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Xavier Dolan is x-ing out his retirement plans.

After announcing he was stepping away from filmmaking in 2023, the 2024 Cannes Un Certain Regard jury president confirmed he has a new film in the works. Dolan made the announcement during a masterclass at the Lumiere Film Festival while launching his book, “A Friendship Through Film.” The event marked the 10th anniversary of his feature “Mommy.”

Dolan stated that the script for his upcoming feature is completed and that he hopes production will begin in 2025.

“It’s going to be an amalgam of several genres,” Dolan said (via Variety) with the feature “taking place in 1895 in the world of the elite, the Parisian literary world, and in the countryside too.”

He added that there are “certainly horrific aspects or moments,” as well as a “lot of comic elements” in the untitled project.

As for his announced retirement, Dolan spoke about finding his inspiration once again.

The director of films including I Killed My Mother, Tom at the Farm, and Matthias & Maxime, Xavier Dolan has revealed that he’s currently hard at work writing a period horror movie.

Deadline reports this morning that the untitled project is set in 1880s France, and Dolan plans to shoot the movie in late 2025. The scoop came courtesy of the Sans Filtre Podcast.

Xavier Dolan told the podcast in a recent chat, “It’s something I wrote before the pandemic, and I’m looking at again… It’s a genre film, a horror film, set in 1880s in France.”

“It feels removed from my life and what I know but on re-reading it, I understood that it is a film about the fear of failure, the fear of being rejected, of being misunderstood, the difficulty of creating,” Dolan continues, offering a tease of what we can expect from the film.

Someone is emerging from early (filmmaker) retirement, and we might have Cannes topper Thierry Frémaux to thank for it. After a cool volunteer job as the head of the Un Certain Regard jury this summer, Xavier Dolan‘s creative spark was reignited. He has dusted off a project he wrote before the pandemic and is now putting the finishing touches on what will be his ninth feature film—a venture into the horror genre. It’s worth noting that Dolan had a small role in Pascal Laugier’s gore-filled Martyrs before debuting as a director with I Killed My Mother in 2009. This new energy also came ab out from a trio of projects that Dolan has climbed on as an actor.…...

Update: Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan, whose film “Mommy” received the Cannes Jury Prize in 2014, will head the jury of Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival.

Joining him on the jury will be “Cuties” director Maïmouna Doucouré, “The Mother of All Lies” helmer Asmae El Moudir, “Phantom Thread” actor Vicky Krieps and film critic Todd McCarthy.

“I am humbled and delighted to return to Cannes as President of the Un Certain Regard Jury,” he said in a statement. “Even more than making films myself, discovering the work of talented filmmakers has always been at the very heart of both my personal and professional journeys. I see, in this responsibility I’m assigned, the opportunity to focus with the members of the Un Certain Regard Jury on an essential aspect of the art of film : stories told truthfully.”

Dolan wrote, directed, produced and starred in his first feature “I Killed My Mother...

Canadian actor and filmmaker Xavier Dolan will be joined on this year’s Un Certain Regard Jury by French-Senegalese filmmaker Maïmouna Doucouré, Moroccan director Asmae El Moudir, German-Luxembourg actress Vicky Krieps, and American film critic and writer Todd McCarthy.

The jury will be in charge of awarding prizes for the Un Certain Regard sidebar. This year, 18 films have been selected, including eight first features. The 2023 Un Certain Regard top prize went to director Molly Manning Walker’s debut feature How to Have Sex. When the light breaks by Rúnar Rúnarsson will open the Un Certain Regard section on May 15.

A self-taught filmmaker, Dolan made his feature directorial debut at 19 with I Killed My Mother, an adaptation of his own short story, which was chosen to represent Canada at the Academy Awards. He followed up that film with the 2010 romantic drama Heartbeats, which brought him into the Un Certain Regard section...

Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan is officially the 2024 Cannes Film Festival Un Certain Regard jury president. Dolan, who is a self-taught writer/director, made his feature debut at age 19 with “I Killed My Mother” based on his original short story. The film was chosen to represent Canada at the Academy Awards.

His work has repeatedly been featured at Cannes ever since Dolan’s 2010 sophomore feature “Heartbeats” marked his first entrance in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard program.

“I am humbled and delighted to return to Cannes as President of the Un Certain Regard Jury,” Dolan said in a statement. “Even more than making films myself, discovering the work of talented filmmakers has always been at the very heart of both my personal and professional journeys. I see, in this responsibility I’m assigned, the opportunity to focus with the members of the Un Certain Regard Jury on an essential aspect of the...

Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan is returning to Cannes Film Festival, this time to head up the Un Certain Regard jury as president.

A veteran of the Croisette, Dolan won the Jury Prize at Cannes with Mommy in 2014 and the Grand Prix trophy for It’s Only the End of the World in 2016.

“I am humbled and delighted to return to Cannes as president of the Un Certain Regard Jury. Even more than making films myself, discovering the work of talented filmmakers has always been at the very heart of both my personal and professional journeys. I see, in this responsibility I’m assigned, the opportunity to focus with the members of the Un Certain Regard Jury on an essential aspect of the art of film — stories told truthfully,” Dolan said in a statement on Thursday.

The Montreal-born director made his first entry in the Un Certain Regard sidebar with his second film,...

Heading this year’s Un Certain Regard jury in Cannes: Xavier Dolan: 'Discovering the work of talented filmmakers has always been at the very heart of both my personal and professional journeys' Photo: Richard Mowe Quebec’s directorial wunderkind Xavier Dolan will preside over the jury for Un Certain Regard sidebar at this year’s 77th Cannes Film Festival.

It was only ten years ago when the 33-year-old received the Jury Prize for Mommy at the festival.

He admitted to looking forward to celebrating "the thirst for discovery and passion for others’ talent".

He added: "I am humbled and delighted to return to Cannes as President of the Un Certain Regard Jury. Even more than making films myself, discovering the work of talented filmmakers has always been at the very heart of both my personal and professional journeys.

"I see, in this responsibility I'm assigned, the opportunity to focus...

Xavier Dolan, the Canadian filmmaker who rose through the ranks at Cannes with films like the Jury Prize winner Mommy, has been named President of the Un Certain Regard Jury, celebrating emerging talent, for the 77th edition of the festival, taking place this summer.

“I am humbled and delighted to return to Cannes as President of the Un Certain Regard Jury,” said Dolan. “Even more than making films myself, discovering the work of talented filmmakers has always been at the very heart of both my personal and professional journeys. I see, in this responsibility I’m assigned, the opportunity to focus with the members of the Un Certain Regard Jury on an essential aspect of the art of film : stories told truthfully.”

A self-taught filmmaker, Dolan made his feature directorial debut at 19 with I Killed My Mother, an adaptation of his own short story, which was chosen to represent Canada at the Academy Awards.

In the article series Sound and Vision we take a look at music videos from notable directors. This week we look at several videos from Xavier Dolan, including the two he made for Adele. Xavier Dolan is quitting filmmaking, because according to him 'art is a waste of time'. The once-wunderkind turned enfant terrible of Canadian cinema made some excellent films in his active years, some slightly thorny and fickle ones and some clunkers. But I think his most impactful pieces of art are in fact his three music videos, all of which are to be found below. One...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

There are very few directors who like to work at the break-neck speed that Canadian multi-hyphenate Xavier Dolan relishes. Fewer still can boast of churning out quality output at every turn. Since debuting with the semi-autobiographical “I Killed My Mother” in 2009, Dolan has more or less helmed one feature every year. In fact, the longest Dolan has stepped away from filmmaking has been during the three pandemic-stained years when life retreated indoors.

Continue reading ‘The Night Logan Woke Up’ Review: Xavier Dolan’s Debut TV Series Is A Captivating & Impressive Return at The Playlist.

“Surface,” the new eight-episode psychological thriller series starring “The Morning Show” alum Gugu Mbatha-Raw, will premiere globally with the first three episodes on Friday, July 29 on Apple TV+. New episodes will air weekly every Friday after the premiere.

The series follows Mbatha-Raw’s character of Sophie after a traumatic head injury has left her with extreme memory loss. Set in San Francisco, Sophie embarks on a quest to put the pieces of her life back together with the help of her husband and friends. Things turn sour, though, as she begins to question whether or not the truth she is told is really the truth she has lived. Through twists and turns and an unexpected love triangle, “Surface” is a story of self-discovery and a philosophical exploration of free will.

Rounding out the cast of the series is Oliver Jackson-Cohen (“The Haunting of Hill House”), Stephan James (“If Beale Street Could Talk...

“Surface,” the new psychological thriller starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, is heading to Apple TV+ next month.

On Thursday morning, the streamer announced the drama will premiere Friday, July 29, and shared a first look photo (see above) from the series.

“Surface” hails from creator Veronica West, and is produced by Apple Studios and Hello Sunshine.

In the San Francisco-set series, Mbatha-Raw plays Sophie, “a woman who has suffered a traumatic head injury that has left her with extreme memory loss, believed to be a result of a suicide attempt. As Sophie embarks on a quest to put the pieces of her life back together with the help of her husband and friends, she begins to question whether or not the truth she is told is in fact the truth she has lived. Through twists and turns and an unexpected love triangle, this sexy, elevated thriller asks: What if you woke up one...

Notebook is covering the Cannes Film Festival with an ongoing correspondence between critics Leonardo Goi and Lawrence Garcia, and editor Daniel Kasman.Pacifiction.Dear Leo and Danny,In my first correspondence, I wrote that the Competition got off to a slow start, and, well, maybe it never really did find its footing. Most critics, myself included, seemed to agree that the festival was on the whole an unmemorable one, especially in comparison to the strong 2021 edition, which no doubt benefited from a spate of pre-pandemic holdovers. There are of course exceptions. Jerzy Skolimowski’s Eo was a genuine UFO, delivering images and sensations that I’d never quite seen or experienced, while Véréna Paravel and Lucien Castiang-Taylor’s De Humani Corporis Fabrica (The Fabric of the Human Body) played something like a journey to inner space to match the Discovery’s journey to outer space in 2001: Space Odyssey, even...

In the second big prize announcement by a Directors’ Fortnight partner, “The Mountain” (“La Montagne”), from emerging French auteur Thomas Salvador, has won the Sacd Prize, awarded by France’s Writers’ Guild for the best French-language movie in the section.

The second feature of the French actor-director after 2017’s promising “Vincent,” selected for San Sebastian’s prestige New Directors section, ”The Mountain” is sold internationally by Le Pacte which will also handle distribution in France.

From a screenplay written by Salvador and Naila Guiguet, which was selected for Critics’ Weeks’ Next Steps 2020, “The Mountain” turns on Pierre, 40, played by Salvador, who makes a sales pitch for his company’s robotic arm in Chamonix, the capital of the French Alps.

When his colleagues return to Paris, he stays on, pitching a tent just below the Aiguille du Midi cable car station, a spectacular pinnacle at 12,600 feet, in the lap of Mont Blanc.

Music Box Films has picked up US rights to Lost Illusions (Illusions Perdues), Xavier Giannoli’s adaptation of the classic Honoré de Balzac comedic novel starring Summer of ’85 actor Benjamin Voisin. Cécile de France (The French Dispatch), Xavier Dolan (I Killed My Mother), Vincent Lacoste (Sorry Angel) and Gérard Depardieu co-star.

Lost Illusions premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival this year. It will have its North American premiere as the closing film at Hollywood’s Colcoa French Film Festival on Sunday, Nov. 7. The film will have its French bow on Oct. 20.

Music Box is planning a theatrical release followed by ...

Music Box Films has picked up US rights to Lost Illusions (Illusions Perdues), Xavier Giannoli’s adaptation of the classic Honoré de Balzac comedic novel starring Summer of ’85 actor Benjamin Voisin. Cécile de France (The French Dispatch), Xavier Dolan (I Killed My Mother), Vincent Lacoste (Sorry Angel) and Gérard Depardieu co-star.

Lost Illusions premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival this year. It will have its North American premiere as the closing film at Hollywood’s Colcoa French Film Festival on Sunday, Nov. 7. The film will have its French bow on Oct. 20.

Music Box is planning a theatrical release followed by ...

In this era of streaming, EPs, mixtapes, and myriad collaborations, it’s rare for an artist at the top of her game like Adele to take several years off without even a new single. But good things come to those who wait. Watch the music video for “Easy on Me” above.

SEEAdele message to son on her new album ’30’: ‘Why I chose to dismantle his entire life’

“Easy on Me” is the lead single from Adele’s new album “30,” which is scheduled for release on November 19. It was produced and co-written by Greg Kurstin, an eight-time Grammy winner for his work with a wide range of artists. His credits include hit singles like Kelly Clarkson‘s “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You),” Sia‘s “Chandelier,” and Adele’s previous blockbuster hit “Hello,” for which he won Record of the Year and Song of the Year. He has...

Kamil Krawczycki’s feature debut ’Elephant’ to begin shoot in September.

Poland’s only dedicated LGBTQ+ distributor Tongariro Releasing is making its first foray into production this autumn with Kamil Krawczycki’s feature debut Elephant which is described as “a family drama plus a beautiful gay romance set in the Polish countryside.”

Speaking to Screen at this week’s Polish Days in Wroclaw, Tongariro Releasing co-founder Jakub Mroz said that the project had received 700,000 Zloty from the Polish Film Institute’s ‘First Film’ micro-budget funding scheme for 90% of the film’s budget, with the distributor contributing the remaining 10% from own funds.

Canadian producers C.S. Roy and Stéphanie Morissette have unveiled a first look at “V F C,” an adaptive feature project blending traditional filmmaking with biofeedback audio technology.

The project marks C.S. Roy’s directorial debut and stars Elisapie Isaac, the Inuk singer-songwriter, as a female neuroscientist who develops a rare form of melophobia after experiencing a musical Stendhal Syndrome. Witnessing her colleagues strangely changing behaviour over repeated exposure with the same piece of music, she flees and tries to find shelter away from a pervasive, music-filled environment.

“V F C,” both an arthouse horror movie and an augmented reality experience, allows each viewer to hear a customized soundtrack and musical score based on real-time biofeedback through a pair of Eeg (electroencephalogram) headsets and headphones.

Along Isaac, “V F C” stars Etienne Lou, Matthew Kabwe, and newcomer Ambica Sharma. The film shot in Montreal and the Eastern Townships in Quebec in April.

Kosovo-set tale revolves around a group of teenagers who embark on series of heists.

Le Pacte has taken French rights to Directors’ Fortnight selection The Hill Where Lionesses Roar by French-Kosovan director Luàna Bajrami from Loco Films in one of the first major deals for the film.

Set in a small provincial town in Kosovo, the first feature revolves around three teenage girls who embark on a series of heist-style robberies for the thrill of it.

Paris-based Loco Films acquired international sales to the film after it was presented at the Work in Progress event of the Les Arcs Film...

Kosovo-set tale revolves around a group of teenagers who embark on series of heists.

Le Pacte has taken French rights to Directors’ Fortnight selection The Hill Where Lionesses Roar by French-Kosovan director Luàna Bajrami from Loco Films in one of the first major deals for the film.

Set in a small provincial town in Kosovo, the first feature revolves three teenager girls who embark on a series of heist-style robberies for the thrill of it.

Paris-based Loco Films acquired international sales to the film after it was presented at the Work in Progress event of the Les Arcs Film Festival...

Close-Up is a feature that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Xavier Dolan's Matthias & Maxime is showing exclusively on Mubi in many countries starting on August 28, 2020.In 2012, Xavier Dolan made a statement. Anointed as the enfant prodige of the international festival circuit, recipient of reams of applauding critiques, the Canadian child actor-turned-director yet again mesmerized the French Riviera. His Lawrence Anyway, a bittersweet story of unforeseen impermanent love in the face of Lawrence’s quest for self-expression, won Suzanne Clément the Un Certain Regard award for Best Actress and the surprisingly controversial Queer Palm that Dolan refused to accept. In distancing himself from a prize that, in his view, marginalizes and ghettoizes films merely on the basis of their characters’ sexual orientation, Dolan preached a utopian reality, a post-labels dream of unbiased and egalitarian judgement. However, as this may be perceived as a privileged position that fails to acknowledge...

One of the strangest and most vexing things about reviewing movies for a trade paper like Variety — which involves covering films at festivals and markets, as opposed to those consumer newspaper critics who follow the theatrical release schedule — is the fact that so many of the films we cover don’t have U.S. distribution at the moment we write about them. That’s the whole reason Variety is there: to give buyers, agents, and festival programmers an idea of where the quality lies. But it can be surreal to read (or write!) a rave review a movie that may never reach a movie theater near you.

Sometimes an enthusiastic critic can nudge a company into taking the risk on a foreign gem, but more often than not, the marketplace is too tough for a review to make a difference in a tiny film’s fate. And so the films...

Exclusive: Francois Arnaud is set as a series regular opposite Denis Leary and Elizabeth Perkins in The Moodys (fka A Moody Christmas), Fox’s half-hour holiday event series adaptation of the Australian series. Slated to air in December, the single-camera comedy series hails from CBS TV Studios, which will co-produce with Fox Entertainment.

Written by Bob Fisher, Rob Greenberg and Tad Quill, the six-episode The Moodys revolves around the Moodys, including Sean Sr. (Leary), his wife Ann (Perkins), their three grown children and an assorted mix of extended family members who gather for the holidays, with each packing his/her own eccentricities and complications.

Arnaud will play Dan. He is the youngest Moody kid, the creative one, also a neurotic romantic. Brimming with potential and a graduate of Northwestern, Dan is a freelance photographer, currently working as an assistant on a catalog shoot. He might be...

Xavier Dolan hasn’t stopped moving since his directorial debut, “I Killed My Mother.” After skipping Cannes, and going Hollywood with his last film, “The Death and Life Of John F. Donovan” starring Natalie Portman, Kit Harington and more (and it still doesn’t have a North American distributor), Dolan has returned to his Montreal roots for “Matthias & Maxime,” which had been welcomed back to the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.

Continue reading ‘Matthias & Maxime’ Trailer: Xavier Dolan Directs & Stars In His New Film About Friendship & Love at The Playlist.

Is it weird to say that It: Chapter Two is ? Sorry, truth hurts. The sequel to the 2017 horror smash faithfully follows Stephen King’s epic, 1,100-page, 1986 bestseller by skipping ahead 27 years and tracking its protagonist kids into their messy, angst-ridden adulthood. Once called the Losers Club, these children of Derry, Maine, are having a reunion. Not by choice — by force. As young’uns, they vowed only to come home if Pennywise, the twisted and murderous clown who wreaked havoc in Derry back in the day, returned for another killing spree.

The Notebook is covering Cannes with an on-going correspondence between critic Leonardo Goi and editor Daniel Kasman.Matthias & MaximeDear Danny, How nice it was to read your glowing words on Bong Joon-ho’s Palme d’Or contender. His Parasite belongs, together with a handful of other main competition entries, to a list of Cannes titles I shall be catching up on Saturday, when the festival will run a few repeat screenings ahead of the awards ceremony. With a program as rich and tantalizing as this year’s, it’s virtually impossible not to let a few titles slip past you. And while I may have postponed my rendezvous with the likes of Céline Sciamma, Pedro Almodóvar, and Bong Joon-ho, I did make sure to catch the homecoming of one of Cannes’ youngest regulars, Xavier Dolan. Ever since his 2009 debut feature I Killed My Mother, which found a spot at the 2009 Directors’ Fortnight,...

Quebec wunderkind filmmaker Xavier Dolan, who ten years ago at the age of 20 arrived at Cannes and knocked their socks off with I Killed My Mother, returns to the Croisette with Matthias and Maxime about two young childhood male friends, who after a kiss as adults, begin to question their true feelings.

As a filmmaker Dolan’s canon is famed for its homosexual themes and mothers of varying personalities. In Matthias and Maxime, the latter character is about to leave home for a trip to Australia and has to contend with a sick, abusive mother as he tries to leave her in the care of a guardian. How bad is mom? Despite her son’s good intentions, she throws a can at his head.

Said Dolan today at the Cannes press conference for the film, “Many say they recognize mothers and homosexuality in my films. In regards to mothers, we all have one,...

From one point of view, Xavier Dolan’s career looks like a precocious, single-minded blitz. As a director (he’s also a writer and actor), he’s made eight films between 2009 and 2019, with his first coming at the age of 20 and his latest, “Matthias & Maxime,” premiering at the Cannes Film Festival in the main competition on Wednesday. It is the sixth of Dolan’s films to play in Cannes, with “Mommy” winning the Jury Prize and “It’s Only the End of the World” winning the Grand Prize.

So why does “Matthias & Maxime” feel like a comeback of sorts for the former wunderkind who turned 30 two months ago? Why does it feel as if Dolan’s blitzkrieg of a career had reached a crisis point where it badly needed a film as sharp and warm as this one?

Mostly, that’s because of Dolan’s last two films.

If there’s one term that Xavier Dolan probably never wants or needs to hear again, it’s “enfant terrible.” Irresistible to use when the Québécois auteur was 19, rattling out of the gate with his antsy, angry lash-out of a debut, “I Killed My Mother,” it’s followed him doggedly through a series of variously spiky, variably strong follow-up features. But Dolan has just turned 30, and with his eighth film, “Matthias & Maxime,” capping a filmography longer and more entrenched in its creative identity than many directors comfortably his senior, it seems time to put the label to rest. For “Matthias & Maxime” is not in any sense the work of an enfant terrible: A wistful, low-key love-and-friendship study, and something of a back-to-basics reset after his elaborate English-language misfire “The Death and Life of John P. Donovan,” it feels at once younger and older, sweeter and more seasoned, than Dolan’s last few films.

by Samantha Craggs

It's been 10 years since Xavier Dolan, age 20, burst out of the gate at the Cannes Film Festival with his first ever movie, I Killed My Mother. It was a raw, imperfect effort. The deeply autobiographical narrative rambled at times. A plethora of shots framed the subject in the middle lower third of the screen, leaving space for blank white walls and reams of extraneous information. But it was a first-hand look at being a queer teenager fighting with his parents in the new millennium. For taste-makers at Cannes, it was more than enough. His movie showed in the Director's Fortnight, and Dolan, a former Québecois child actor who'd never even directed a short film, became the arthouse's youngest rock star.

We've watched him learn the craft in two-hour intervals ever since. He works at a frantic clip, so he's made eight movies in 10 years. The now 30 year...

Matthias & Maxime

And we begin our count up with Quebecois director Xavier Dolan, who after working on his largest budget to date in 2017/18 quickly returned to his low budget roots for his eighth feature Matthias & Maxime, produced by Dolan and his regular collaborator Nancy Grant for the Sons of Manual label. Cinematographer Andre Turpin (who has been working with Dolan since 2013’s Tom at the Farm) is on hand, as is actress Anne Dorval, who has been involved in most of the director’s productions since her excellent turn in his 2009 debut I Killed My Mother.…...

Xavier Dolan's Heartbeats (2010) is showing November 10 – December 9, 2018 on Mubi in the United States.Xavier Dolan is infatuated with image. The Louis Vuitton model makes films of meticulous composition, color, and sartorial specificity. The filmmaker’s life, as he completes a decade of making films, is well known: a wunderkind-cum-enfant terrible, Dolan made his first film at nineteen. The film, I Killed My Mother (2009), played at the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes, where he’s become a house cat amongst toms, racking up prestigious awards and adulation while arrayed in the finest of fashion—the man has style. Somewhere along his ascent the critical discourse began to curdle. Flaws and weaknesses (excessive fealty to Wong Kar-wai and overly-simplistic character dynamics) in his first few films were absolved under the auspices of youthful promise. Critics and viewers were excited to discover a new cine-stylist, but around the time of Mommy (2014) the pools of disfavor began to form.

For all his stylistic faults, French-Canadian film festival darling Xavier Dolan has never lacked confidence. From his personal and intimately-scaled debut I Killed My Mother to his most recent misfire of oppressively shouted cinema It’s Only the End of the World, Dolan has never struggled to express himself. The value of some of those expressions aside, his melodramas are typically narratively and stylistically self-assured; featuring people feeling things and then yelling about them at each other in close-up followed by slow-motion montages set to pop music that are either melancholic or cathartic depending on what part of the story we’re in. And they do seem to work for people, especially those of a certain age (myself included) that can relate to blasting 90s alt-rock in your room because you’re mad at your mom.

The Death and Life of John F. Donovan, his most ambitious undertaking yet (dealing...

In the decade since his directorial debut “I Killed My Mother,” treasured Quebecois star Xavier Dolan has gone from breakout filmmaking talent to bonafide auteur, all before the age of 30. His expressive dramas have increased in ambition and scale , from the sprawling trans saga “Lawrence Anyways” to the frantic mother-son intensity of “Mommy.” Even his maligned “It’s Only the End of the World” benefited from a host of world-class performances, from Vincent Cassel to Marion Cotillard, as Dolan continued to expand his scope.

Now comes the former child actor’s first English-language project, “The Death and Life of John F. Donovan,” a shocking misfire that nevertheless demonstrates the sheer confidence in his storytelling that Dolan has cultivated over a decade of movies. It’s the only possible explanation for this baffling ensemble piece, a campy (if at times inspired) burst of melodrama and ludicrous scenarios caving into each other...

Filmmaker Xavier Dolan has a real love-hate relationship with the Cannes Film Festival. From his first film “I Killed My Mother” getting a standing ovation after its premiere at the event to his last film “It’s Only the End of the World” getting booed, Dolan has experienced the highest highs and lowest lows of what the world’s most prestigious film festival can present.

Continue reading A Seemingly Defeated Xavier Dolan Explains Decision To Forgo Cannes In Favor Of Tiff For ‘John F. Donovan’ at The Playlist.

Xavier Dolan, whose first English-language film, The Death & Life of John F. Donovan, has its world premiere at Tiff on Monday, made quite the splash when the writer-director-actor’s first movie screened at Cannes in 2009.

The Hollywood Reporter’s review called it “a somewhat uneven film that demonstrates a great deal of talent” that has “brilliantly achieved cinematic moments and repetitive, massively self-indulgent gestures of acting out.”

Perhaps it was because he was only 20, or maybe it was the provocative title — I Killed My Mother — but his debut garnered reams of attention from the ...

Xavier Dolan, whose first English-language film, The Death & Life of John F. Donovan, has its world premiere at Tiff on Monday, made quite the splash when the writer-director-actor’s first movie screened at Cannes in 2009.

The Hollywood Reporter’s review called it “a somewhat uneven film that demonstrates a great deal of talent” that has “brilliantly achieved cinematic moments and repetitive, massively self-indulgent gestures of acting out.”

Perhaps it was because he was only 20, or maybe it was the provocative title — I Killed My Mother — but his debut garnered reams of attention from the ...

Update: Two important supporting characters have been cast in It: Chapter Two. According to Deadline, filmmaker Xavier Dolan (pictured above in I Killed My Mother), who also often acts in his own movies, will play gay Derry resident Adrian Mellon, who becomes the victim of a hate crime. Joining him is Will Beinbrink (Free State of Jones) as Beverly's abusive husband Tom.   Update 3: Isaiah Mustafa (above in Madea's Big Happy Family) has joined the cast of It: Chapter Two, per THR. He will play the role of Mike Hanlon, first portrayed by Chosen Jacobs as a young man in It. All the adult versions of the Losers Club members have now been cast: Jessica Chastain as Beverly Marsh, James McAvoy as Bill Denbrough, Bill Hader as Richie Tozer, Jay Ryan as...

Update 4: Two important supporting characters have been cast in It: Chapter Two. According to Deadline, filmmaker Xavier Dolan (pictured above in I Killed My Mother), who also often acts in his own movies, will play gay Derry resident Adrian Mellon, who becomes the victim of a hate crime. Joining him is Will Beinbrink (Free State of Jones) as Beverly's abusive husband Tom. (Catch up on everything we know below.)   Update 3: Isaiah Mustafa (above in Madea's...

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The cast of New Line Cinema's highly-anticipated horror sequel It: Chapter 2 continues to be rounded out, with Xavier Dolan and Will Beinbrink coming aboard. Doland will portray Adrian Mellon, who, in Stephen King's original book, is a gay man living in Derry, Maine, who becomes attacked by bullies. Beinbrink has come aboard for the role of Tom Rogan, the abusive husband of the adult Beverly Marsh (Jessica Chastain). We reported yesterday that production has started, which spawned from a photo James McAvoy sent out, presumably from the set, but it seems that isn't the case yet.

James McAvoy sent out a photo on his Instagram account, stating it was "Day one on It 2" yesterday, but this new report from Deadline reveals that principal photography won't actually begin until next month. That report does fall in line with a report from April, when producer Roy Lee revealed that filming...

Production kicked off this week on Andy Muschietti’s It: Chapter 2, which means more casting news is coming in. Deadline today brings us word that two characters from Stephen King’s novel have been cast, with I Killed My Mother director Xavier Dolan (pictured above) playing the role of Adrian Mellon and Will Beinbrink (Free State of Jones) as Tom Rogan. […]...

Xavier Dolan is joining the cast of “It: Chapter Two,” Deadline confirms. The actor-director joins Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, and Bill Hader in the highly anticipated sequel to the 2017 horror blockbuster. “Chapter Two,” once again directed by Andy Muschietti, is based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name. The story centers around the Losers’ Club as adults lured back to their hometown of Derry, Maine to face off against Pennywise.

Dolan is set to play Adrian Mellon in “Chapter Two.” The character is a gay man living in Derry who is attacked by bullies and killed by Pennywise. The casting is the latest supporting gig for Dolan, who will appear opposite Lucas Hedges in Joel Edgerton’s “Boy Erased,” in theaters September 28. Dolan has stared in many of his directorial efforts, including “I Killed My Mother” and “Tom At the Farm.”

The “It: Chapter Two” cast also includes Jay Ryan,...

Exclusive: Xavier Dolan and Will Beinbrink have landed supporting roles in New Line Cinema’s It Chapter Two, which will once again be directed by Andy Muschietti.

The sequel portrays the kids, members of the Losers’ Club, who were tormented by Pennywise, as adults. James McAvoy plays Bill, Bill Hader is Richie, Jessica Chastain is Beverly, James Ransone is Eddie, Andy Bean is Stanley, Jay Ryan is Ben, and Isaiah Mustafa is Mike. Bill Skarsgard returns as Pennywise.

Dolan will be playing the role of Adrian Mellon. In the Stephen King novel, Mellon was a gay man living in Derry who was attacked by bullies which led to his demise at the hands of Pennywise. Beinbrink will play Tom Rogan who, the book and the 90s miniseries, was Beverly’s abusive lover.

Barbara Muschietti, Roy Lee and Dan Lin return as producers. The screenplay is written by Gary Dauberman.

Contrary...

There’s nothing like a rousing walk up the Cannes red carpet, flashbulbs exploding, plus lengthy standing ovations after the premiere, to feed a filmmaker’s hungry ego. Although the world’s most glamorous film festival can be reticent to anoint new auteurs before they are given credit elsewhere, each year’s 20 directors competing for the Palme d’Or each comprise a class photo of master filmmakers with a far reach; they know building your foreign profile improves global box office returns.

Cannes Film Festival director Thierry Frémaux and his predecessor, Gilles Jacob, have nurtured generations of working auteurs. Check out the IndieWire film staff’s countdown of 25 living directors who have thrilled and stirred us on the Croisette this century, undaunted by rigid festival etiquette and the massive international stage.

25. Lee Chang-dong

Lars von Trier may grab more headlines, but the real reason to get excited about this year...

When the Cannes Film Festival announced its 2018 lineup on Thursday, one movie that seemed like an obvious inclusion wasn’t on the list: Xavier Dolan’s “The Death and Life of John F. Donovan.” The prolific 29-year-old French-Canadian filmmaker’s first English-language feature is his most ambitious to date, the story of an American television star (Kit Harrington) dealing with the aftermath of revelations surrounding a relationship with an 11-year-old boy.

Dolan’s movie went into production in the summer of 2016, and after a delay, Dolan finished shooting in early 2017. It seemed like a safe bet for Cannes, where five out of his six completed features have played. The movie has been beset by post-production delays, including a February 2018 update when Dolan announced that he would be cutting Jessica Chastain’s character, a scheming journalist, from the movie. Nevertheless, Dolan told IndieWire that he did submit a version of the...

Receiving critical acclaim for his films like “Mommy,” “I Killed My Mother,” and “It’s Only the End of the World,” Xavier Dolan is fast becoming one of the most talked-about filmmakers working today. While he is currently in pre-production on the film “The Death and Life of John F. Donovan,” Dolan took time on his Instagram to shout out another film that has been on his mind, “Love, Simon.”

As we detailed in our recent review, “Love, Simon” is a coming-of-age film that is significant, not only because it’s actually really damn good, but also for featuring a gay character as the lead in a major studio film.

As he puts the finishing touches on his English-language debut The Death and Life of John F. Donovan–featuring the impressive ensemble of Jessica Chastain, Kit Harington, Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates, Natalie Portman, Jacob Tremblay, Michael Gambon, and Sarah Gadon–Xavier Dolan is going back to a more narrow scope for his follow-up.

He’ll be returning to Quebec this fall to shoot his eighth feature Matt & Max, reports THR, which is said to mix the aesthetic approach of Tom at the Farm with the spirit of Mommy. Also a return to the French language, the film will depict a pair of friends in their late 20s, with Dolan playing Max. Also among the cast is the wonderful Anne Dorval (Mommy, I Killed My Mother, Heartbeats).

“This year I’ve been exposed to films that I felt were so brave and so authentic in their writing and how they talked about queer love,...

Xavier Dolan might be the most talked about director whose films barely have any U.S. distribution. Over a year since it debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, “It’s Only The End Of The World” is still without a U.S. release, while previous efforts like “Tom At The Farm,” “Laurence Anyways,” and “I Killed My Mother” all received very limited engagements.

Continue reading Luca Guadagnino Is “A Bit Suspicious” Of Xavier Dolan at The Playlist.