“Don’t be surprised when [Rodger Deakins] or [Nicolas Bolduc] pops up for one of these upcoming projects,” we wrote in April. Of course, we were talking about Denis Villeneuve and his two upcoming films, the crime film “Sicario” starring Emily Blunt and the sci-fi film “The Story Of Your Life” starring Amy Adams (the latter, a project Paramount bought the rights for recently at Cannes for a record $20 million).
One of our writers had just spent time with Villeneuve and the “Prisoners” director said he wanted to work with both of his recent DPs again, Deakins who had lensed “Prisoners” and Bolduc who shot the more experimental “Enemy.” And looks like Villeneuve got his wish, as Roger Deakins will be the DP on his coming crime film “Sicario.” What’s more Deakins might also work on the Coen Brothers’ next film “Hail Caesar” (he was supposed to work on “Inside Llewyn Davis,” but he was busy with the Bond film “Skyfall”).
On the message boards of his website, fans asked Deakins what he was shooting next and he replied quite openly, “I am with Denis Villeneuve right now prepping for a film called Sicario. I hope to be working with the Coen Brothers later in the year.”
There you have it, “Sicario” is shooting later this summer and it’s a Mexico/U.S. border crime thriller said to be “No Country For Old Men”-esque (which of course Deakins also shot). Co-starring Benicio Del Toro, the dramas focuses on a female cop (Blunt) and two male Delta Force rangers who cross from Tucson to Mexico to catch a drug lord—but once they cross the border, it’s a whole different, more dangerous and depraved world than they were expecting.
We can’t wait and presumably we’ll see this one during one of the fall film festivals in 2015 much like “Prisoners” (which debuted at Telluride and TIFF). Plot details for “Hail Caesar” recently landed so Deakins comments suggest he’ll be working with them later in the year if that production is all set to go and both schedules link up. When asked if the Coens will shoot digital for the first time which is the rumor du jour, Deakins simply says “Don’t believe everything you hear!”