Actor/filmmaker Brady Corbet and Norwegian actor-turned-director Mona Fastvold have become quite the creative pair. They co-wrote the underrated Sundance indie “The Sleepwalker,” which Fastvold helmed, and now they’re switching chairs. For their next collaboration, “Childhood Of A Leader,” which they both co-wrote again, Corbet is directing this time and this marks his feature-length debut.
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A historical drama, “Childhood Of A Leader,” is loosely based on Jean-Paul Sartre‘s short story of the same name and is a parable on the birth of fascism. The movie stars Robert Pattinson, Liam Cunningham, Bérénice Bejo, and Stacy Martin, and it’s about a an American boy living in France with his parents who witnesses something that transforms his ego. Here’s the official synopsis:
This chilling tale tells the story of an American boy living in France in 1918. His father works for the American government on the creation of the Treaty of Versailles. What he witnesses helps to mold his beliefs – and we see the birth of a terrifying ego. Loosely based on the possible childhoods of many great dictators in the twentieth century, The Childhood of a Leader is an unsettling portrait of emerging evil.
Also as a plus: the great Scott Walker is doing the score and if his recent music is any indication of what’s in store we should expect something nightmarishly operatic. Michael Haneke has been a great influence on Corbet (and he’s worked with him once) and photos already show that chilly and detached air of the picture. “Childhood Of A Leader” makes its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. Watch the first two clips (sorry RPatz fans, he’s not in them).
