It’s been seven years since Israeli-American director Alma Har’el’s feature debut, “Honey Boy,” which was written by and starred Shia LaBeouf.
The 2019 film garnered positive reviews, but a relatively quiet stint away from cinema followed for Har’el, 50, who went on to helm TV shows, including seven episodes of “Lady in the Lake” in 2024, and directed the 50-minute Bob Dylan concert documentary “Shadow Kingdom” in 2021.
Har’el had previously been trying to mount an adaptation of Walter Tevis’s 1980 dystopian science-fiction novel “Mockingbird,” but that project has since been shelved by Searchlight, which has now led to something new.
Page Six Hollywood has now learned that Har’el, who lives in Israel, has settled on her next project: a feature film called “Wet.” There are no plot details for now, other than that it is a “family drama in the vein of HBO’s “Succession” and the 2022 Oscar-nominated film “Triangle of Sadness.” Har’el wrote the screenplay.
What’s more, Javier Bardem, a pro-Palestinian activist who has not been shy in his criticism of Israel, is somehow circling the project — I guess he doesn’t have a problem with, or boycott, Israeli directors, just the country.
Sources tell Page Six Hollywood that, despite their backgrounds, the Tel Aviv-born Har’el and Bardem “have found much common creative ground.”
Bardem has Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beloved,” Florian Zeller’s “Bunker,” and Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Three” coming out this year. He also appeared in Apple TV’s “Cape Fear,” which premiered earlier this summer. Bardem is currently shooting the Elizabeth Chomko-directed rom-com “Hello & Paris,” co-starring Kate Hudson and set up at Amazon/MGM. He can currently be seen at every Spain World Cup game.
The sequel looks like a vehicle to reunite Kidman and Bullock. Moviegoers are responding. This might turn out to be Warner Bros.’ biggest hit of the year—until “Dune 3”—and will easily outpace “Supergirl.”