Martin Scorsese has officially chosen his next directing gig, reuniting once again with Leonardo DiCaprio and teaming him for the first time on-screen with Jennifer Lawrence.
The trio is set to bring Peter Cameron’s haunting novel ‘What Happens at Night’ to life, with filming to proceed by the beginning of January. Apple Original Films is currently in advanced talks to board as financier and producer, partnering with Studiocanal, which initially developed the adaptation.
The move comes just as DiCaprio headlines Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘One Battle After Another’, opening next weekend to sky-high reviews and awards chatter. Apple’s involvement feels like a natural extension as the studio previously backed Scorsese’s ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ and continues its first-look collaborations with both Scorsese’s ‘Sikelia’ and DiCaprio’s ‘Appian Way’.
Playwright and screenwriter Patrick Marber adapted the script after Studiocanal secured rights in 2023. At that stage, Scorsese had only signed on as producer while weighing possible follow-ups to Killers.
With DiCaprio passing on other projects, including Damien Chazelle’s shelved ‘Evel Knievel’ biopic, the stars aligned for him, Lawrence and Scorsese to step aboard together, giving the film three Oscar winners leading the charge.
Cameron’s novel unspools in a snowbound European town, where an American couple arrives to adopt a child. Their stay at a cavernous, nearly empty hotel brings them into contact with a peculiar collection of figures: a fading cabaret singer, a ruthless businessman and a magnetic healer.
As the dreamlike atmosphere deepens, reality begins to fracture, leaving the couple less certain about their child, their marriage and even themselves. The psychological tension recalls Scorsese and DiCaprio’s earlier hit Shutter Island, another labyrinth of perception and truth.
Lawrence, meanwhile, comes off her Cannes run in ‘Die, My Love’, directed by Lynne Ramsay and co-starring Robert Pattinson.
