Nicolas Winding Refn Is Preparing His Big Screen Comeback With a Tokyo-Set Movie to Start Shooting Next Year (EXCLUSIVE)
variety.comElsa Keslassy International Correspondent After delivering a pair of limited series for streamers, Nicolas Winding Refn is preparing his return to feature filmmaking.
Refn told Variety that he’s getting ready to shoot his next movie in Tokyo. The project will be in English and Japanese, and will mark his first feature film since 2016’s ”The Neon Demon.” The New York-raised Danish filmmaker is attending the Venice Film Festival with the world premiere of his short “Beauty Is not a Sin,” produced by Art + Vibes for Italian motorcycle brand MV Agusta, as well as the screening of his 1996 debut movie, “Pusher,” in Venice Classics.
While he claimed “cinema is dead” several years ago, Refn now finds that returning to moviemaking in the current context is an act of “defiance.” “It’s a really interesting time to make movies because it’s such a chaotic situation,” he said. “So going back and making a theatrical feature film again is almost like — not starting over — but with all the changes in our societies in the last five years and technology changes, it almost seems like the right thing to do for me.” He added, ”Feature film is still the mother of all mediums” and he’s eager to “re-experience that process.” His new movie is financed and will shoot next year.
It’s based on an original story whose plot is under wraps, but it “will have a lot of glitter and lot of sex and violence,” Refn promised. “I think it’s hard for me to escape my self-indulgent identity in creativity.
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