UPDATE: So, this is really happening. Panos Cosmatos has started production on his first film in well over eight years. It’s been a long time coming, and now he is finally back on a movie set.
“Flesh of the Gods” is shooting in the Canary Islands, Spain, with the second half of the shoot scheduled for Cologne, Germany. Esmé Creed-Miles (A Head Full of Ghosts), Roland Møller (Citadel) and Alba Baptista (Voltron) have also joined the cast
Stewart and Moura will portray Raoul and Alex, “a married couple in glittering ’80s L.A. who descend each evening from their luxury skyscraper condo and head into an electric nighttime realm. When they cross paths with the mysterious and enigmatic Nameless and her hard-partying crew, Raoul and Alex are seduced into a glamorous, surrealistic world of hedonism, thrills and violence.”
EARLIER: Back in 2024, a really hot package hit the Cannes market — Kristen Stewart, Oscar Isaac, and Elizabeth Olsen were attached to star in “Flesh of the Gods,” a vampire thriller to be directed by Panos Cosmatos (“Mandy”).
The following year, the film hit that same market again, and there was still no word on whether it would get made. Turns out, according to Stewart, via IndieWire, the film was still looking for financing. Yikes. You’d think that with that cast, Cosmatos could muster up some funding, but apparently not.
Some really good news came down the wire this afternoon. A24 has picked up the rights to “Flesh of the Gods.” They will finance it. Furthermore, fresh off his recent Oscar nomination, Wagner Moura (“The Secret Agent”) takes over the lead role from Oscar Isaac, who had to exit due to a scheduling conflict. No word yet on Olsen’s attachment to the project.
“Flesh of the Gods,” which is being described as “wildly commercial” and “wildly artful,” was written by Andrew Kevin Walker (“Se7en”), based on a story by Cosmatos and Walker. Per the producers, the story follows a married couple, Raoul (Moura) and Alex (Stewart), who descend each evening from their luxury skyscraper condo and head into an electric nighttime realm of ’80s L.A. When they cross paths with a mysterious and enigmatic woman (Olsen) and her hard-partying cabal, Raoul and Alex are seduced into a glamorous, surrealistic world of hedonism, thrills, and violence.
I love how Cosmatos has described ‘Flesh.’
Both propulsive and hypnotic […] it will take you on a hot rod joy ride deep into the glittering heart of hell
The psychedelic visuals in Cosmatos’ 2018 film “Mandy” remain etched in my memory. He absolutely delivered on the potential he showed in his 2010 debut, “Beyond the Black Rainbow,” and then some. Recently, I asked around about another project of his, “Nekrokosm,” produced by A24, which is apparently still in the “early stages of development.”
Bless A24. “Flesh of the Gods” is getting made, and it sounds delightfully bonkers — the kind of fever-dream genre vision only Cosmatos seems capable of pulling off.