THR: Nicolas Winding Refn’s ‘The Avenging Silence’ Shot in Secret Last Year — Eyeing Cannes Debut

Here’s a THR spitball of the upcoming Cannes Film Festival. Absolutely nothing new is revealed, and they even get a few things wrong, like Andrew Zvyagintsev’s “Jupiter” — which hasn’t even been shot yet. However, one particular entry caught my attention.

If we were to believe THR, it appears that Nicolas Winding Refn “reportedly shot “The Avenging Silence” on the down-low in Korea last year, meaning it should be ready for a festival bow in May.”

Huh?! How is that possible? I’ll take THR’s word for it, but there have been zero leaks about it, let alone any casting announced for the film. Sure, I had posted about the possibility of it shooting last September, but then Variety reported it was supposed to shoot in 2025.

Maybe Refn has pulled a Gaspar Noe and just shot it all without a single outlet having known about it. Production was supposed to take place in Korea, where folks own two cellphones and senselessly post on social media every few minutes. There have been zero leaks.

Refn has described the project, based on an original story, as having “lots of glitter, sex and violence.” He has also hinted that the film would “bring back themes and characters inspired by his last features, which includes “Only God Forgives.”

The original ‘Avenging Silence’ script, written by Bond writers 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.”