Claire Denis in Talks to Direct Cannibal Crime Drama ‘The Soap Maker’ (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Revered French auteur Claire Denis is in advanced talks to direct cannibalistic crime drama “The Soap Maker.” The project, being shopped around at Berlin’s EFM, is an updated remake of Italian director Mauro Bolognini’s 1977 cult movie “Gran Bollito,” which starred Shelley Winters as a serial killer who cooked the bodies of her victims into soap, cake and cookies.

The English-language film is inspired by the true story of Italy’s Leonarda Cianciulli, who in the late 1930s and early ’40s murdered three local women in the central Italian town of Correggio and disposed of their bodies with chemicals — using what was left to make soaps, candles, cookies and cakes that she shared with people in her community. “The Soap Maker,” which is lead-produced by the Los Angeles- and New York-based Gerry Pass via his Chrome Entertainment shingle, is being packaged by CAA and has been pitched to prospective buyers at the EFM. (CAA declined to comment.) The project is being described as an elevated real crime drama in the vein of “Silence of the Lambs,” “Seven” and “Get Out,” with a decidedly dark tone and a psychological thriller feel.

The plan is to shoot “The Soap Maker” on location in Italy. Besides rights to the screenplay for Bolognini’s “Gran Bollito,” the producers also have rights to a diary that Leonarda Cianciulli allegedly wrote in the psychiatric prison were she spent the rest of her life after confessing her crimes.

The apparent witchcraft Leonarda used to attract her victims will be accurately recreated from her asylum diary, according to the project’s promotional materials.