Xavier Dolan Comes Out of Retirement, Prepares Horror Film

The story will take place in France, around 1880.

In January 2023, Xavier Dolan confided to First his weariness. The director, who was then releasing his series The Night Laurier Gaudreault Woke Up, then no longer saw himself making films: “II don't want to do it, write it, direct it, promote it. To carry a project on my shoulders for two years. (…) I need to discover new things. And then to live, also, an intimacy with my friends and my family, without having to calculate what I'm going to wear to a premiere, what I'm going to say in an interview, how I'm going to dress for a cover… It doesn't appeal to me anymore. It doesn't interest me anymore.”

Fortunately, Dolan changed his mind in between: in the podcast No Filter (via IonCinema), he says that going to ” in Cannes and be on the jury of Un Certain Regard ” woke up ” a desire to create (…) I am working on a film (…) It is something that I wrote before the pandemic and then I brought out (…) It is a genre film, a horror film, which takes place in 1880 in France. “A surprising project, totally the opposite of what the filmmaker has done so far.” It couldn't be further from my life, from what I “know”, but when I reread it I realize that it's a film about the fear of failure, the fear of being alienated, of being rejected, of being misunderstood, the difficulty of creating… And then I say to myself: “Ah!” (…) I'm going on a journey to finish it, because I never finished it. I have 20 pages left. »

Xavier Dolan moves to series: “Cinema no longer interests me”

He also claims to have partially rewritten the script, removing a lot of fat, but ” the structure is there “. This horror film will be shot in France and should be largely shot outdoors. Dolan's favorite cinematographer, André Turpin, will be back. Filming is planned for fall 2025 (can we hope for a premiere at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival?).

Dolan also says he is writing a series and ” to contemplate the options ” that are offered to him. ” I wonder how to come back, I try to measure the risk taking but I want to take a healthy risk because I can no longer put myself in danger like before. »