Here’s a major update about a project we’ve been tracking for many months now.
Damien Chazelle’s untitled prison movie is indeed moving forward. I’m hearing a March 2026 shoot in Greece has been set up for the film — Daniel Craig and Cillian Murphy are still attached to star. Dave Bautista is in talks to join them.
Not just that, but given how Linus Sandgren, Chazelle’s go-to DP on “La La Land” and “Babylon,” will be busy around that time shooting that Ocean’s prequel with Margot Robbie and beyond Bradley Cooper, none other than “The Brutalist” cinematographer Lol Crawley will be lensing Chazelle’s film.
Given that Chazelle’s film is rumored to be inspired by ’70s movies, Crawley is one of the best around to bring that grainy, gritty look from that time period to the screen. Will Chazelle and Crawley be using VistaVision much like in “The Brutalist”? Kind of makes sense if they do.
Back in October, Justin Hurwitz, Chazelle’s longtime composer, let it slip that not only was the prison movie Chazelle’s next film, but that he was at that time writing the score for it. Additionally, Hurwitz claimed it was the “best script” he’s ever read.
This “prison movie” was set up at Paramount in April 2024 and described as a mid-budget drama with action elements. A fall 2024 production start was initially planned but later scrapped. It was then supposed to shoot this fall, but those plans were tossed aside.
Back in fall 2024, Chazelle told Vanity Fair he was juggling two projects and hadn’t yet chosen which one to prioritize. Now that his “Evel Knievel” movie got scrapped, due to Leonardo DiCaprio dropping out, it’s on to the prison movie for Chazelle.
Speaking of prison, after his last film, “Babylon,” underperformed commercially and critically in late 2022, many believed Chazelle had gone to director’s jail, but he’s too talented a filmmaker to go dormant. Ever since 2015’s “Whiplash,” Chazelle has turned into one of the most exciting and unpredictable American filmmakers — someone who refuses to repeat himself and continues to chase ambitious, wildly different visions.