Nobody could ever accuse Sebastian Stan of sticking to “safe” career choices outside of the Bucky Barnes box. In the past few years alone, he’s portrayed a fine young cannibal in Hulu’s Fresh, donned prosthetics for A24’s A Different Man, and went into hair-metal mode for Hulu’s Pam & Tommy.
Speaking of that latter project, both Lily James (who recently appeared in A24’s tragic wrestling-family biopic The Iron Claw) and Stan went all-out for their roles as doomed 1990s tabloid couple Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee, and the pair will reignite their chemistry in a different way for Let The Evil Go West, so let’s roll out what is known about this movie.
Plot
Danish director Christian Tafdrup (Speak No Evil, which was remade into the recent English-language movie starring an off-the-rails James McAvoy) will helm this psychological horror movie that revolves around Stan’s character slowly descending into madness. The indie flick will spring from a Xc Vs script that “follows a railroad worker who stumbles upon a fortune under deeply disturbing circumstances,” according to the synopsis via Hollywoood Reporter. “As horrifying visions and manifestations drive him toward madness, his wife becomes convinced that an evil presence has attached itself to their family.”
What immediately comes to mind from this description is There Will Be Blood, which starred Daniel Day-Lewis as silver-miner-turned-oil-tycoon Daniel Plainview, a figure who turned a mirror upon capitalism, launched a zillion character studies, and had no qualms of drinking other people’s milkshakes. This wasn’t a straight-up “horror movie,” but the results were nightmarish and went far beyond the story itself.
I’m not suggesting that Stan and Lily’s project will be anything like the Paul T. Anderson-directed film that gathered up nearly every available Academy Award nomination (and probably would have taken home more awards if it hadn’t landed in the same awards’ year as the Coen Brothers’ No Country For Old Men for competition’s sake). Still, it’s easy to imagine that Stan and James have signed up for a project that could follow similar themes to that PTA movie, and both actors would likely fare well with these roles on the festival and awards circuits, if this movie does end up fully coming together.
For now, we await further word on whether these industry-speak details (via Indiewire) will yield further news:
Actors Stan and James will also executive produce along with Gramercy Park’s Joshua Harris and Ford Corbett and north.five.six.’s Michael Rothstein and Samuel Hall. North.five.six. represents the international rights and will introduce the project to international buyers in Cannes; CAA Media Finance and UTA Independent Film Group arranged the financing and will handle the domestic sale.
Cast
People, this movie will have Sebastian Stan and Lily James. What more could you want?
Release Date
This project was shopped to distributors at Cannes this year, although for now, further details are pending.
Trailer
For now, we must content ourselves by rewatching the Pam & Tommy trailer.
