Martin Scorsese hasn’t been on a film set shooting his own work since 2021, when he was making “Killers of the Flower Moon” in Oklahoma.
Some great news—almost five years later—Scorsese has started production on “What Happens at Night” in Prague. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Mads Mikkelsen, and Patricia Clarkson, although I suspect additional casting will be revealed this or next week.
This also means that DiCaprio is done with his awards campaigning for “One Battle After Another” and is set to have a very busy 2026, with both “What Happens at Night” and Michael Mann’s “Heat 2” shooting back-to-back, likely taking up the entire year for him. I’m hearing production on Mann’s film might even leak into 2027.
Now, before we jump the gun and start wondering if the film could be released this year, Scorsese has a knack for taking his time in post-production.
For the most part, Scorsese’s films have had rather lengthy editing processes: “Killers of the Flower Moon” (24 months), “Shutter Island” (20 months), “Silence” (19 months), “The Irishman” (18 months), “Hugo” (15 months), “The Departed” (13 months), “The Aviator” (13 months), and “The Wolf of Wall Street” (11 months).
With all that in mind, I suspect “What Happens at Night” will be aiming for a Cannes 2027 debut. The Apple-produced project is based on Peter Cameron’s novel of the same name, with the screenplay adapted by Patrick Marber (“Closer”).
The film is being described as a “dream-like story” involving a married American couple who travel to a small, snowy European town to adopt a baby. While staying in a nearly deserted hotel filled with enigmatic figures—a flamboyant singer, a corrupt businessman, and a magnetic faith healer—they confront a strange world that challenges both their marriage and their sense of reality.
DiCaprio mentioned on The Big Picture that Scorsese told him to rewatch Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” as a “reference point” for “What Happens at Night.” And will we be getting another three-hour runtime like Scorsese’s last few films? “What Happens at Night,” the novel, is of moderate length (320 pages), but we all know how Scorsese tends to linger on atmosphere, character moments, and cinematic set pieces.