The Dardenne brothers, Luc and Jean-Pierre, have been making award-winning films in Belgium for a few decades, however, they haven’t really managed to make their presence felt in North America outside the shelves of dedicated cinephiles. The two time Palme d’Or-winning duo did receive their second Independent Spirit Award nomination last year for The Kid with the Bike but it’s past time the pair received an invite to the Academy Awards. Only to direct more people to their work.
And casting an international superstar like The Dark Knight Rises Marion Cotillard in their next project might help the Dardennes gain more North American recognition. The Academy Award winning actress just signed on to be the lead in their upcoming film Deux Jours, Une Nuit (translated to Two Days, One Night) and when discussing the upcoming project with The Film Stage reports, Luc shared his excitement about on the casting coup, “we are looking forward to collaborating with Marion, we are all big fans of each others work.”
Deux Jours, Une Nuit is original script from the Dardennes (apparently a long time in the making), and is about a woman (Cotillard) who has one weekend to visit all her coworkers in order to convince them to forgo their bonus so that she doesn’t lose her job. Sounds right up their alley and, after her amazing performance in Rust and Bone, not to mention the award winning turn in La Vie en Rose, Cotillard seems to be at her best in her native tongue. I can’t imagine why. Belgian actor Fabrizio Rongione (The Kid with the Bike) has also been cast as her husband with shooting set to begin this summer.
Friscalating Dusklight 