Director Sean Baker Taking US Road Trip to Research His Next Film

After painting a vibrant and heartbreaking look at America’s underclass in The Florida Project, director Sean Baker is hitting the road to research and gain inspiration for his next film. The LA-based filmmaker is using a development funding grant to go on a road-trip that will inform his latest project.

According to ScreenDaily{ =nofollow}, Baker is going to write a screenplay “set against the backdrop of the current opioid epidemic in the US”, and he’ll start sketching it out once he hits the road. The director says he is “taking to heart” the praise he received for Tangerine and The Florida Project in telling contemporary American stories.

Baker will produce the film himself, with The Florida Project co-producer Kevin Chinoy also expected to come aboard. The director says he hasn’t decided whether he will shoot on iPhone — as he did on Tangerine — or film, nor whether he'll continue to cast unknowns, having populated his last two films with actors he found on Instagram, Willem Dafoe in The Florida Project aside.

There’s no release date or deadline for the film, and Baker says he intends to take his time. “My agent and my producers have been pushing me to get to the next thing but to tell you the truth I just want to take it slowly,” he said. “There’s no reason to rush except to pay the bills.”

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