24/04/2024 - The untitled picture, toplined by Helen Hunt and Dustin Hoffmann, is the story of a man who wants to organise his own death in an elegant, sensible and tidy manner

Actors Helen Hunt (© Smokeonthewater) and Dustin Hoffman (© Georges Biard)

Late last month, revered British director Peter Greenaway (The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, Drowning by Numbers, The Draughtsman’s Contract) began shooting his new film in Lucca, Tuscany.

The untitled feature is based on Greenaway’s original script. In detail, the plot revolves around an intelligent man whose final big adventure is intended to be his own death, which he wants to organise in an elegant, sensible and tidy manner, with as few loose ends as possible.

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The cast is toplined by Oscar winners Helen Hunt and Dustin Hoffman, and enriched by the presence of Sofia Boutella (Kingsman: The Secret Service [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Giacomo Gianniotti (Grey’s Anatomy), Jonno Davies (Kingsman: The Secret Service) and Laura Morante (The Son’s Room [+see also:
trailer
film profile]).

The 82-year-old helmer, who is back at work on a new feature after his 2015 effort Eisenstein in Guanajuato [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Peter Greenaway
film profile] and this year’s Walking to Paris, commented: “The theme of this film is highly relevant and topical in these times, where the end-of-life topic is headline news on a daily basis. As such, I am very excited to be working with such an array of extraordinary actors and crew and personal collaborators to bring this particular story to the big screen. With ironic provocation, the film is prepared to seriously ask if death is necessary, and if it is, should we not be available to decide where and when? And even how? If we truly are going to die, shouldn’t we be involved in the decision-making?”

The project, produced by Markus Barmettler and Philip Lee for global financing and production outfit Facing East (Singapore), has been set up with Switzerland’s Jumpy Cow Pictures and Italian service company The Family. Post-production will unfold in the Netherlands with Witfilm and in Belgium with Saga Film. Enrique Drescher, Daniel Fluri, Andres Kernen, Adrian Grabe, Saskia Boddeke, Ada Bonvini, Ivano Fucci and Marc Jacobson are attached as the executive producers.

The release date is yet to be disclosed.