Willem Dafoe has signed on to star in “The Souffleur,” an English-language dark comedy directed by rising Argentinian director Gastón Solnicki. Magnify has boarded worldwide sales (excluding Austria) ahead of the Cannes Film Market. Variety has been given exclusive access to a first-look image for the film (below), which is currently in post-production.
“The Souffleur” sees Dafoe playing the tenured hotelier of Vienna’s InterContinental Hotel. Upon learning that his cherished hotel is about to be sold to an Argentine developer who plans to demolish and reconstruct the landmark completely, he wages a personal vendetta against the new owner. “Spiraling into absurd paranoia, his profound unraveling begins to manifest in his surroundings — the hotel pipes become blocked, the clocks go haywire and his trademark soufflés refuse to rise,” reads the synopsis. The movie shot on location in Vienna at the InterContinental Hotel.
Willem Dafoe in “The Souffleur.”
Dafoe stars alongside Solnicki, newcomer Lilly Senn, Stephanie Argerich and Claus Philipp. The strong key crew includes Rui Poças, the cinematographer of Miguel Gomes’ “Grand Tour,” which played at Cannes last year and won the best director award.
An Austrian production, “The Souffleur” is produced by Gabriele Kranzelbinder and Paolo Calamita (“Museum Hours”) for the Vienna-based Little Magnet Films and KGP Filmproduktion, Eugenio Fernández Abril for Primo (“Peter Hujar’s Day”) and Solnicki for Filmy Wiktora.
“’The Souffleur’ is an inventive and entertaining film featuring a lively cast of characters led by Willem Dafoe, who plays the souffleur himself,” said Austin Kennedy, Magnify’s head of sales. “The story blends humor with timely themes of social and class structure, change and modernity, resulting in a wholly original work that is both charming and delightfully comedic. This marks Solnicki’s most ambitious film to date, a richly layered work that pushes his storytelling into bold new territory.”
Solnicki’s first narrative feature, “Kékszakállú,” premiered in Horizons at the Venice Film Festival, where it was awarded the FIPRESCI prize for best film. Centered on the coming-of-age of a group of female teenagers in Argentina not knowing what to do with their future, the film was praised by Variety’s Scott Tobias as a “rapturous experimental narrative” that showcased the director’s “uncommon talent.”
Solnicki’s second feature, “Introduzione all’Oscuro,” also world premiered in Venice out of competition, and his last film, “A Little Love Package,” premiered at the Berlinale in Encounters. His films have also been shown at festivals including New York, Rotterdam, Viennale, Toronto, Vancouver, Karlovy Vary and Jeonju. He has been invited to be in the official juries at Venice, Karlovy Vary and Wroclaw.
Speaking to Variety ahead of the Venice Gap-Financing Market last summer, where he first presented “The Souffleur,” Solnicki explained how the idea for the film stemmed from a “curious, failed experience” at a restaurant in Buenos Aires, when a soufflé was “forced on me in a very sad fashion.”
The director — who studied cooking in his youth and was trained in what he describes as a “very military French tradition” — struggled to hide his disappointment with the iconic baked dish. “It’s not something that you just follow a recipe, and it happens,” he said. “It’s really an act of love and an act of faith.”
“The Souffleur,” which draws on elements of surrealism and comedy influenced by the works of Luis Buñuel, finds Solnicki playing with ideas of literal collapse — “of a building that is about to be [demolished] and a dessert that is no longer [able to rise]” — alongside one man’s unraveling, as embodied by Dafoe.
Solnicki described working with the actor as “one of the most creatively defying and collaborative experiences of my career,” adding: “Willem and I dragged each other to the mud. We thrived after a fertile wrestle — our worlds complemented each other in unexpected and exciting ways. Together we crafted a film that feels both personal and profoundly alive.”
Dafoe is repped by WME and Circle Management + Production. He is in production on Jennifer Peedom’s “Tenzing” and recently wrapped production on Kent Jones’ “Late Fame.” He’s also currently serving as the artistic director of the theater department at La Biennale di Venezia, which includes overseeing its 53rd Theater Festival. Upcoming projects include Nadia Latif’s “Man in My Basement,” Miguel Angel Jimenéz’s “The Birthday Party” and Patricia Arquette’s “Gonzo Girl.”
Magnify’s strong lineup also includes Ulrike Ottinger’s “The Blood Countess,” starring Isabelle Huppert; “Filipinana,” a first-time feature by Rafael Manuel and crafted in partnership with Film4; and Berlin Generation winner “The Botanist,” directed by newcomer Jing Yi.
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