Ruben Östlund is supposed to shoot “The Entertainment System is Down” later this year. The script is done, and a cast is now being assembled. Variety is reporting that Keanu Reeves is in talks to star in the film
Östlund, a filmmaker who frowns upon subtlety, and I don’t mean that as a bad thing, clearly has a vision for his next film and it involves Keanu.
The film will be set on a long-haul flight whose entertainment system loses power as passengers become “modern human beings that have to deal with boredom and their own thoughts.”
Östlund plans on including a scene where a young boy asks to borrow his older brother’s iPad and is told he has to wait five minutes. “And then I want to challenge the audience,” Östlund teases. “You stay with the kid in real time. And he’s looking in the catalog, putting it back and the restlessness is coming. So he asks his mother, ‘How much do we have left?’ And she says, ‘Well, now it’s four minutes and 45 seconds, you have to calm down.’”
"When the audience starts to realise that this is a real-time shot, I think a lot of people are going to be very, very frustrated," he said, still chuckling. "I want to create history."
Östlund added that with this film he wants to cause the most walkouts in Cannes history. “And I think it’s going to be more provocative than any violent, any disturbing content,” he says. “Because to be left alone with your thoughts and challenging the audience to do the same thing, then it’s going to be very interesting.”
It must be great being Östlund. He’s just turned 50 years old and already has two Palme d’Or wins to his name (“The Square” and “Triangle of Sadness”). Last year, he completed a stint as Jury President for the 76th Cannes Film Festival.