A Kristen Stewart movie made just for me

The Cannes Film Festival is officially underway, which means a ton of movies, fashion, and news is coming as Cannes includes a film market where movies get sold and deals get made. One such deal is a new film from Panos Cosmatos, the director of Mandy, called Flesh of the Gods. Oscar Isaac was previously attached but has dropped out because of scheduling conflicts. The project will now star Kristen Stewart and Wagner Moura and is a “vampire thriller” set in 1980s Los Angeles. A 1980s maximalist vampire flick with KStew and Wagner Moura? Beam it DIRECTLY into my eyeballs.

Production is underway and A24 has already bought the film for North American distribution, the global rights are on sale now at Cannes. Besides KStew and recent Oscar nominee Moura, the film also stars Alba Baptista, Esmé Creed-Miles, and Roland Møller. But the real draw is Panos Cosmatos working with Kristen Stewart. I really cannot picture a better collaboration for them both. If you have not seen Mandy, do yourself the favor, it is WILD. But it’s beautiful, too, visually striking and distinct, on top of which Cosmatos got a GREAT performance from Nicolas Cage. Check out the trailer:

I cannot believe Mandy is already eight years old. Conservatively, I’ve seen this movie ten times. On multiple occasions, I have turned the sound off and played it with different music accompanying it. It’s one of those movies, like The Guest, John Wick, The Neon Demon, Ex Machina, The Last Unicorn, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Annihilation that just sticks in my head. I revisit it periodically because I never quite believe it exists in the way I remember it. And it kind of doesn’t, because every time I rewatch it, Mandy delivers a new gift.

Panos Cosmatos was born in Italy to a filmmaker and an artist, and he grew up in Canada, which explains a lot about his sensibility. There’s something in the water in Canada in the 1980s, a crazy talented generation of filmmakers grew up in the great north in the 1980s, including Heated Rivalry’s Jacob Tierney, Sarah Polley, Matt Johnson, and our own dear Duana Taha. (Note: I am not saying BORN in the 1980s, I am saying growing up and drinking Canadian water in the 1980s. Please do not fight me, internet, I am too tired.) What was in that water?

The lure of Panos Cosmatos working with Wagner Moura and, especially, Kristen Stewart—who I expect will deliver maximally on her unique frequency, just as Nicolas Cage did—is almost too good to be true. It’s too much of what I love about movies. It feels made just for me.

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