Ethan Hawke is once again joining forces with Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski, after teaming for The Woman in the Fifth, which premiered at TIFF last year. As ScreenDaily (via ThePlaylist) reports, the duo are formulating plans for the black comedy titled Epic. Sir Ben Kinglsey, Christopher Lambert and Chulpan Khamatova have also joined Hawke.
This “epic” will follow “the story of a washed up British director who gets invited to make a national epic in an obscure (and fictious) Caucasus Republic with Kingsley to play the nation’s dictator, Lambert as a film’s crazed star and Khamatova as the “beauty and the brains” presumably in the movie-in-a-movie.” Although I haven’t seen their past union, due to its lack of release here, I’m a fan of Hawke, and adding Kinglsey doesn’t hurt either. The synopsis provides us with the odd and humorous tone the film is inevitable to take, which has me intrigued.
Eurimages will be financing the project and there hasn’t been any news on when the film will actually start production, but the big casting details do provide some insight. Pawlikowski got his directing start back in 1991, with the TV documentary From Moscow to Pietushki. 1998’s The Stringer marked his first non-documentary feature length. He has also been rumored to be directing an adaptation of We Are Now Beginning Our Descent, with his The Restraints of Beasts also in production limbo.
What are your thoughts on Epic?