You can never predict what David Lowery will do next. The director, who oscillates between artful indie fare, fantasy epics and major Disney movies, is about to follow up The Green Knight with Peter Pan & Wendy – a straight-to-Disney+ take on JM Barrie’s book. And after that, he’s doing another hard-pivot: returning to A24 for Mother Mary, a movie set in the colourful world of pop music, with major talent in front of the camera and on song duties too.
As reported by Deadline, Lowery is directing from his own script, in which Anne Hathaway’s pop star is entangled in a relationship with Michaela Coel’s famous fashion designer. And given that the film is described as an “epic pop melodrama”, you can guess that the course of their relationship won’t run smoothly. Excitingly, for pop fans, the musical duties are falling to super-producer Jack Antonoff (frequently in the studio with Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, Lorde and more – as well as having his own excellent band, Bleachers) and boundary-pushing British pop idol Charli XCX – sure to make sure the soundtrack is as essential as the story. The score, as ever, is down to Lowery’s regular collaborator Daniel Hart.
So, Vox Lux via A Star Is Born? A Ghost Story with bangers? The Green Knight, except it’s the relentless pursuit of stardom in the mythical world of celebrity? We have no idea – but with all these collaborators involved, it has potential to be something really special. Siri, play Crash by Charli XCX!