Brian De Palma has (at least) one more feature in mind.
The auteur told Vulture as part of a 40th anniversary piece for “Body Double,” that he has one more film in the works. The announcement was a surprise to some in the business, including Nick Newman of The Film Stage, who commented on the news that he had previously “heard from more than one reliable source that Brian De Palma was done directing.”
Apparently not.
De Palma most recently directed “Domino” in 2019; he had also publicly announced two other projects in 2018, respectively titled “Sweet Vengeance” and “The Predator.” Neither film was made.
Now, it seems that De Palma is set on a different possible swan song.
“I have one other film I’m planning to make. And we’re in the process of trying to cast it,” De Palma said. “I can’t tell you what it is, until it happens. Then I’ll be very happy to announce it.”
The “Scarface” and “Carrie” filmmaker added to the publication that Hollywood has drastically changed in the half-century he’s been a part of it.
“I think why my type of movies last so long is they’re very cinematic,” De Palma said. “Cinema kind of died with celluloid, because you don’t have the same cinematographers anymore. You don’t have film anymore. It is now completely dominated by the writers and showrunners, and the movies and shows are basically radio plays, full of people talking to each other. Plus they’re all shooting digitally, so it doesn’t look very interesting. That form of cinema went out with celluloid.”
He added, “That’s why people look fondly upon these movies because they’re quite visually stunning, and you don’t see that anymore.”
De Palma’s two shelved features, “Sweet Vengeance” and “The Predator,” both were slated to depict true crimes. The director told French publication Le Parisien that “The Predator” was going to be inspired by disgraced mega-producer and convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein.
“I am writing a film about this scandal, which I am currently discussing with a French producer. My character will not be called Harvey Weinstein,” De Palma said in 2018, as translated. “But it will be a horror movie, with a sexual aggressor, and it will happen in the film industry.”
“Sweet Vengeance,” in contrast, was going to be “inspired by two true stories of murders” but details were not disclosed at the time.
