More than a year ago, word reached us that Richard Kelly was finally ready to jump back into filmmaking, and that he’d set up an intriguing new project called Corpus Christi. It’s taken a while to lock in the proper financing, but he now has both the cash to make the movie and a star in the shape of Edgar Ramirez.
Christi marks something of a more traditional narrative from the man who made Donnie Darko and Southland Tales, though there’s wiggle room for weirdness since it’s set in 2014. The plot follows the awesomely-named Paciencia De La Rosa (Ramirez), an Iraq War veteran suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder, who forms an unlikely – and dangerous – alliance with a wealthy Texan industrialist.
Kelly has gathered together the financing thanks to friends including Eli Roth and Robert Rodriguez, who has taken the movie under the wing of his Quick Draw company. "I started Quick Draw with the idea that it would be a home for innovative filmmakers who would be given the chance to take chances and surprise audiences. I think that a movie like Corpus Christi could only be done justice by doing it independently," Rodriguez said in a press release picked up by Variety. Now that he’s flush with production money, Kelly will kick off shooting this July in Austin and (not shockingly, given the title), Corpus Christi, Texas.
It’s not the first time Ramirez has worked with Kelly – he also worked on Domino, which the director wrote. Ramirez will next crop up in Wrath Of The Titans, which arrives on March 30, and he has also reported for duty on Kathryn Bigelow’s still-untitled Bin Laden thriller.