After his critically acclaimed “Memoria,” filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul had originally revealed plans to shoot his next film in Sri Lanka (via Metrograph).
Tilda Swinton, who starred in “Memoria,” recently stated that she would star in the film, and production would require her to stay eight months in Sri Lanka filming.
In a new interview with Les Inrocks, Weerasethakul reveals that this upcoming project, titled “The Fountains of Paradise,” is unlikely to begin shooting until 2026. The Thai filmmaker shared that he’s still writing, scouting locations, and discovering the essence of the film.
Yes, I'm preparing a film in Sri Lanka. I write and do location scouting at the same time. It's too early to tell you what the film will be about, because it changes all the time. I don't think I'll shoot before 2026.
Weerasethakul has hinted that the film would be inspired by “2001: A Space Odyssey” author Arthur C. Clarke’s life: “He lived and died in Sri Lanka, and one of his books, “The Fountains of Paradise.”
Speaking on its length of the entire thing, we might be in store for the longest film of Weerasethakul’s career, “I wrote a treatment for a three- or four-hour movie, just from my imagination, from what I dream about,” he had said. This would make ‘Fountains’ the lengthiest film of his career. “Memoria,” his longest to date, was 136 minutes.
Either you love this man’s style of filmmaking, or you hate it. There’s really no in between. Weerasethakul, whose fascinating “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall Past Lives” won the Palme d’Or back in 2010, has been a cinematic mainstay ever since 2004’s “Tropical Malady.”
His films play out in these wide-lensed frames, weird in nature, and surrounded by an infatuation for the unknowns of nature and dreams — all laid out in unconventional narrative structures that defy conventional perspectives.