Stephen Frears wants to make “Wilder & Me,” a film about the final, faltering chapter of Billy Wilder’s legendary career, but like his subject, he’s facing his own late-career battle with momentum.
“We’d like to make it happen but it’s a difficult time for finding money,” the 82-year-old director tells Deadline, signaling that the project is far from a sure thing despite a stellar cast and pedigree behind the scenes.
The film, written by Oscar-winner Christopher Hampton (“The Father”), is supposed to star Christoph Waltz as Wilder, with Maya Hawke, Jon Hamm, and John Turturro rounding out the ensemble. Rather than dramatize the obvious “greatest hits” of Wilder’s golden era, “Wilder & Me” zeroes in on the making of 1978’s “Fedora,” a forgotten and largely dismissed swan song that tried, and failed, to recapture the brilliance of Wilder’s own “Sunset Boulevard.”
Hamm signed up to star as William Holden, who was in both “Fedora” and “Sunset Boulevard”; Turturro plays I.A.L. Diamond, Wilder’s longtime writing partner; and Hawke leads as a young woman swept into the chaotic production.
Despite eyeing an “early 2025” shoot, Frears is facing the same financial and industry fatigue that has plagued much of the indie film world lately. Frears last worked on “Brian and Maggie,” a TV mini-series he directed, which aired this past January in the UK.
Once a force with films like “My Beautiful Laundrette,” “The Grifters,” “Dangerous Liaisons,” and “High Fidelity,” Frears has struggled to make much noise in recent years. Still, “Wilder & Me” sounds like a fitting and personal project, a film about a master filmmaker facing obsolescence, directed by another who knows that struggle all too well.
Criterion's December lineup has some great additions to the library, but the title that jumped out at me is Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man," which officially joins the Collection on December 8.