipated international films of the year, but we might not get to see it until next year.

I already reported that HULU wasn’t quite sure what to do with Marielle Heller’s polarizing “NightBitch,” starring Amy Adams. I wouldn’t cross it off being added to TIFF in the coming weeks, neither would I be that surprised if it’s dumped straight to streaming, but time is ticking.

David Michod’s stoner dramedy “Wizards” had been predicted, by some, to premiere at Venice, but, judging by the terrible test scores it has received, I’m thinking it’s a problematic film. I mean, Pete Davidson literally eats shit in this movie. I’ve spoken to a few people who absolutely hated this film.

I’ve zeroed in on 18 titles that haven’t been announced yet for any of the fall fests. I’d love some help in expanding this list. Only known filmmakers are welcome.

“The Bikeriders” (Jeff Nichols)
“Love Lies Bleeding” (Rose Glass)
“The Actor” (Duke Johnson)
“Dream Scenario” (Kristoffer Borgli)
“Rebel Ridge” (Jeremy Saulnier)
“MaXXXine” (Ti West)
“Civil War” (Alex Garland)
“Strangers” (Andrew Haigh)
“L’Empire” (Bruno Dumont)
“Wizards” (David Michod)
“NightBitch” (Marielle Heller)
“Limonov” (Kirill Serebrennikov)
“Havoc” (Gareth Evans)
“I Saw the TV Glow” (Jane Schoenbrun)
“Shirley” (John Ridley)
“Silent Night” (John Woo)
“Without Blood” (Angelina Jolie)
“Foe” (Garth Davis)
“Holland, Michigan” (Mimi Cave)
“Leave the World Behind” (Sam Esmail)

ADDITIONS:

“Apartment 7A“ (Natalie Erika James)
“Duchess” (Neil Marshall)
“Freaky Tales” (Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck)
“Horizon: An American Saga” (Kevin Costner)
“The Marsh King’s Daughter” (Neil Burger)
“Monkey Man” (Dev Patel)
“Pussy Island” (Zoë Kravitz)
“Road House” (Doug Liman)
“Spaceman” (Johan Renck)
“Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story” (Jerry Seinfeld)