Yorgos Lanthimos has been a very busy man. He already has the critically praised “Poor Things,” with Emma Stone, vying for Oscar glory. Then there’s “Kind of Kindness,” also starring Stone, which will launch this year.
However, it does look as though more Stone/Lanthimos will be coming our way in the near future. Lanthimos has already teased that he’s been talking to Stone about working together on his next project.
“I mean, yeah. After we finish one, we discuss the next one,” Lanthimos said. “So we’ve shot this feature film in New Orleans [‘Kind Of Kindness’] which we are now editing and ‘Poor Things’ is out now and yeah, we’re discussing about doing something together again [after that].”
So, what could this next project be? My money’s on their remake of the South Korean film “Save the Green Planet!”, which I had posted intel on a few weeks ago — Lanthimos has confirmed our rumor.
In a new interview with Dazed, Lanthimos, firstly, reveals that he’s still working with Ottessa Moshfegh on an adaptation of “My Year of Rest and Relaxation,” but that, up first, might be an Ari Aster-produced remake of Save the Green Planet!
There are a number of projects I’m looking at, and [Save the Green Planet!] is one of those.
If this project does indeed come to fruition then it would be the fifth straight film Lanthimos has made with Stone, and that’s counting their recent NYFF-premiered short film, “Bleat.”
In May 2020, it was announced that CJ Entertainment would be producing this English-language remake of the cult film with Ari Aster and Lars Knudsen producing. The original’s director, Jang Joon-hwan, was supposed to helm the remake. Lanthimos has now replaced him. Here’s the synopsis:
When a radicalized conspiracy theorist kidnaps the CEO of a powerful biomedical company - believing she's an alien - he is pulled into a situation that spirals out of control and, ultimately, becomes the undoing of human civilization.
Yeah, this sounds right up Lanthimos’ alley. I haven’t seen the 2003 original, which sits at 91% on Rotten Tomatoes …
Personally speaking, I’d rather Lanthimos tackle Moshfegh’s novel, “My Year of Rest and Relaxation,” which tackles a young woman, bored with her seemingly meaningless life, gradually escalating her prescription drug use so that she could sleep through the year.
I actually find that number optimistic. Tickets for “Digger” go on sale next Tuesday, and presales will give us a better picture of how bad it’s looking.