Classifying any film by inscrutable French director Leos Carax is a fool's errand. Just look at his last film, the utterly bizarre Holy Motors, a meta thriller as enigmatic as the filmmaker behind it. Late in 2015 we learned of his next film, which was described as a musical, and that may be true in the barest sense of the word but in Carax's hands almost guaranteed to be much more. At the time Adam Driver and Rooney Mara were rumored for roles, and now they have been confirmed along with one surprising addition.
Titled Annette, the English-language film may also feature a role by Rihanna, who has been keeping busy on the big screen lately. Variety says the movie feature a pretty sizable budget, around $15M, and will shoot next spring in locations all around the world. The story is said to center on "the rise and fall of an intense love story", but ThePlaylist adds that it "revolves around a stand-up comedian who loses his opera singer wife, and discovers their 2 year-old daughter has an extraordinary gift."
Who knows what Carax will make out of that, but whatever he does expect it to be atypical. Rihanna will be seen next in Luc Besson's sci-fi epic, Valerian.
