Elvis director Baz Luhrmann is developing Jehanne d’Arc as his next project, an epic retelling of the story of Joan of Arc.
Baz Luhrmann is set to tackle the story of Joan of Arc as his next project. Titled Jehanne d’Arc, the film will tell the epic tale of Joan of Arc, a teenager who claimed to be acting under divine guidance as she helped lead France to victory during the siege of Orléans. She stood by Charles VII during his coronation of the King of France but was later captured and handed over to the English. They put her on trial for heresy, and she was ultimately burned at the stake at the young age of nineteen.
Deadline reports that Luhrmann is in the midst of his creative process now, with a casting breakdown set to go out today. The project is looking for a young woman to star in “The ultimate teenage girl coming of age story, set in the Hundred Years’ War.” There have been plenty of adaptations of Joan of Arc’s story going back over 100 years, but Luhrmann is sure to add his distinctive visual flair to the project, which could make this something to behold. Some of the more notable adaptations include Victor Fleming’s 1948 movie starring Ingrid Bergman and Luc Besson’s 1999 movie starring Milla Jovovich.
Luhrmann was previously attached to develop the English-language adaptation of the Russian novel The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. The story finds the Devil and his entourage visiting the Soviet Union and includes elements of religion, satire, comedy, and the supernatural. Luhrmann stepped away from the project earlier this year, reportedly due to concerns over the book rights.
Fans have been eager for Luhrmann’s next project, particularly after the success of Elvis. The 2022 musical biopic starred Austin Butler as the King of Rock n’ Roll and was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor. He also released Faraway Downs on Hulu and Disney+ last year, a six-episode mini-series which was an extended version of Australia, the 2008 movie starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman. “I was inspired to re-approach my film Australia to create Faraway Downs because of the way episodic storytelling has been reinvigorated by the streaming world,” Luhrmann said. “With over 2 million feet of film from the original piece, my team and I were able to revisit anew the central themes of the work. I am honored to world premiere Faraway Downs in Australia, the place that has inspired me and my work my entire life, and with a partner like SXSW who deeply recognizes the intersection of film, television and music with storytelling.“
Someone needs to get Chappell Roan on the phone ASAP. What did she know, and when did she know it? Just six days ago, the ascendant star charged onto the VMA stage in full Joan of Arc regalia for a fiery performance of “Good Luck, Babe!” complete with flaming arrows and armored dancers. Now, Deadline has confirmed that Baz Luhrmann is working on a film about the teenage patron saint, who believed God had sent her to defend France from English domination in the Hundred Years’ War.
Casting is going to be a war of its own. According to the trade, a notice went out today seeking a young female actor to star in “the ultimate teenage girl coming of age story, set in the Hundred Years’ War.” Luhrmann is clearly set on that tagline, because he teased the same quote in an Instagram video a few weeks ago. If the director really is trying to frame the story of a young woman who was wrongfully burned at the stake for blasphemy by cross-dressing as a quirky bildungsroman, that would be… a choice. Still, we don’t really know anything as of this writing other than the fact that Warner Bros. is on board to produce and Luhrmann is currently calling the film either Jehanne or Jehanne d’Arc.
If Luhrmann continues his patterns and, hypothetically, makes Jehanne into a musical, Roan could actually be the perfect choice to portray the young heroine; she certainly has the pipes. She’ll have to fight Jenna Ortega for it, though. The Beetlejuice Beetlejuice actor recently told Letterboxd that Joan would be a “dream character” for her, raving about Renée Falconetti’s “absolutely insane” performance in Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1928 movie The Passion Of Joan Of Arc, which she cited as one of her four favorite films. Even if neither of them land the lead, there’s something prophetic-feeling about this sudden confluence of references. Nothing could be more fitting for Joan.
Baz Luhrmann has found his next movie and will direct “Jehanne d’Arc,” which is set up at Warner Bros. Discovery.
According to Deadline, which first reported the news, the upcoming project “is an epic story about Joan of Arc, the young French peasant who believed God had sent her to lead an army. She believed she would save her country during the Hundred Years’ War.”
Casting is currently underway for the film’s teenage female lead. Luhrmann most recently directed the 2022 biopic “Elvis” starring Austin Butler that was nominated for eight Academy Awards and grossed $288 million worldwide at the box office.
In his review of “Elvis,” TheWrap’s Steve Pond wrote, “Luhrmann’s cut-and-paste job of covering Elvis’ career falls somewhere between ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ which pretended it was telling the real Freddie Mercury story but did nothing of the sort, and ‘Rocketman,’ which told you up front that it was going to turn Elton John’s story into a fantasia. You get the feeling that Luhrmann might have liked to go further in the fantasia direction, but maybe Elvis was too big, too familiar and too sacred for him to go whole hog — so instead he settles for big, charged musical sequences and a host of lies of varying sizes.”
