Before we get started, we’ll just say this: the decision by Francis Ford Coppola to shorten the title of his next film from “Twixt Now And Sunrise” to simply “Twixt” makes it sound like a chocolate bar. Please change it back dude. Okay, now that we got that out of the way, let’s get to it.
Comic-Con kicks off in a couple of a short days — and line-ups outside Hall H are apparently already starting for the “Twilight: Breaking Dawn” panel, good God — but here’s a tip: the most fun panel of the whole weekend will likely be led by Coppola. For real. With his new gothic thriller in the can and gearing up for a potential Halloween release the director is returning the convention floor for the first time since “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” and with electronic musician and the film’s composer Dan Deacon in tow, he will present sequences from that according to the Comic-Con website “involve the audience in a dress rehearsal of the completely unique and innovative way they plan on performing it.” Sounds pretty rad.
Well before the official sneak peek, EW is offering a peek at the peek as they have the first official still from the film and you know what? We love it. Coppola has been loving his late career renaissance and seems to be newly inspired in a way he hasn’t been in decades and that seem to be continuing here. It looks like Elle Fanning fell into Helena Bonham Carter‘s closet and was attacked by her makeup and wardrobe. But clearly, this will be something very special for the Halloween season.
Boasting an intriguing ensemble that also includes Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, Bruce Dern, Ben Chaplin, Don Novello, David Paymer, and Coppola family favorite Alden Ehrenreich, the film was inspired by a dream Coppola had and is said to be tonally similar to the works of Hawthorne or Poe. Sweet. The story follows a Mario Puzo-like writer (Kilmer) with a declining career arrives in a small town as part of his book tour and gets caught up in a murder mystery involving a young girl (Fanning).
EW claims that the film is without a distributor but we’d guess Coppola is likely to go the route he did with “Tetro” and release it under his own American Zoetrope banner. At any rate, for anyone tired of the same old cosplay schtick in San Diego, they would do well to hit this panel on Saturday.