8 years after The Neon Demon, Nicolas Winding Refn will shoot a new film in Tokyo

Cinema is not dead anymore? The director of Drive is preparing his first feature film of the 2020s.

Nicolas Winding Refn is currently at the Venice Film Festival, to present his first film, Pusherin a restored version at Venice Classics, 28 years after its theatrical release, as well as his very last production, an advertisement entitled Beauty is not a Sin for the motorcycle brand MV Augusta. This is not a first, since he had already signed a notable spot for Prada.

“It's quite strange to see your past resurface like this, commented the person concerned during the festival. And to present two projects that represent both my future and my past.”

A few years later he declared loudly: “Cinema is dead”the Danish director now assures that returning to the 7th art in these uncertain times for the future of theaters is “an act of defiance”begin Variety announcing his desire to shoot a new feature film, after having worked on series in recent years: Too Old to Die Young, Copenhagen Cowboy And The Famous Five.

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Eight years later The Neon Demonhis satire of the fashion world and the relentless quest for youth/beauty led by Elle Fanning, Winding Refn plans to film a new story, in Tokyo, in both English and Japanese. He promises that this new work will be perfectly in the vein of his previous ones, Only God Forgives in the lead.

“It's a really interesting time to be making movies because the situation in cinema is so chaotic. Coming back to the big screen like this is… it's not quite a start over, but there have been all these changes in our societies in the last five years, technologies have evolved, and now it seems like the right thing to do. For me, anyway.”

“Cinema is the mother of all mediums, he adds, and I'm looking forward to experiencing that again. This new movie will have a lot of glitz, and a lot of sex and violence. It's hard for me to escape my identity, my creative failings. So yes, there will definitely be some of me in this movie.”

In concrete terms, Nicolas Winding Refn says nothing about the pitch, then switching to another medium that interests him: video games. Confirming that he is working on two projects in this field, he adds:

“I am fascinated by what technology can offer us. It is the only art form that continues to evolve creative possibilities. Imagine if the Lumière brothers had not invented cinema first but computer games. What would the world look like today?”

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