Amid all the franchise flotsam and romcom jetsam, there is some good development news out there. Some of the best is coming from Europe, where a loose-lipped Antonio Banderas said that he will re-team with director Pedro Almodóvar for the first time in 20 years. Irritated by Banderas's "impatient" disclosure, Almodóvar himself confirmed the project -- by giving the fantastic-sounding plot away.
According to an interview the Oscar-winning filmmaker gave to the Spanish newspaper El Pais, The Skin I Live In will feature Banderas as a plastic surgeon who takes revenge against the man who raped his daughter. "The film will be a terror film, without screams or scares," Almodóvar said, noting that he'd rewritten his script -- an adaptation of Thierry Jonquet's novel Tarantula -- nine times. "It's difficult to define and although it comes close to the terror genre -- something that appeals to me that I've never done -- I won't respect any of its rules. It's the harshest film I've ever written and Banderas' character is brutal."
Um, wow? This isn't totally new territory for Almodóvar, who has taken more glancing approaches to rape and murder before in Matador, his first collaboration with Banderas from 1986. And they last worked together on 1990's Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, another curious Almodóvarian riff on sex, violence and victimization. Meanwhile, Skin will reportedly shoot for 10 weeks this summer, thus lining it up for likely inclusion in next year's Cannes Film Festival and probable acquisition by Sony Pictures Classics (maybe before it's even finished). You'll see it next fall. That's about all I can -- or want to -- predict for this one. Bring the greatness, gentlemen.