By The past month has seen the release of Too Old to Die Young, Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn’s “13-hour movie” that premiered in full on Amazon Prime Video. Like most of his work, Too Old is an incredibly divisive experience, though a recent interview hints that Refn might be up for something a little less esoteric in the future.
In the above interview with Collider, Refn talks about what could be next after the ten-month (!!!) shoot and subsequent edit of Too Old to Die Young, and a certain Bat-Family member comes up.
A Batgirl film has been gestating at DC for awhile now, losing Joss Whedon last year and gaining Bumblebee writer Christina Hodson. Still in search of a director, could the project end up being Refn’s foray into comic book films?
Personally, I find the odds to be slim. While we’ve certainly seen arthouse auteurs branch out into more commercial, mainstream films, Refn’s notorious brutality and macho sensibilities seem like a hard sell for a character who would need to assert herself as a strong female presence. Furthermore Refn’s comments could be perceived as off-the-cuff or casual; the whims of an artist change with the wind, sometimes.
Still, it’s an interesting thought to entertain. The way 2011’s Drive was born of a fusion between Refn’s stylish approach and a relatively-routine Hollywood script by Hossein Amini, perhaps a strong story by Hodson could benefit from Refn’s gritty approach. He’s an incredibly divisive filmmaker, but I’m a strong proponent of him and his work, and would love to see him work with the restraint of a major, established character.
Nicolas Winding Refn on ‘Too Old to Die Young’ & Why He Considers It a 13-Hour Film [Collider]