Nicolas Winding Refn Describes Next Film as “Lots of Glitter, Sex and Violence"

Back in July, a Production Weekly listing had Nicolas Winding Refn’s next film, “The Avenging Silence,” shooting in September. It looks like it’s now been pushed back by a few months.

Refn is telling Variety that the film, set in Japan, will be in English and Japanese. The project has already been financed and will now be shooting next year. It’s based on an original story that “will have lots of glitter, sex and violence.”

Refn also hinted that the film will “bring back themes and characters inspired by his last features, which includes “Only God Forgives.” He didn’t want to divulge a title or plot details, but signs are pointing towards it being “The Avenging Silence.”

The original ‘Avenging Silence’ script, written by Robert Wade and Neal Purvis, follows a former European spy who accepts a mission from a Japanese businessman to take down the head of a Yakuza boss in Japan. It’s a film Refn has wanted to make for almost a decade now.

In 2023, Refn told The Playlist that ‘Avenging Silence’ would seemingly be his next project, hinting that it would also be his magnum opus:

It’s kind of my final frontier. The final endeavor of my soul. It’s kind of where I see it all ending […] It’s a character that is the final countdown as one says that is the grand finale of my life.

This is set to be Refn’s first feature in over eight years, he last gave us 2016’s polarizing “The Neon Demon,” a body-horror film starring Elle Fanning. The Cannes premiere was famously, or infamously, met with jeers, cheers and walkouts.

These last few years, Refn’s been directing TV shows like “Copenhagen Cowboy” for Netflix, the Amazon series “Too Old to Die Young” and producing BBC’s “The Famous Five.” He’s currently at Venice promoting a short he directed as well as the retro screening of his 1996 directing debut, “Pusher,” in Venice Classic.

Refn’s most notable films include “Drive,” “Pusher,” “Bronson,” “Only God Forgives,” and “The Neon Demon.”