There she is again, Adèle Exarchopoulos. Just a week after it was announced she’d star in Megan Park’s next film, Exarchopoulos has attached herself to an even bigger English-language project: Park Chan-wook’s next film.
Exarchopoulos is set for a role in Park’s “The Brigands of Rattlecreek,” for Warner Bros. and Clockwork, in what’s being described as a “substantial role,” playing the wife of Austin Butler’s character.
Park has been trying to make ‘Brigands,’ written by S. Craig Zahler, an “ultraviolent Western,” for 20 years, but the project has remained stuck in development hell for the last decade. Matthew McConaughey, Pedro Pascal, Austin Butler, and Tang Wei are attached to star.
Of particular note, it appears that Park has revised Zahler’s script, though there is no word yet on how extensive those changes might be. Hopefully, he has preserved the spirit of the original screenplay, which is a nasty pulp Western. The film is supposed to enter production in February.
The film, which has an estimated budget of $60M, centers on a sheriff and a physician who join forces to hunt down a ruthless gang that exploits violent thunderstorms to raid and brutalize a remote town. In doing so, the story taps into Park’s familiar fixations—revenge, moral fallout, and the lingering weight of past trauma—reframed within the stark, unforgiving landscape of the American frontier.
Park has enjoyed a remarkably acclaimed run over the last 10 years, but if you ask me, he has yet to surpass the seismic impact of “Oldboy.” His other acclaimed credits are impressive as well, including “The Handmaiden,” “Decision to Leave,” “No Other Choice,” “Lady Vengeance,” and “Thirst.”
Exarchopoulos will of course forever be known for her lead turn opposite Léa Seydoux in Abdellatif Kechiche’s Palme d’Or winner “Blue Is the Warmest Color,” released in 2013. Her other notable films include “Passages,” “The Animal Kingdom,” and “Zero F*cks Given.”
The 84-year-old "Rain Man" director is attached to direct "A Life," a biopic of Elia Kazan based on the legendary filmmaker's 1988 memoir. The project hit the market today.