Having been suspiciously quiet since his critic-splitting 2014 film, Noah, writer/director Darren Aronofsky is back with a new feature under his arm. According to Deadline, Mother (styled ‘mother!’) stars Jennifer Lawrence, Michelle Pfeiffer, Javier Bardem, Domhnall Gleeson and his lesser known brother, Brian.
Although no official plot synopsis has been released, the story is said to centre around a couple whose peaceful existence is disrupted by some uninvited guests. Paramount Pictures appear to have confidence in Aronofsky, removing both World War Z 2 and a new Friday the 13th remake from its slate in order to accommodate Mother in an awards season-friendly 13 October release slot. We’re hopeful that the film will premiere in Venice, Toronto or one of the other big autumn film festivals.
Since Noah, Aronofsky has been linked to a number of intriguing projects, but sadly none have taken off. Back in 2013 he was attached to direct a series for HBO entitled Hobgoblin, an ambitions-sounding period drama written by Michael Chabon about a group of magicians and conmen in the 1940s who use their power to defeat Hitler.
It was also announced that Aronofsky will produce a horror-mystery called XOXO through his production company Protozoa Pictures. The film has been listed as being in development since 2012 but could yet get the go-ahead. More recently he has produced the Arnold Schwarzenegger thriller Aftermath, which is set for release this spring.
Given its impressive cast list and promising release date, Mother sounds like a conscious move away from big-budget Hollywood epics and back towards more intimate, hard-hitting human dramas like Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan. If it’s anything like the latter we certainly won’t be complaining.
Published 8 Feb 2017
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