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Juliette Binoche, Jodie Foster & More Reportedly Eyed For Abel Ferrara's Dominique Strauss-Kahn Pic As Isabelle Adjani Drops Out

By Kevin Jagernauth
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March 7, 2013 11:57 AM
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2 Comments

News

So remember about a year ago when Abel Ferrara was talking up his next movie, one that would be inspired/based on disgraced French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn? While producers were cagier, Ferrara was talking up a shoot last summer with Gerard Depardieu in the lead role, with Isabelle Adjani to co-star? Well, that didn't happen and now it looks like he's going to have to find a new leading lady.

By Drew Taylor
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March 22, 2012 5:56 PM
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1 Comment

Reviews

There's something very wrong in Abel Ferrara's "4:44: Last Day On Earth." The world, as the title would suggest, is coming to an end, and Ferrara, the fuck-you auteur behind "King of New York" and the non-Nic Cage-adorned "Bad Lieutenant," is content with keeping things inside a spacious apartment on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. There aren't any fireballs ascending heavenward, or steely buildings splintering into a million computer generated pieces. The anguish here isn't global, but personal, and instead of millions of people, Ferrara zeroes in on an arty couple, played by Willem Dafoe (channeling his "Antichrist" persona of earnest concern, except with more levity and less genital mutilation) and the young Shanyn Leigh.

By Brandon Harris
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March 22, 2012 10:00 AM
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0 Comments

News

Abel Ferrara is a handful. With wild gestures and expertly timed jokes, he piles the digressions high, but is much sharper and in control than his legendarily hard-living persona would suggest. The sixty-one-year-old has had one of American indie cinema’s most eclectic careers. A Bronx native, Ferrara has made his way from 42nd Street’s row of exploitation and porn theaters to the Croissette in Cannes. He mantains a manic, youthful energy that is both infectious and a bit terrifying, and although since he became sober over a year ago he has mellowed a bit, the toll that years of less-than-legal substances has taken has certainly not affected the filmmaker's wit or broad-hearted sensibility.

By Kevin Jagernauth
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February 6, 2012 11:40 AM
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3 Comments

News

Abel Ferrara continues to insist disgraced French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn will be the inspiration for an upcoming film. First revealed at the tail end of last year, reports surfaced that the director was looking at Gerard Depardieu and Isabelle Adjani to star in a movie that will use the Strasse-Kahn affair, and incidents involving Bill Clinton and Silvio Berlusconi and more to tell a fictionalized tale about sexual scandals. Production company Wild Bunch were quick to downplay any connection to DSK saying the film would only have "a little bit" of influence from his highly publicized incident in New York City. While, we'll have to see how it all plays out, Ferrara is quickly moving on the project.

By Ryan Sartor
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December 28, 2011 11:55 AM
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2 Comments

News

Update: Wild Bunch has clarified the film will not be about Dominique Strasse-Kahn specifically, but more generally about politicians. "Abel Ferrara is currently writing a script about politics, the weakness of today’s politician, who is at the same time all-powerful and lost, miserable in his personal life," Vincent Maraval said. Both Depardieu and Adjani are nowhere near to being locked. As you were. [THR]

By Edward Davis
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August 8, 2011 12:00 PM
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6 Comments

If you generally like depraved movies and you love temperamental and mercurial curmudgeons, it's pretty much mandatory that you adore Bronx-born filmmaker Abel Ferrara. Maybe you don't think all his films are successful ("Dangerous Game", "Body Snatchers"), maybe you think some of them are near Big Apple sleaze-masterpieces ("King of New York," "Bad Lieutenant") and very possibly you haven't seen the ones that have had trouble finding proper distribution ("Mary," "Go Go Tales," "Chelsea On The Rocks"), but in theory, you love his no holds barred approach, his refusal to sugarcoat anything in an interview, and his general cantankerous mien. This is the dude who wasn't afraid to go toe-to-toe with the much-beloved Werner Herzog for recontextualizing "The Bad Lieutenant" after all and there's something to be said for that.

By Oliver Lyttelton
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May 15, 2011 4:35 AM
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4 Comments

The idea of the end of the world is an endless mine for filmmakers. Principally, of course, they're big-budget action fests, whether showing the disaster in progress, like the many, many examples in Roland Emmerich's career, or showing the aftermath, like "Mad Max" and his plentiful rip-offs. But sometimes, you get lower-key takes on the same subject matter, which are inevitably infinitely more insightful about an idea that, let's be honest, hangs around the back of most of our minds. From Don McKellar's "Last Night" to the upcoming Steve Carell/Keira Knightley drama "Seeking A Friend At The End of the World," it's surprisingly easy to make the apocalypse happen on a low-budget, and the latest director to turn his eye to this genre is maverick veteran Abel Ferrara.