Nicolas Cage, FKA twigs, Noah Jupe, Souheila YacoubGetty Images, Pip
Nicolas Cage, FKA twigs, Noah Jupe and Souheila Yacoub are set to star in Egyptian-American director Lotfy Nathan’s The Carpenter’s Son exploring the rarely told story of the childhood of Jesus with a horror take.
Paris-based Cinenovo and L.A.-based Spacemaker are producing. Goodfellas is overseeing international sales apart from in North America, which it will co-rep with Anonymous Content and WME.
Nathan has taken inspiration from the apocryphal Infancy Gospel of Thomas for the screenplay. Dating back to the 2nd Century AD, the text recounts the childhood of Jesus.
Per the official synopsis, “The Carpenter’s Son tells the dark story of a family hiding out in Roman Egypt. The son, known only as ‘the Boy’, is driven to doubt by another mysterious child and rebels against his guardian, the Carpenter, revealing inherent powers and a fate beyond his comprehension. As he exercises his own power, the Boy and his family become the target of horrors, natural and divine.”
Nathan made waves with Tunisia-set debut feature Harka, which premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard in 2022, winning best actor for Adam Bessa. Inspired by the real-life figure of Mohamed Bouazizi, whose self-immolation triggered Tunisia’s 2010-11 revolution, the movie won praise for its layered and human approach.
Leaving Las Vegas Oscar winner Cage will play the Carpenter. The actor, who was nominated in the 2024 Golden Globes for Dream Scenario, will be in Cannes this year with The Surfer in the Official Selection’s Midnight section.
Grammy-nominated artist FKA twigs will take the role of the Mother. She previously won praise for her performance alongside Jupe in Alma Har’el’s Honey Boy and will soon be seen as the female lead opposite Bill Skarsgård in Lionsgate’s remake of The Crow.
Jupe will play the Boy. His recent credits include Apple TV+ limited series Franklin alongside Michael Douglas. He will soon be seen in the platform’s Lady in the Lake, reuniting him Har’el, who directs. He also appeared in A Quiet Place and its sequel A Quiet Place Part II, The Undoing and Ford v Ferrari alongside Christian Bale and Matt Damon.
Yacoub was discovered as one of the leads in Gaspar Noe’s Climax, selected in Directors’ Fortnight, Cannes 2018. In 2024, she garnered international recognition appearing alongside Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya in Dune: Part II.
The Carpenter’s Son is scheduled to shoot this summer.
Julie Viez is producing under the Cinenovo banner with Alex Hughes and Riccardo Maddalosso at Spacemaker and Cage on behalf of Saturn Films.
The film is coproduced by Alain de la Mata and Christopher Granier-Deferre for Bluelight. David Levine and Nick Shumaker will executive produce on behalf of Anonymous Content alongside Noëmie Devide for Goodfellas, Jennifer Venditti, Nathan and Theo Vieljeux. Eugene Kotlyarenko is executive producing on behalf of Spacemaker.
Viez created Paris-based Cinenovo in 2012, with a focus on art-house cinema and international talent. Its recent filmography includes Alex Carvalho’s The Salamander and Harka.
Upcoming features include the Bonjour Tristesse adaptation, directed by Durga Chew-Bose, and Return to Reason, combining Man Ray short movies with music composed by Sqürl, the band of musician-filmmaker Jim Jarmusch and Carter Logan.
In 2024, alongside The Carpenter’s Son, Cinenovo will also shoot The 67th Summer, the third feature of Abu Bakr Shawky, who made waves with Yomeddine in Competition in Cannes in 2018
L.A.-based Spacemaker was launched in 2020 and already has a string of buzzed about films under its belt including Daniel Goldhaber’s How To Blow Up A Pipeline, Sebastian Silva’s Rotting ln The Sun, Eugene Kotlyarenko’s Spree, Nathan’s Harka, James Gray’s Armageddon Time and Dasha Nekrasova’s The Scary Of Sixty-First.