We were already pretty interested in "I Am Love" director Luca Guadagnino's latest feature "Body Art" after it was announced that its production would be marrying key collaborators from two of 2012's fascinating "man-travels-around-a-city-in-a-limousine-during-a-single-day" movies. We're of course referring to "Cosmopolis" and "Holy Motors," as "Body Art" is based on a novel by the former's author Don DeLillo, and will also star the lead actor from the latter, Denis Lavant. Stretching the connections even further, David Cronenberg will also appear on-screen in a rare acting role. Isabelle Huppert will lead the cast, which was basically the cherry on the top, but just when you thought it couldn't get any better the movie goes and casts Sigourney Weaver too.
If Guadagnino's sticks closely to DeLillo's novel then it will follow performance artist Lauren Hartke (Huppert), who's grieving after the suicide of her husband and feels alienated until a man (whose appearance varies each time he visits) begins appearing in her house. It hasn't been announced who will take on the other roles. We previously speculated that Cronenberg may play the husband and Lavant the mysterious man, and we'll now speculate that Weaver could potentially play one of Lauren's friends who try and coax her out of the house.
It's hard not to draw parallels with Cronenberg and Leos Carax's 2012 films, but Huppert's involvement and the setting/subject matter also have us thinking of Michael Haneke, which is to say that this sounds like it could make for a pretty great movie. By that measure we're incredibly pleased to see Weaver on board as she's clearly very talented but has reached the age where the American industry tends to stop offering women interesting roles – anyone who's seen "The Cold Light of Day," "Red Lights," "Abduction," "Paul" or "Cedar Rapids," amongst many others, should all be able to attest to that. We imagine it's probably only going to be a small role, but hopefully it should be an interesting one to eat up some more time before James Cameron turns her blue all over again. [Screen Daily]