Jacob Elordi & Lily-Rose Depp To Star In Cormac McCarthy Adaptation ‘Outer Dark' — Red Hot Project Bubbling At The Cannes Market
We can reveal that Jacob Elordi and Lily-Rose Depp, two of the industry's buzziest young names, are set to star in Outer Dark, a film based on iconic author Cormac McCarthy's (No Country For Old Men) dark 1968 novel.
More from Deadline
Tribeca Title 'Dog of God' Acquired For France As Media Move Launches Sales - Cannes Market
'Dossier 137' Director On Cannes Ban Of His Film's Actor Accused Of Sexual Assault: "I Understand Their Decision"
International Insider: Cruise In Cannes; Standing Ovations; Chinese Box Office Future
The 'dark fairytale', which is being lined up to shoot in 2026, will mark the English-language debut of Oscar-winning Son Of Saul filmmaker Laszlo Nemes.
Outer Dark is set in Appalachia during the Great Depression and tells of a young woman who bears her brother's baby. The brother leaves the nameless infant in the woods to die, but tells his sister that the newborn died of natural causes and had to be buried. The sister discovers this lie and sets out to find the baby for herself. But as both brother and sister separately move through the countryside, three terrifying strangers are on their tails, wreaking death and destruction wherever they appear.
Nemes wrote the screenplay with Clara Royer, while Mike Goodridge of London-based Good Chaos is producing alongside Nemes; executive producers are Ilene Feldman, Ori Eisen of Original Films and Nicolas Gonda. Good Chaos and Nemes have the book-to-screen rights.
Goodridge, the Triangle Of Sadness co-producer who has Left-Handed Girl playing at this year's festival, is among the team on the ground in Cannes in early talks with potential partners for the project. It's not formally on sale here but there are likely to be plenty of suitors to finance or get behind it.
We understand the actors really sparked to the material and both are coming off big successes. It's fitting stuff for both: Depp is coming off Oscar-nominated box office hit Nosferatu, another dark fairytale, while Euphoria and Priscilla star Elordi is coming off excellent notices for The Narrow Road To The Deep North and will next be seen as the creature in Guillermo Del Toro's Frankenstein, as Heathcliff in Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights and in Ridley Scott's Dog Stars, which is in production.
Laszlo Nemes said: 'Since reading Outer Dark the first time, it has been my dream to make it into a film, and to find the appropriate cinematic language that would do justice to Cormac McCarthy's evocative and cosmological work. Joined by two magnetic actors, I now feel it's possible. The extraordinary source material is a profound inspiration to build a unique world that vibrates with life and death at the same time. An exciting road-movie, a terrible and beautiful journey into the labyrinth of the human soul – this is the ambition I have for Outer Dark.'
Nemes recently completed his third film Orphan (also produced by Goodridge) which is scheduled to premiere at a festival later this year before its October 23 release in Hungary. He will next shoot Moulin, a French-language feature about WWII resistance fighter Jean Moulin which is being sold at the Cannes market by 193. Gilles Lellouche and Lars Eidinger are starring for producer Alain Goldman.
Alongside Orphan, Goodridge is also in post-production on Edward Berger's next film, The Ballad Of A Small Player, starring Colin Farrell and Tilda Swinton.
Cormac McCarthy's lauded novels adapted for the screen include Oscar winner No Country For Old Men and Viggo Mortensen starrer The Road.
Elordi is repped by Gersh and Goodman, Genow. Depp is repped by CAA, Markham, Froggatt & Irwin, Agence Adequat, and Lichter, Grossman. Nemes is represented by CAA and Ilene Feldman Management.
Best of Deadline
2025 TV Cancellations: Photo Gallery
Where To Watch All The 'Mission: Impossible' Movies: Streamers With Multiple Films In The Franchise
Everything We Know About 'My Life With The Walter Boys' Season 2 So Far
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News24
5 hours ago
- News24
Terence Stamp dead At 87: Remembering the 1960s legend and screen chameleon
Terence Stamp, a celebrated British actor, rose to fame in 1960s cinema, earning a Golden Globe and numerous accolades, including Best Actor at Cannes. Known for captivating audiences in both indie and blockbuster films, he played roles ranging from brooding villains to enigmatic and diverse characters. Stamp's career highlights include portraying General Zod in Superman II, Bernadette in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and appearing in classics like Pasolini's Theorem and Fellini's Spirits of the Dead. British actor Terence Stamp, a leading man of 1960s cinema before reinventing himself in a series of striking roles - including as Superman villain General Zod - has died aged 87, UK media cited his family announcing Sunday. 'He leaves behind an extraordinary body of work, both as an actor and as a writer, that will continue to touch and inspire people for years to come', media quoted the family saying. Stamp exploded onto the screen in the 1960s as a leading man, even then, sometimes playing troubled characters. At one point, he seemed to specialise in playing brooding villains. Later still, he broke out of that typecasting to play a partying transgender woman in 'The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert'. From Pier Paolo Pasolini's 'Theorem' to a villain's role in one of the 'Star Wars' films, the handsome leading man captivated audiences in both arthouse films and Hollywood blockbusters. He lent his magnetic presence to more than 60 films during a career that spanned a range of genres. Heroes and villains The London actor from a working-class background, born on 22 July 1938, had his first breakthrough in Peter Ustinov's 'Billy Budd'. His performance as a dashing young sailor hanged for killing one of his crewmates earned him an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe for Best New Actor. Carving out a niche for his alluring depictions of broody villains, he won Best Actor at Cannes in 1965 for 'The Collector', a twisted love story adapted by William Wyler from John Fowles's bestselling novel. His 1967 encounter with Federico Fellini was transformative. The Italian director was searching for the 'most decadent English actor' for his segment in an adaptation of 'Spirits of the Dead', a collection of Edgar Allan Poe stories. Fellini cast him as 'Toby Dammit', a drunken actor seduced by the devil in the guise of a little girl. Another Italian great, Pasolini, who cast him in the cult classic 'Theorem', saw him as a 'boy of divine nature'. In the 1969 film, Stamp played an enigmatic visitor who seduced an entire bourgeois Milanese family. 'Kneel before Zod!' He also had a relationship with Jean Shrimpton - a model and beauty of the sixties - before she left him towards the end of the decade. 'I was so closely identified with the 1960s that when that era ended, I was finished with it', he once told French daily Liberation. But the dry spell did not last long. Stamp revived his career for some of his most popular roles, including in 1980s 'Superman II', as Superman's arch-nemesis General Zod. His famous line from that film, 'Kneel before Zod!' was spreading online in social media tributes after the news broke of his death. Other roles followed, including that of Bernadette, a transgender woman in 'Priscilla, Queen of the Desert' (1994), in which Stamp continued his exploration of human ambiguity, this time in fishnet stockings. He continued to pursue a wide-ranging career, jumping between big-budget productions such as 'The Phantom Menace', one of the Star Wars films, to independent films like Stephen Frears's 'The Hit'.
Yahoo
21 hours ago
- Yahoo
Spike Lee Walks Back Comment That ‘Highest 2 Lowest' Will Be His Last Film With Denzel Washington: 'I Got My Mind Right'
Spike Lee made headlines at Cannes this year when premiering his new film Highest 2 Lowest and announcing that it would likely be his last team-up with frequent collaborator Denzel Washington. 'I think this is it — five,' Lee told reporters of his and Washington's number of films together. 'He's been talking about retirement, even though he's just done another deal. Five films together, they stand up.' More from The Hollywood Reporter After Crediting 'Nobody' Workouts for Saving His Life, Bob Odenkirk "Never Stopped Training" for Sequel Official 'Highest 2 Lowest' Trailer Features Denzel Washington in Tense Calls With Kidnapper Halsey on Learning From Sydney Sweeney on 'Americana' and Creating Her Own New Series: "Really Cool to Be Part of a Project I Don't Face" The pair have united for Inside Man, Mo' Better Blues, Malcolm X, He Got Game and now Highest 2 Lowest, but at the new film's New York premiere on Monday, Lee walked back those previous comments and kept the door open for more projects with Washington. 'I said that before, but I got my mind right,' he told The Hollywood Reporter. 'I'm open to work with Denzel Washington and this not be the last film of the dynamic duo, D and Lee.' Highest 2 Lowest is a reinterpretation of Akira Kurosawa's 1963 film High and Low and sees a powerful music mogul (Washington) targeted by a ransom plot and put in a life-or-death moral dilemma. A$AP Rocky, Jeffrey Wright, Ilfenesh Hadera, Elijah Wright, Wendell Pierce and Ice Spice also appear in the film. 'I became a student of Akira Kurosawa at NYU's graduate film school — that's where I saw Rashomon, that's where I saw many of Samurai films, that's where I saw High and Low,' Lee recalled, noting that Washington 'had gotten the property and he sent it to me; he said, 'Spike read the script. If you like, let's go.' I read it right away, called him up, I think the next day and said, 'Let's go.' It happened like that.' The famed filmmaker also weighed in on the film's tagline 'All Money Ain't Good Money,' saying, 'We know what that is and we know that sometimes in life we have to make that choice. And hopefully we make the right choice.' Highest 2 Lowest hits theaters on Friday and starts streaming on Apple TV+ on Sept. 5. Neha Joy contributed to this report. Best of The Hollywood Reporter The 25 Best U.S. Film Schools in 2025 The 40 Greatest Needle Drops in Film History The 40 Best Films About the Immigrant Experience Solve the daily Crossword
Forbes
3 days ago
- Forbes
How AI, Creators And Sports Are Shaping Marketing's Next Chapter
Emily Ketchen | Chief Marketing Officer & SVP, Intelligent Devices Group & International Markets at Lenovo | Global Marketing Executive. It's hard to believe that another year of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has come and gone, and I was fortunate enough to attend for a third consecutive year. Cannes is always a flurry of activity, from different sessions to panels to the judging and awards. But above all, it's a unique time when you can find some of the greatest minds in marketing in the same place. That's how I like to view it. Each year, I approach the festival with two goals: to share what Lenovo is doing to bring smarter technology to all and to gather new insights that can guide our future marketing. This year was no different, as there were so many opportunities to exchange ideas and learn from our peers. Here are some of my top takeaways from this year and what they reveal for the future of marketing. Marketers' confidence in AI lends to boosted creativity. Even as creative industries increasingly use AI to help inform their work, it's important to remember that it's people, not AI, who are creative. Creative spirit, talent and timely cultural relevance can't be replaced by AI, but creatives must be willing to explore AI as an important tool that can maximize their work through refinement and customization. This greater understanding of how to effectively use AI was evident as brands used the technology in more compelling, smarter ways across campaigns. An award-winning campaign like Dove's 'Real Beauty,' which used AI to reprogram Pinterest's algorithm to prioritize natural and inclusive beauty over AI-generated images, illustrated how AI can be used purposefully within a marketing mix to breathe new life into a long-standing, purpose-driven campaign that's relevant for the modern era. Brands' internal frameworks around AI were also discussed in relation to how they support marketers to become more confident AI users, so they can create, experiment and collaborate with the right AI knowledge, tools and guardrails in place. Rather than superficial and ad hoc experimentations of AI, we've seen how marketers' maturing AI proficiency is leading to bolder marketing that also demonstrates how it can be used for good, which goes a long way in building trust with consumers around AI and drives business forward. The creator economy is growing stronger. Creators were at the forefront of this year's discussions, being positioned as much more than just amplifiers for traditional influencer marketing. They are now viewed as strategic cultural partners who contribute creative ideas, co-develop content and even shape brand narratives from ideation to execution. As a nod to this shift, Cannes rebranded its 'Social & Influencer Lions' into 'Social & Creator Lions.' They also introduced various subcategories to address topics such as culture, social content marketing and social insights. There was an increase in both creators and campaigns alike. Vaseline Verified, for example, where more than 450 creators (registration required) shared hacks and different uses for Vaseline, went on to win the Health and Wellness Grand Prix. This increased presence shows how important the creator economy is in amplifying brand relevance and trust. By leveraging a creator's authenticity, relatability and influence, brands can foster genuine connections with consumers. Sports are playing a bigger role in marketing than ever. The role of sports in marketing is certainly nothing new. The sports sponsorship market is expected to reach $115 billion in 2025, but it has gained increased popularity at the festival, particularly as sports like Formula 1 take off as cultural phenomena in the U.S. At Stagwell's annual 'Sport Beach' at Cannes, the tech and innovation track examined how technology is changing consumer interaction with sports, such as wearables, augmented reality and data analytics and visualization. That fusion of sports and technology is reshaping not just what fans experience, but how teams think, react and compete—allowing fans to become interactive participants and turning stadiums into smarter ecosystems. Sports partnerships were also discussed in how they present unique opportunities to further build brand trust by putting your product (and subsequently your brand) right in front of customers. This helps showcase technology solutions that enhance the fan experience while meeting consumers where they are and presenting the opportunity to demonstrate confidence in a brand's technology. At Lenovo, we've experienced this firsthand through our multiyear partnership with Formula 1, one of the most technologically advanced sports in the world. A Glimpse Into Future-Ready Marketing The conversations, campaigns and collaborations at Cannes Lions proved that the convergence of AI, creators and immersive sports partnerships isn't a trend—it's a new playbook. To lead in this era, marketers can work to embed AI intentionally to enhance creativity and build trust, elevate creators as true co-developers of content and harness the cultural power of sports to drive brand relevance. Cannes Lions is a powerful yearly reminder that bold, culturally attuned, tech-enabled storytelling is no longer optional—it's the price of entry, and something I'll take into the next year. Forbes Communications Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
